2014 FIFA World Cup Brasil™ - Germany win again

[George Bailey]

Such hyperbole. Because lovely, pretty Brazil dare to be aggressive they're now a bunch of hackers?

 

They've not played as well as they potentially could have, that's for sure. But a) they haven't played that badly either and b) as I think Tooj pointed out, this team aren't going to go all joga bonito on you, even if they have some clearly quality players.

Not often I read anything by Neil and disagree.

 

This Brazil side are a pale shadow and they have employed some very aggressive and dirty tactics (classic Scolari).

Fernhandinho in particular, but not him alone.

Think Vickery is spot on when he says they no longer win with flow and rhythm, but with moments. I don't even see them playing that way, haven't for ages tbh.

Yeah Neymar is decent and if given a freerer reign the likes of Oscar and even Hulk could contribute to a much more attractive style.

 

For me that's what has been impressive about Colombia,Costa Rica France, Chile, hell even Australia and the USA, during the tournament. Fast, attractive. open football.

 

Not hyperbole to say this is a poor side, with very dubious qualities and a strong arm approach imo...Playing like the Dutch of the last wc final. (fucking hate the Dutch, which is my irrational thing )

 

Would have loved France, Colombia, Costa Rica to have made it..

[Guest ManDoon]

Couldn't give a fuck if they reach the final as they are hosts. It's a knockout competition. suck it up. I find it odd that people are defending the stuff that gets regularly castigated in the premier league and rightfully so. It's nothing to do with history, it's hatchet man football, it's grim to watch and it shouldn't be rewarded.

 

They've easily got the players not to do that. They chose not to.

[Neil]

See, I'm not disagreeing with much of what you've said. They do win with moments instead of a repetitive flow and smoothness to their game. I just take issue with them merely being a bunch of hackers, which they aren't.

 

Where Brazil have been "shown up" is seeing teams with considerably less talented players employ a more open style of play and although everyone knows the Brazil of the past 20 years, give or take a few performances as exceptions, aren't anywhere near the same style of the classic 70s/80s sides, the football they've played relative to the quality they have in their side has been disappointing and not befitting of a country which prides itself on how they play just as much - if not more - than if they win.

 

Colombia progressing would have been great because most people didn't expect them to play so well this tournament. It's the other sides catching up to the 'benchmark' of Brazil which has turned general opinion perhaps against them a bit more, I think. The current standard Brazil are playing at is pretty much what it's been like for as long as I can remember, in terms of the recent past.

 

I don't think they're just a team of hackers, though. Aggressive, yes. Overly aggressive at times? Yes. But there's clearly more to them than that.

 

I will however be interested to see how they approach the Germany game, now that the one man who was capable of stereotypically top-drawer Brazilian flair is crocked.

[George Bailey]

Fair point.

I certainly wouldn't say they are 'just a bunch of hackers', clearly they have some quality. The fact that someone as abjectly ordinary as Fred can get a run of games, with Jo being the alternative speaks volumes for me. Neither fit to wear the shirt imo.

 

Must be tough for them in many ways, comparisons always being drawn, but that's part of Brazils legacy. For a while they were the worlds side in many ways, an aspiration, much like Kinnear and Pardews Newcastle.

 

I agree that for years Brazil have been a shadow of the 70 and 82 sides, maybe they will never reach that again tbh.

 

Thing for me is that the greatest side/team I ever saw  was the 72/74/76 German sides, they were my icons...and I find it hard to say that the Spain side of 08/10/12 did what they didn't in terms of winning....and with a style eclipsing the Germans. So the poor Brazilian lads are on a bit of a hiding when held up to Zico, Eder, Rivalinho, Pele et al...

 

Just wish they would play a bit more, cos they have the players who can imo....

 

 

[TRon]

Brazil are not the fluent team that they used to be, but they do still have some highly talented players, and with Neymar they would in there with Germany, Holland and Argentina as probable winners. But when I say I am disappointed, it's more from a spectacle pov, as the home fans delirium has been a big part of the show.

