While qualification matches dominate the week in Europe across a frequently unappealing slog of fixtures, a friendly with much more evident glamour will take place in Miami on Saturday.

Fresh from winning the Copa America for a ninth time this summer, Brazil, who lie second in the FIFA World Ranking, host Colombia, who reached the quarter-finals and are currently just six places behind them, ahead of the likes of Spain and South American rivals Argentina.

Brazil

Successful runs are nothing new to Brazil but their current sequence of 16 matches unbeaten encapsulates the almost unblemished run former Corinthians coach Tite has led them on since he succeeded Dunga in 2016.

Their defeat at the quarter-final stage of last summer's World Cup to Belgium - the only side ahead of them in the world rankings - is their only loss in 32, and the penalty they conceded against Peru during their 3-1 Copa America final win is the only time any of their last eight opponents have scored against them.

By Tite's own admission, Copa America glory was the only way to exorcise the demons of a World Cup exit that was Brazil's fourth successive departure at the tournament to a European side, causing serious grumblings of discontent among supporters back home.

Starting against Colombia, Brazil's run of friendlies are a chance to work out how to avoid similar anguish in Qatar and, Tite will hope, prepare for a serious tilt at winning the World Cup in 2022.

This is a time of transition for Brazil, partly because of the need to bring through a new generation to replace established members of the squad who will be in their mid-30s by the time of the World Cup.

The likes of Flamengo's Luis Filipe, Manchester City's Fernandinho and Chelsea's Willian are all likely to be past their peak by the time of the tournament, leading Tite to make changes and refresh his options.

Three young strikers are integral to their hopes. David Neres, who featured in Ajax's run to the Champions League semi-finals last year, is 22, as is Richarlison, who was Everton's joint leading marksman last year.

Great expectations have also been inherited by Vinicius Junior, the 19-year-old who has been linked with a loan move away from Real Madrid in order to hasten his development.

Recent form: WWDWDW

Colombia

The Copa America quarter-finalists are on a reasonable run of their own, losing just one of their last 11 matches over 90 minutes.

Both of their tournament exits came on penalties, missing their final spot kick in a 5-4 Copa America defeat to Chile following a comeback by England in a shootout that sent them out in the knockout stages of the World Cup.

Coach Carlos Queiroz will take charge of his 200th international match when he steps out at the Hard Rock Stadium, having led Iran for almost half of those (99), as well as Portugal 49 times and spells leading South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

In eight games in charge of his current side, Queiroz's only normal-time defeat was the 2-1 reverse in a friendly in South Korea in March.

The former Real Madrid coach and Manchester United assistant has never won a major trophy with a national side but has an impressive record of just 33 defeats in his long career as an international manager, overseeing well over twice as many goals as his teams have conceded.

In his first role in South America, Queiroz is thought to be taking a meeting with the continent's most vaunted side seriously as he continues to make tweaks to his starting lineup.

His team performed resolutely to keep clean sheets in their four Copa America matches. Goals would appear to be the problem - they only managed four in the tournament, two of which came against an uncharacteristically porous Argentina in the opening match.

Colombia will also play Venezuela in Tampa on Wednesday before returning to Florida in November to take on Peru as their preparations intensify for their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Recent form: DWWWWW

Team News

Queiroz has enforced absences in attack, where neither Galatasaray striker Radamel Falcao nor Real Madrid forward James Rodriguez are part of his squad.

Rodriguez has a calf injury and has even been at the centre of stories questioning his professionalism amid mounting speculation that Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane is seeking to swiftly move him on from the Bernabeu.

Colombia have called up Duvan Zapata, Rafael Santos Borre, Luis Muriel and Roger Martinez as they look to add to their meagre return of two goals in more than five hours of football.

Zapata led the line in muscular style during the Copa America, scoring the only goal of the game against Qatar following a season with Atalanta in Serie A in which the imposing striker scored in eight successive matches at one point, briefly putting him level with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo at the top of the scoring charts in Italy.

The most high-profile inclusion in Brazil's squad is the headline-grabbing Neymar, who missed the Copa America through injury.

Tite has decided not to include any players who are involved in the Brazilian cup, which means there are no players in his squad from Gremio, Internacional, Athletico Paranaense or Cruzeiro.

The gesture means that Gremio's Leonardo Gomes, who is one of the players vying to succeed Dani Alves at right-back, will miss out, as will left-winger Everton.

Alves is one of only two players aged 30 or over still in the squad, although Tite would have been hard-pressed to leave out the stand-out player of the Copa America triumph.

Brazil possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Alves, Marquinhos, Samir, Thiago Silva; Coutinho, Allan, Fabinho; Neymar, Firmino, Neres

Colombia possible starting lineup:
Chaux; Borja, Medina, Sanchez, Tesillo; Diaz, Moreno, Lerma, Uribe; Martinez, Zapata

Head To Head

Although the setting of the 65,000-capacity US stadium could be something of a leveller, Colombia's record against Brazil is not one Queiroz will want to study too closely should he be looking for indicators that his milestone match will end in a famous scalp.

Brazil have lost just three of the 31 matches they have played against Colombia, winning three out of the four friendlies they have played since a 1-0 win for the underdogs in 1985.

Although Colombia have only won this fixture once in 18 attempts since 1991, that win was a significant Copa America group stage victory by the only goal of the game in 2015.

Brazil were suffering a malaise at the time and both sides were subsequently knocked out on penalties in their first knockout matches - Brazil to Paraguay, Colombia against Argentina.

We say: Brazil 2-1 Colombia

A neutral venue and two squads undergoing necessary transitions towards younger personnel could create an element of experimentation from both coaches here, as well as enhanced motivation among unknown quantities on the fringes of either side.

Brazil have enough menace in attack to breach an uncharitable Colombia defence, but expect Los Cafeteros to make it difficult in a fixture that has not been decided by more than a goal on the last 11 occasions - stretching back to 2003.