Flip

The one that didn't score four against Tahiti ffs

The whole spine of the team has been exceptional. I don't think I could choose a MoM. The referee has allowed them to foul rather consistently without retribution. You expect them to get decisions in that atmosphere, but it has been a great advantage for their back six, imo. We just completely look past two fouls which one at least must be a red card. Spains whole back four could with the great advantage you suggest we had been sent off today. (except Alba)

I'd hope not I hope some other team beats you, I don't ever want to play against Iniesta and Spain again, because no matter how shit you were today, the quality is there.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xOnMm_HrFWQ/Sk1ozCKMLPI/AAAAAAAAIGQ/9LlWI2dE-4k/s400/Brasil+campe%C3%A3o.jpg Enjoyed this more than I ever imagine I would playing Spain. Completely nullified anything Spain was about and hopefully we showed other teams how to do it. 4 times Confederation Cup Champions!

Brazil doing well. Only first half though. Spain could've easily be one man down or two if the ref would be an equal dick the other way.

How isn't Arbeloa sent off there is beyond me. Neymar was free on goal...

Anyone see the two who were part of the ceremony earlier all of the sudden hold out a banner with protest message Both dressed as footballs all of the sudden just stood up with a banner Organizers just ran at them and then escorted them out.

If he does that and someone call it a fluke they're fucking idiots. Been man of the match for three of four games and in the fourth game he was involved heavily in both goals.

The fans are feisty, ready to see blood Which they will then boo.

The fans are feisty, ready to see blood The Brazil crowds have been booing us like we were the nWo, all tournament long. FFS we didn't even colonize this country. It's not really booing you guys though, in Brazil we always cheer for the weaker team if it's not our own. So in this case Spain has no one who is worse than them.

?? He's signed for them though.

The fans are feisty, ready to see blood

We have never beat them in a competitive match either. Well both will probably be broken today so. I don't see us winning and in a way I hope we lose (even though I'll be cheering as a madman for us to win). But I think a loss would do the world of good for us since there's a lot of improving to do until next year as well as creating a sense of revenge for next year. I also think a win might make Scolari a bit comfortable with his lineups but there's still a lot to change both in the starting lineup (Hulk and Oscar have to be careful) as well as the reserves. Rever, Jadson, Jean, Jo, Hernanes, Fernando, Cavalieri are all players I hope won't get called up to next season. Dede for Rever Ronaldinho/Coutinho/Kaka for Jadson (Coutinho for me can be a player if he plays like he did for Liverpool can come in and be one of the biggest surprise in World Cup history) Rafael for Jean Ramires for Hernanes (hasn't really worked in that position) Sandro for Fernando Diego Alves for Cavalieri

Feeling we will go out aggressive and trying to do a bit of what Paraguay did defensively in 2010 but with more quality up top then them. Niggling fouls, aggressive pressure and offensively trying to hold on to the ball as much as possible. Might get ugly especially with Luiz, Marcelo and Dani who like to anticipate plays and when they fail make bad tackles. Hope it's a good game!

Don't you mean Chelsea mate But yeah i agree although i doubt they would sign Eriksen, Henrikh and Bernard. 2 out of those 3 at best IMO. Right, sorry about that wasn't really thinking about it. Thing is Eriksen/Reus/Bernard/Henrikh/Kuba could all play behind the striker while Reus could probably plays as a lone striker if Lewan gets injured. In the end it obviously depends on the price. I think Götze for Henrikh & Bernard/Eriksen would still be a bit of a disappointment.

I'd love if they signed Henrikh (becasue De Bruyne is apparently staying at Shaktar) and then went after Eriksen and Bernard. They'd be much better off even without Götze. 3 very good highly talented players for the price of one very good player. Götze is probably better than all three but you still need depth.

Spain will still win sunday, but after not being impressed by them in their last two games I think it can be a close game. But if they play like they did against Uruguay we're done early.

Championship.