[Incognito]

Even the great Brazil sides had the aggressive side to their game.  They've never been soft touches which has been the let down for many flair teams of the past.

[Guest ManDoon]

My point is more that they don't need to play this way. Whatever you think of that style it was a disgrace last night, ridiculous. If nufc had played stoke and they'd done that to Ben Arfa we'd be fuming and rightly so:

[The Prophet]

The issue for Brazil is they have no body who can turn the game from back to front so they look incredibly methodical and even predictable when coming forward. Oscar seems to be attempting to play that role but he's been incredibly poor to date. Having said that the attack.on the whole had look disjointed. Paulinho has barely contributed, Fred has been laughably bad and Hulk has displayed no intelligence or footballing brain in his game at all. It's down to the manager to address that.

 

As for targeting players, a few teams have been at it thus tournament. As I said previously a lot of people, myself included enjoyed watching Chilie but they were as bad as anyone for it. I'm not condoning it it seems people seem to pick and choose when they notice sides having a dig.

[Sifu]

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02965/rodriguez1_2965188b.jpg

 

Seriously What..the f***.

 

Fuck that.

 

:yaocliffjump:

[George Bailey]

Saw that this morning, fucking huge thing!!

He ran back kissing his arm, after the penalty and that thing was clinging to him :lol:

He didn't seem to mind or even notice...top lad wor Jimmy.

[LRD]

http://i.imgur.com/J08o13U.png?1

 

Gago dropped.

[Taylor Swift]

There is so much pace in Belgium's team.

[Rich]

There is so much pace in Belgium's team.

 

At the top of the pitch, yeah. On the whole definitely not.

[Deuce]

Going with Lukaku as a super sub again. I thought Origi was rather unimpressive against the U.S.

[geordiedean]

Chiles throwing the papers on the floor fat littering cunt

[Tooj]

[George Bailey]

Hope Belgium step up here

Been a bit disappointing, even with the victories for me.

They should be a pulsating side with all that talent....

[Ketsbaia]

I fear for Argentina today The only hope is that Belgium don't resort to Iran/Switzerland's way of handling Messi, which could be their downfall.

 

Even if they get past Belgium, I fancy a Germany v Holland final.

[Unbelievable]

I have no idea what I should be hoping for from this match. I think Argentina are the better side, so avoiding them would be good, but I don't believe Holland will be good enough to beat either (providing we get passed Costa Rica, which is not exactly a given evidently), and it would be much worse if neighboring country Belgium beat us to progress to a World Cup final. It would be much more nerve wracking having to play "little brother" Belgium than "big favourite" Argentina. Ideal scenario would be Belgium beat the Argies, we beat Costa Rica, then we beat the Belgians in the semis, but that would be to good to be true..

[geordiedean]

Strachan putting one past Kevin Carr there

[The Prophet]

I think thus could be another one to go the distance. Both sides gave been disappointing to date.

 

Would still love to see a German - Dutch final.

[Deuce]

RIO DE JANEIRO — A Colombian defender named Juan Camilo Zuniga ended the World Cup for the Brazilian star Neymar on Friday with a nasty knee into Neymar’s back that fractured one of the striker’s vertebrae. It was an ugly play and a bad foul. It deserved, at least, a yellow card.

 

Yet within any game there is always a road map to every flashpoint. The beauty of soccer’s continuous flow is that one thing leads to another (and another and another), and that makes it possible to trace a path to a game’s most memorable moment. In a game like Friday’s, doing so makes it easier to see where things went wrong.

 

So what happened to Neymar? How did the face of this tournament end up in a hospital? Brazilian fans will not like to hear it, but while Zuniga was directly responsible for causing Neymar’s injury, Neymar’s teammates — specifically Fernandinho, though there were others — as well as the referee, Carlos Velasco Carballo, deserve their share of the blame, too. They did not commit the crime, but they contributed to an environment of lawlessness that led to Neymar being battered.

