The Brazilian Serie B is a fascinating league at the moment. Former Serie A winners Santos are currently leading the league, but not as convincingly as many had predicted. Just three points behind them and with a game in hand is Sport Recife, who face Operario Ferroviario, often known as just Operario, this week.
The Brazilian second tier is quite close between the top and bottom teams. Operario, who sit in 9th, are just 13 points off the top and 10 points of a relegation spot. With 24 points still up for grabs in this campaign, they could easily climb up the table or drop off significantly. Sport Recife seem to have just one direction, which is upwards.
Sport Recife Predicted Lineup - Caique Franca; Dalbert, Chico, Rafael Thyere, Leonel Di Placido; Wellington Silva, Fabricio Dominguez, Felipe, Lucas Lima; Christian Ortiz, Gustavo Coutinho
Head Coach, Pepa, will not need to make many changes to the team that won away against the team currently in second place, Novorizontino. In that match, they were already winning comfortably by half time, and even though they let Novorizontino get a goal back in the second half, the two goal lead was quickly restored.
Gustavo Coutinho, also known as Gustavo Lopes, is the club’s top scorer in all competitions this season with 17 goals. While he is a big threat, Sport Recife have managed to share the goals out a lot this season, with 22 different players scoring at least once for the club in this campaign.
Operario Ferroviario Predicted Lineup - Rafael Santos; Gabriel Feliciano de Silva, Willian Estefani Machado, Allan Godoi Santos, Thales; Rodrigo Lindoso, Vinicius Diniz Dall Antonia, Gabriel Boschilia, Ronald; Rodrigo Farofa, Daniel
Operario’s form hasn’t been terrible as of late, but it has been typical of a mid table team. One problem that they appear to have is that they struggle to get the match result to convey their dominance in games. In their last win, they had 70% possession and 23 shots, but only won thanks to a last minute goal.
The club’s top scorer this season is Maxwell, who isn’t even starting, which probably sums up their issues in front of goal.
The clubs have only met four times in their histories. This match was postponed from earlier in the season and so they still need to face each other again before the end of the campaign. Operario’s only win in this fixture came in their inaugural meeting.
28th Oct 2022 - Sport Recife 5-1 Operario - Serie B
14th Jul 2022 - Operario 0-0 Sport Recife - Serie B
28th Sep 2019 - Sport Recife 3-1 Operario - Serie B
28th May 2019 - Operario 2-1 Sport Recife - Serie B
Sport Recife are in excellent form and have the home advantage in this game. They are going for the title and so this match is a must win for them. Operario on the other hand, have not much left to play for. They could try to push for promotion, but they would need a lot of teams around them to mess up.
Also, the visitors have struggled in front of goal, and while their defence his quite solid, the attackers of Sport Recife have had no trouble finding the back of the net this season.
With all of this in mind, our team of professional experts have decided that the best tip for this game is for HT/FT - Sport Recife/Sport Recife. Odds of 6/4 on QuinnBet means that a £10 bet could see a potential return of £25.
(odds subject to change)
Sport Recife 3-0 Operario Ferroviario
Elsewhere in Brazil, Fortaleza host Atletico Mineiro and Sao Paulo play Vasco da Gama.
You Can Play
Join our newsletter
Become a part of our community and never miss an update from Football Park.
Contact Sales