By Tim Stannard (@stannardsports)

SUNDAY

NASL

CAROLINA RAILHAWKS V FT. LAUDERDALE STRIKERS -  Live on beIN SPORTS CONNECT 3 from 1PM ET / 10PM PT

Bottom basement brawl

Fort Lauderdale make their way up the East Coast in the wake of Hurricane Matthew looking to add to the Railhawks' misery.

Unruly weather has been the least of Carolina's problems in recent weeks. Colin Clarke's charges waved farewell to their chances of making the playoffs long ago and come into this game on the back of three straight defeats.

The Strikers are hardly world beaters themselves but a last-gasp injury-time equalizer against Rayo in their last outing will have boosted morale amongst the ranks of the NASL's 10th-placed team.

THURSDAY 

CONMEBOL QUALIFIERS

ECUADOR 3 CHILE 0

Chile in high altitude, high octane must-win match

Considering Chile are ranked 6th in the world – and probably should be a lot higher, certainly higher than Belgium – and are back-to-back Copa America winners, locals of the Pacific-clinging country should be feeling confident of doing some remarkable things in Russia 2018. But unless some Andean socks are pulled up sharpish, Chile are not going to be there.

With the halfway-point of qualification approaching, Chile are currently exiled outside of the top four in seventh spot after a run of just the single victory from the past six qualifiers, a far cry from what is expected of one of the most rumbustious sides in world football. The tactical hallmarks of Chile are still there – the team have had the best possession and passes stats in CONMEBOL – but the striking spark is missing from the team that tore Mexico into itsy-bitsy pieces this summer.

Rediscovering this hustle and bustle must be the Qui-to defeating Ecuador, or Chile might be feeling the heat.

BRAZIL 5 BOLIVIA 0

New faces leading way for a rehabilitated Brazil

And relax. That’s the general vibe from Camp Brazil after an Olympic Games win in Rio was followed by back-to-back victories in September’s batch of World Cup qualifiers, victories that including a win over Colombia. These six points moved Brazil back where they belong where the eagles cry on the mountain high up in second place in the table. It’s a much brighter picture after real fears that Brazil would struggle to qualify for Russia after just two victories from the first six group games.

The results are now restoring broken bonds between the team and supporters with 10,000 turning up to an open training session on Monday in Natal ahead of Thursday’s visit of Bolivia. This upturn has turned partly on a new broom taking over in the form of Tite and some new faces in the Brazilian team including the highly promising Gabriel Jesus.

Thursday’s visit of a struggling Bolivia should be another solid step towards rehabilitation in Russia for a reformed Brazil.

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