 

If that sounds harsh, consider that Brazil’s coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, made a point of saying before the game that there was no historical rivalry between Brazil and Colombia and that games between the teams are “friendly matches.” Thiago Silva, the captain, said that playing against Colombia’s considerable skill players would make for a cleaner, more fluid game.

 

Yet from the first minute it appeared that Brazil was determined to play the game cynically, tripping and pushing and kicking at Colombia’s players, especially James Rodriguez, the team’s wunderkind scorer. Colombia, on the other hand, seemed almost deferential at first. When Neymar went off on a spirited run six minutes into the game, the Colombian defenders did little to try to knock him off stride, let alone scythe him to the ground as previous opponents had done. He ran freely.

 

When Rodriguez went to claim the ball a few minutes later, however, Brazil’s Oscar ran right into Rodriguez’s back as if to make clear to the Colombian that no space on the Fortaleza field would be a safe space. Rodriguez’s teammates were understandably upset, but there was no retaliation — the feeling of violence in the game, especially early on, came almost exclusively from Brazil.

 

Two minutes after Oscar’s foul, Marcelo blasted the Colombian midfielder Juan Cuadrado. Three minutes after that, Fernandinho, a midfielder who often plays with an edge, slammed into Rodriguez again. Velasco Carballo blew his whistle and called a foul but did not show Fernandinho a yellow card.

 

This quickly became a recurrent theme. Soccer referees will often show yellow cards to players for “persistent infringement” of the rules, a phrase that generally means players who commit three or four serious fouls. Fernandinho was called for four fouls in just the first half of the game, three of which were significant hacks at Rodriguez. But Velasco Carballo gave him no sanction.

 

This was not a new role for Fernandinho. He committed six fouls in Brazil’s previous game (or two more than the number of passes he completed), a difficult victory over Chile in a shootout. Of course, as Scolari noted, that game was between heated rivals. Colombia and Brazil were supposed to be more copacetic.

 

Despite that, the temperature of the game continued to rise in the second half and, again, it was Brazil doing most of the stoking. David Luiz blatantly tripped Cuadrado in the first minute after intermission (Velasco Carballo completely missed it). Fernandinho slyly pushed Adrian Ramos into the sign boards behind the end line as the two chased a ball that was undoubtedly going out of play anyway.

 

In all, Brazil committed nine of the first 11 fouls in the second half, hacking and pounding on the Colombians despite already holding a 1-0 lead. It was not hard to predict that at some point, Brazil’s star, Neymar, would become a target.

 

It was in the 57th minute, though, when the match began to boil over. The Colombians had continued to mostly sit back and take the punishment, but they were clearly infuriated when Thiago Silva crushed Ramos from behind as he came toward a ball. Velasco Carballo, again, declined to whistle a foul. The Colombians’ ire was raised even more 10 minutes later when the referee showed a yellow card to Rodriguez — who was apoplectic at the decision — for an innocuous trip that was, as Rodriguez vociferously pointed out with multiple hand gestures, a relative first offense compared with Fernandinho’s harrying.

 

“I think the referee influenced the game a lot,” Rodriguez said afterward.

 

He was being kind. Velasco Carballo’s role in the ugliness cannot be minimized. A Spaniard, he is known as a high-level official but it seemed clear that he was determined to avoid using cards to control the players. That decision backfired, particularly as it related to Fernandinho; instead of giving the players a comfort level to play more freely early on, his leniency served as an elastic band on the game, encouraging the players, especially the Brazilians, to try to see just how much contact they could get away with on Rodriguez without being punished.

 

It was a poor miscalculation from Velasco Carballo, and one he compounded by not adjusting as the game progressed. His culpability is impossible to ignore.

 

Yet neither is that of the Brazilians who, emboldened, continued to chop. The Colombians took a few shots in return, though nothing compared to, say, Chile or earlier Brazil opponents, who clearly had a plan to target Neymar. By the time the game reached its closing moments, the Colombians — who saw Brazil commit 31 of the tournament-high 54 fouls in the game — surely felt they were owed the proverbial pound of flesh.

 

They got it, then, with Zuniga’s challenge on Neymar, though it is hard to believe Zuniga was looking to cause the sort of damage he inflicted. Taking a whack at an attacking player who is awaiting a bouncing or floating ball is standard fare: Rodriguez was hit high, low and in between multiple times on Friday. In the 87th minute, the ball came near, Zuniga put his knee into Neymar’s back and Neymar crumpled, his World Cup suddenly over.

 

It was unfortunate and sad and, afterward, Scolari and other Brazilian officials were incensed. Much of their frustration was directed at Zuniga, with the rest being sent toward the referee.

 

“Everybody knew that Neymar would be hunted,” Scolari said. “It’s been happening in the last three matches and we had been talking about it. But nobody listens to us.”

 

Those emotions were understandable. But if Scolari was truly being honest with himself, he must look inward too. Brazil has not showcased jogo bonito here, has not displayed the “beautiful game” that it is known for playing. It has played ugly and rugged and rough.

 

That is Scolari’s choice. And on Friday it was Scolari’s own players — Neymar’s teammates — who created the environment that ultimately sent Brazil’s superstar home.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/sports/worldcup/for-bellicose-brazil-payback-carries-heavy-price-loss-of-neymar.html?smid=tw-share

[nemtizz]

Argie anthem is dope.

[Beren]

Messi hattrick please.

[Unbelievable]

RIO DE JANEIRO — A Colombian defender named Juan Camilo Zuniga ended the World Cup for the Brazilian star Neymar on Friday with a nasty knee into Neymar’s back that fractured one of the striker’s vertebrae. It was an ugly play and a bad foul. It deserved, at least, a yellow card.

 

Yet within any game there is always a road map to every flashpoint. The beauty of soccer’s continuous flow is that one thing leads to another (and another and another), and that makes it possible to trace a path to a game’s most memorable moment. In a game like Friday’s, doing so makes it easier to see where things went wrong.

 

So what happened to Neymar? How did the face of this tournament end up in a hospital? Brazilian fans will not like to hear it, but while Zuniga was directly responsible for causing Neymar’s injury, Neymar’s teammates — specifically Fernandinho, though there were others — as well as the referee, Carlos Velasco Carballo, deserve their share of the blame, too. They did not commit the crime, but they contributed to an environment of lawlessness that led to Neymar being battered.

 

If that sounds harsh, consider that Brazil’s coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, made a point of saying before the game that there was no historical rivalry between Brazil and Colombia and that games between the teams are “friendly matches.” Thiago Silva, the captain, said that playing against Colombia’s considerable skill players would make for a cleaner, more fluid game.

 

Yet from the first minute it appeared that Brazil was determined to play the game cynically, tripping and pushing and kicking at Colombia’s players, especially James Rodriguez, the team’s wunderkind scorer. Colombia, on the other hand, seemed almost deferential at first. When Neymar went off on a spirited run six minutes into the game, the Colombian defenders did little to try to knock him off stride, let alone scythe him to the ground as previous opponents had done. He ran freely.

 

When Rodriguez went to claim the ball a few minutes later, however, Brazil’s Oscar ran right into Rodriguez’s back as if to make clear to the Colombian that no space on the Fortaleza field would be a safe space. Rodriguez’s teammates were understandably upset, but there was no retaliation — the feeling of violence in the game, especially early on, came almost exclusively from Brazil.

 

Two minutes after Oscar’s foul, Marcelo blasted the Colombian midfielder Juan Cuadrado. Three minutes after that, Fernandinho, a midfielder who often plays with an edge, slammed into Rodriguez again. Velasco Carballo blew his whistle and called a foul but did not show Fernandinho a yellow card.

 

This quickly became a recurrent theme. Soccer referees will often show yellow cards to players for “persistent infringement” of the rules, a phrase that generally means players who commit three or four serious fouls. Fernandinho was called for four fouls in just the first half of the game, three of which were significant hacks at Rodriguez. But Velasco Carballo gave him no sanction.

 

This was not a new role for Fernandinho. He committed six fouls in Brazil’s previous game (or two more than the number of passes he completed), a difficult victory over Chile in a shootout. Of course, as Scolari noted, that game was between heated rivals. Colombia and Brazil were supposed to be more copacetic.

 

Despite that, the temperature of the game continued to rise in the second half and, again, it was Brazil doing most of the stoking. David Luiz blatantly tripped Cuadrado in the first minute after intermission (Velasco Carballo completely missed it). Fernandinho slyly pushed Adrian Ramos into the sign boards behind the end line as the two chased a ball that was undoubtedly going out of play anyway.

 

In all, Brazil committed nine of the first 11 fouls in the second half, hacking and pounding on the Colombians despite already holding a 1-0 lead. It was not hard to predict that at some point, Brazil’s star, Neymar, would become a target.

 

It was in the 57th minute, though, when the match began to boil over. The Colombians had continued to mostly sit back and take the punishment, but they were clearly infuriated when Thiago Silva crushed Ramos from behind as he came toward a ball. Velasco Carballo, again, declined to whistle a foul. The Colombians’ ire was raised even more 10 minutes later when the referee showed a yellow card to Rodriguez — who was apoplectic at the decision — for an innocuous trip that was, as Rodriguez vociferously pointed out with multiple hand gestures, a relative first offense compared with Fernandinho’s harrying.

 

“I think the referee influenced the game a lot,” Rodriguez said afterward.

 

He was being kind. Velasco Carballo’s role in the ugliness cannot be minimized. A Spaniard, he is known as a high-level official but it seemed clear that he was determined to avoid using cards to control the players. That decision backfired, particularly as it related to Fernandinho; instead of giving the players a comfort level to play more freely early on, his leniency served as an elastic band on the game, encouraging the players, especially the Brazilians, to try to see just how much contact they could get away with on Rodriguez without being punished.

 

It was a poor miscalculation from Velasco Carballo, and one he compounded by not adjusting as the game progressed. His culpability is impossible to ignore.

 

Yet neither is that of the Brazilians who, emboldened, continued to chop. The Colombians took a few shots in return, though nothing compared to, say, Chile or earlier Brazil opponents, who clearly had a plan to target Neymar. By the time the game reached its closing moments, the Colombians — who saw Brazil commit 31 of the tournament-high 54 fouls in the game — surely felt they were owed the proverbial pound of flesh.

 

They got it, then, with Zuniga’s challenge on Neymar, though it is hard to believe Zuniga was looking to cause the sort of damage he inflicted. Taking a whack at an attacking player who is awaiting a bouncing or floating ball is standard fare: Rodriguez was hit high, low and in between multiple times on Friday. In the 87th minute, the ball came near, Zuniga put his knee into Neymar’s back and Neymar crumpled, his World Cup suddenly over.

 

It was unfortunate and sad and, afterward, Scolari and other Brazilian officials were incensed. Much of their frustration was directed at Zuniga, with the rest being sent toward the referee.

 

“Everybody knew that Neymar would be hunted,” Scolari said. “It’s been happening in the last three matches and we had been talking about it. But nobody listens to us.”

 

Those emotions were understandable. But if Scolari was truly being honest with himself, he must look inward too. Brazil has not showcased jogo bonito here, has not displayed the “beautiful game” that it is known for playing. It has played ugly and rugged and rough.

 

That is Scolari’s choice. And on Friday it was Scolari’s own players — Neymar’s teammates — who created the environment that ultimately sent Brazil’s superstar home.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/sports/worldcup/for-bellicose-brazil-payback-carries-heavy-price-loss-of-neymar.html?smid=tw-share

 

Excellent analysis that