Monterrey will take on Al Jazira Club at the Club World Cup on Wednesday evening to determine which club claims fifth place in this year's competition.
Al Jazira were beaten 6-1 by Al Hilal in the second round of the competition, while Monterrey lost at the same stage of the tournament to semi-finalists Al Ahly.
Match preview
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Monterrey were unable to book their spot in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup, suffering a 1-0 loss to Al Ahly on Saturday, with Mohamed Hany netting early in the second half to decide the contest.
The Mexican outfit qualified for the competition by winning the CONCACAF Champions League, and they are competing in this particular tournament for the fifth time, the last of which was in 2019.
It was always going to be a big ask for Javier Aguirre's side to make a serious competition in this year's Club World Cup, but they will certainly want to go out on a high on Wednesday evening.
Monterrey will quickly switch their attention back to their domestic league, though, facing Puebla on February 19, and they will be bidding to continue their unbeaten start to their Liga MX campaign.
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Al Jazira, meanwhile, suffered a heavy defeat in the last round of the competition, conceding six times against Al-Hilal, who have progressed to the semi-finals to take on Chelsea.
The winners of the 2020-21 UAE Pro League actually took the lead against Al-Hilal, making the breakthrough in the 14th minute of the contest through Abdoulay Diaby, but they then conceded six times without reply, with former Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo among the scorers.
Al Jazira played the first match of this season's tournament, beating AS Pirae 4-1, but the hosts were unable to build on that result in the second-round contest.
Al Ankabout, who are three-time winners of the UAE Pro League, will be desperate to claim fifth position in the tournament and end their campaign on a high, before resuming their league season against Al Dhafra on February 15.
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Team News
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Monterrey have no fresh injury concerns from their clash with Al Ahly, so it would not be a surprise to see a similar side take to the field for this match.
Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Vincent Janssen was only a substitute in the last round but could now come into the starting side, potentially joining Rogelio Funes Mori in the final third.
Joel Campbell, who previously played for Arsenal, will also be in the squad, but the attacker is expected to be among the substitutes once again.
As for Al Jazira, head coach Marcel Keizer is again expected to send his side out in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Diaby featuring on the left for the Abu Dhabi outfit.
Khalifa Mubarak should also retain his spot in the starting side, with Joao Victor operating as the number 10 behind centre-forward Ahmed Al Attas.
Oumar Traore and Ali Mabkhout were substitutes in the clash with Al-Hilal and will hope to earn more minutes in Wednesday's contest with Monterrey.
Monterrey possible starting lineup:
Andrada; Aguirre, Kranevitter, Moreno, Vegas; Ortiz, Romo; Meza, Janssen, Pizarro; Funes Mori
Al Jazira Club possible starting lineup:
Khaseif; Rabii, Kosanovic, Al Attas, Idrees; Ramadan, Serero; Diaby, Joao Victor, Mubarak; Al Attas
We say: Monterrey 2-1 Al Jazira Club
Neither side can progress any further in the competition, but it is still an important match, and we are expecting a close game. Al Jazira are certainly capable of winning, but Monterrey have a lot of talent in the final third, and we fancy the Mexican club to record a 2-1 victory on Wednesday.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Monterrey win with a probability of 51.01%. A draw had a probability of 28.9% and a win for Al Jazira Club had a probability of 20.08%.
The most likely scoreline for a Monterrey win was 1-0 with a probability of 17.55%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.43%) and 2-1 (8.03%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 0-0 (13.46%), while for an Al Jazira Club win it was 0-1 (9.45%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 3.5% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Monterrey would win this match.
