Preview: Bahia vs. America Mineiro - prediction, team news, lineups

The reigning Copa Nordeste winners will battle the defending champions of the Campeonato Mineiro on Wednesday when Bahia host America Mineiro in Brasileiro Serie A action at Estadio Governador Roberto Santos.

Tricolor had their three-match unbeaten run snapped by Palmeiras over the weekend, while Coehlo remain winless in this campaign after drawing Internacional 1-1 on Sunday.

Match preview

© Reuters

After seven games played, Bahia manager Dado Cavalcanti has to be happy with where his team sit in the league table, in fifth place with 11 points, just three points behind the leaders Bragantino, who are in action on Monday.

On Sunday, they showed that they could compete with the strong sides in Brazil, coming back to equalise twice against the reigning Copa Libertadores winners Palmeiras, although they eventually lost 3-2 thanks to a 92nd-minute penalty from Breno Lopes.

Cavalcanti strayed away from his side's traditional 4-3-3 formation versus Palestra, as Patrick de Lucca and Daniel dropped deeper in the midfield to try and slow down the high-powered Palmeiras attack.

That 4-2-3-1 formation did little to neutralise the attack of Verdao, however, who had nearly 60% possession and eight shots on target, four more than Bahia.

Wednesday will be their first of three league games in a week which will be a daunting challenge, but at the same time, it is also an opportunity to collect a lot of points seeing as they face two sides in America Mineiro and Chapecoense, who are both winless.

Then they follow that up with a match against Juventude, who are in the bottom half of the table heading into this week with nine points.

The first taste of top-flight football since 2018 for America has been anything but memorable thus far, as the side from Belo Horizonte are currently on a collision course for a return back into the second tier of Brazilian football.

It seemed like their fortunes would change on Sunday as they were 13 minutes away from three points before Rodrigo Dourado finally found an equaliser for Internacional.

Manager Vagner Mancini has seen his team execute a solid game plan through large stretches of their league matches before fatigue seems to get the best of them as a match wears on.

In three of their seven fixtures, they have been in a position to either win or earn a point but have only come away with a single point, losing to Atletico Paranaense with less than five minutes remaining before conceding with less than 15 minutes to play in their last outing, a 1-1 draw.

Mancini likes to focus on a solid game in the middle of the park, employing five midfielders in a different type of formation, which has helped keep their games close, but that strategy has made it very difficult for their lone striker to have many scoring opportunities.

Team News

Defender Luiz Otavio and striker Maycon Douglas both notched their first league goals for Bahia over the weekend in a losing effort.

Their leading goalscorer, Gilberto, who has four league goals, has not found the back of the net in his last three Serie A matches, while Rossi is usually the provider with three assists so far, which puts him in a tie for third in the league.

Ribamar started as the lone striker over the weekend for America and scored his first goal of the season, while their regular striker Rodolfo and Felipe Azevedo played on the wings with Ze Ricardo featuring as a holding midfielder.

Ricardo Silva is suspended following his expulsion in their last home match against Juventude, while Luiz Fernando and Marlon missed the game on Sunday with injuries.

Bahia possible starting lineup:
Teixeira; Ruiz, Juninho, Fonseca, Guedes; Daniel, Jonas; Thaciano, Araujo, Rossi; Gilberto

America Mineiro possible starting lineup:
Cavichioli; Eduardo, Sabino, Anderson, Ruschel; Ale, Yan; Geovane, Gustavinho, Rodolfo; Ribamar

We say: Bahia 2-0 America Mineiro

Bahia have points in three of their four home fixtures, scoring six goals in their opening two matches, which included a 3-3 draw with the current league leaders Red Bull Bragantino.

America have yet to earn a point on the road, losing all four of their matches, having been shut out in three of those four fixtures, firing five shots or fewer on target in every one of those encounters.