Preview: Brazil vs. Argentina

The two most successful South American teams Brazil and Argentina will go head to head in a friendly at the Beijing National Stadium on Saturday.

Brazil have been trying to recover from their disastrous exit from the semi-finals of their home World Cup in the summer, which ended in a 7-1 defeat to eventual champions Germany.

Slender 1-0 wins over Ecuador and Colombia last month have begun repairing the damage, but it is expected to be a different contest this weekend against rivals Argentina, who avenged their World Cup final defeat by securing a 4-2 win over the Germans in a friendly last month.

Brazil and Argentina have met more than 15 times since 2000, but in their last three friendly fixtures, Argentina have come out on top twice.

Kaka is expected to make his first appearance for Brazil since early 2013 after he was called up to the squad by Luiz Felipe Scolari's replacement Dunga.

A number of new faces have been included in the squad following the withdrawals of Marquinhos, Ramires, Fernandinho and Ricardo Goulart, which means that the likes of Souza and Dodo could feature at some stage.

For Argentina, Angel di Maria is expected to play due to his current form at Manchester United, while Barcelona star Lionel Messi is also likely to join the attack.

Manchester City's Sergio Aguero could lead the line for manager Gerardo Martino, with Gonzalo Higuain in support.

Recent form

Brazil: WWLLWD

Argentina: WDDWDW

Possible starting lineups

Brazil: Cesar; Dodo, Dante, Alves, Luiz; Gustavo, Souza, Hulk; Kaka; Fred, Neymar

Argentina: Romero; Garay, Demichelis, Fernandez; Zabaleta, Pastore; Mascherano, Messi, Di Maria; Higuain, Aguero

Sports Mole says: 1-3