Which of Italy's best players were missing? Pirlo & De Rossi were the obvious ones which I mentioned. If anyone says Barzagli I'll kill them as I've rarely seen an as mistake prone defender as him and David Luiz in this tournament. Montolivo went out after 25, but we played our best football when he was on the field. If anything, Giaccherini has been one of their better players of late and he came in because of Montolivos injury. We also had to change our ways with Hernanes for Paulinho and that changed the dynamic of our team yet we scored four goals and conceded two stupid sloppy goals. I don't really see Italy as a top 5 team in the world, I think Uruguay would have them in their pockets even with that shit midfield of theirs. About Oscar going down doesn't mean we'll necessarily struggle to create. It's more his position that's the problem, you could always play someone else there. Bernard/Lucas for him and Neymar centrally is one option. What I was saying is that you thought we need to move Hulk out of the team to create, but the problem lies within Oscar and his position, not because of his ability but because that's the man who should create. Kaka/Ronaldinho () are players who could do a job there if there's a problem to Oscar. Ronaldinho has been great for Atletico (better than Bernard, but he doesn't seem to give a shit when he plays for the national team) and Kaka could wake up with a move and better if he could stay injury free. We're still a loooong way to go before reaching a World Cup final yet semi-final. But to suggest that Italy who we in the last 5 months have played 180minutes against and have outplayed for 75% or so is beyond me. Don't forget we drew 2-2 against them with their best players and we absolutely dominated them for 45 minutes before crashing mentally in the 2nd half.

Right 3 goals conceded in 4 games and an average of ball possession around the 65% mark and we're not good in keeping possession. I was really too focussed on the wife analogy, which admittedly fell flat on its face. I tried. You know I'm quite in love with you.

Italy without Balotelli? There's no way, they don't have a team, they have a good midfield but their defense and non-Balotelli strikers aren't up for it. I predict 2/3-0 tomorrow and then Sunday you'll win 2-0/1. Just hope we don't get humiliated, which won't happen as long as Thiago Silva doesn't have a day like this (the worst game I've ever seen him play today).

You, Germany and Argentina are the only teams that are better than us for me. Obviously France, Italy, Netherlands, England, Portugal could beat anyone on a given day because of the individual abilities of their players. But we look scrappy yet we dominate possession. And as for Neymar, you're going to love him. He's a cunt on the field like I've said many times, but it's a player you love if he's on your team except when he dwells on the ball. I don't agree with everything in your post. First of all, we just beat Italy 4-2 without playing our best and without two starters out just like Italy. Second of all, our lack of creativity is solely down to the disappearance of Oscar and nothing of what you have suggested. Hulk works hard but he's not the problem why we don't create, it's because Oscar has been completely knackered for every game thus far. Lastly, I kind of agree as we do look disjointed because it's a new team but we have still outplayed for large parts every team in this competition until now and having Italy above us who we just beat and were for 75% of the game outplaying is beyond me. We're in a fast-track renewal mode, Scolari entered and had to change a lot. Only reason I think we can beat anyone is because of him, he's a knockout phase genius due to his motivational personality. He put Bernard on as it was his hometeams stadium, he could've easily put Lucas on, but he chose Bernard and the whole stadium woke up. Right 3 goals conceded in 4 games and an average of ball possession around the 65% mark and we're not good in keeping possession. We do have one or two idiotic defensive plays though, but you see Spain doing the same except they don't get punished, sometimes it's all about momentum and luck at times like those. All I ask for now is that Spain wins against Italy and doesn't humiliate us. I'm scared of winning this tourny and relaxing till next year, we need to remember that there's a huge lot to improve, but a good team is a team that wins even when it's not playing at it's best.

Worst part is that when he doesn't go into a game like that he's pretty much an excellent CB. It's like he's got something loose in his head.

Uruguay is doing what works with the players they have. Only two players can save them now, Lodeiro and David Luiz.

Harsh Fred would probably score enough in the PL too. Don't underestimate his abilities, at Lyon he was scoring freely as well until being hit by injuries. In Brazil he's been the top scorer for couple of seasons now. There's a reason to why he was called up in the 2006 world cup when we had plenty of good players around (individually obviously). And how can anyone think it was a red on Luiz Gustavo is beyond me. He kicked the ball, there's no way he can change the direction of his leg there, for me the ref lost it there because he wasn't blowing for a foul until the Uruguayan started running at him. Also Cavani should've been off already. And finally, DAVID LUIZ :anguish: