World Cup: Group A discussion

What was Felipao thinking? We're not stacked like Germany to get away with these awful team selection and substitutions. Paulinho has been worse than useless and Bernard is a Shaktar reject while Fernandinho and William remain in the bench. Unbelievable.

As for Mexico, I don't know if they always play that way but it was smart to try all of those long distance shots. I don't trust JC at all.

cant see how we have a problem creating chances when Ochoa was MOTM and we started with Ramires on the RW where you at Hulk haters?


this isn't a bad result, only in 2002 and 1970 a NT won the WC winning every match

must admit we were really sub-par though.Mexico weren't good either tbh, they only kept taking long shots

we do try lots of long shots, especially marco fabian (the 8 that came in as a sub)

had to be said though Thiago Silva is carrying his defence on his back.. i mean i expected him to have atleast some help from 50m partner or the best leftback in the world

fernandinho should start by now.

Juveman17 wrote:Brazil isnt winning the WC. Simply arent good enough.

I bet this was said about Italy and France in 2006.... Spain started incredibly slow in 2010 and 2012 and people criticized them but yet they still won.

Its not wise to overreact to group stage performances as more often than not the team who wins the tournament doesn't start well in the group stage.

Performances only matter in the KOs.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Juveman17 wrote:Brazil isnt winning the WC. Simply arent good enough.

I bet this was said about Italy and France in 2006.... Spain started incredibly slow in 2010 and 2012 and people criticized them but yet they still won.

Its not wise to overreact to group stage performances as more often than not the team who wins the tournament doesn't start well in the group stage.

Performances only matter in the KOs.

yup

and R9 also mentioned in the commentary how we lost to Norway in group stages in 1998 yet got to the final that year

Brazil aren't playing horrible Mexico had a great game defensively, and our keeper just pulled our what i think will be the best performance of the tournament.
neymar was all over the place, dribbling left and right
Brazil also respected Mexico too much in the first half, sometimes you'd see neymar making a dangerous run and he'd have no support.

they'll bounce back..

Can't believe Willian ain't starting for Brazil.
Scolari

Well, Italy didn't really start slow in 2006...and Spain played very well even while losing the first match in 2010... However I agree that anything can still happen,but for a team playing on home soil Brazil didn't convince me in any of the two matches: lets compare to how Germany played in 2006 with its youngest team in world cup history.

Germany in 2006 had Costa Rica,Equador and Poland though.Mexico and Croatia are quality teams.

i agree though that we should be playing much better at home.

Ganso wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Juveman17 wrote:Brazil isnt winning the WC. Simply arent good enough.

I bet this was said about Italy and France in 2006.... Spain started incredibly slow in 2010 and 2012 and people criticized them but yet they still won.

Its not wise to overreact to group stage performances as more often than not the team who wins the tournament doesn't start well in the group stage.

Performances only matter in the KOs.

yup

and R9 also mentioned in the commentary how we lost to Norway in group stages in 1998 yet got to the final that year

If i remember correctly you didn't play well against Scotland in those groups either.

Damn, you know it was a long time ago when Scotland is playing at a WC

Ganso wrote:cant see how we have a problem creating chances when Ochoa was MOTM and we started with Ramires on the RW where you at Hulk haters?


this isn't a bad result, only in 2002 and 1970 a NT won the WC winning every match

must admit we were really sub-par though.Mexico weren't good either tbh, they only kept taking long shots

Most of those saves came from set-pieces, and we are terrible at defending those. Set-pieces and Nerman dribbles were the only times u guys looked dangerous. No one else was making runs it was just easy to defend your attacks.

No this is not a bad result, but it is a bad performance. We could have won if our supposed forwards weren't afraid of the box.

I thought Rafa Marquez was brilliant today, which was made all the more amazing to me as i thought he retired

Brazil could have played better for sure.. But if Mexico had a Goal Keeper who was human today they would have won by 2 or 3 goals. And no one I don't think would be saying "Bah, they aren't winning crap". In a group game, I don't think you can really hate on brazil too much here.. just give credit to mexico IMO.

Why have Brazil changed their system?

Ganso wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Juveman17 wrote:Brazil isnt winning the WC. Simply arent good enough.

I bet this was said about Italy and France in 2006.... Spain started incredibly slow in 2010 and 2012 and people criticized them but yet they still won.

Its not wise to overreact to group stage performances as more often than not the team who wins the tournament doesn't start well in the group stage.

Performances only matter in the KOs.

yup

and R9 also mentioned in the commentary how we lost to Norway in group stages in 1998 yet got to the final that year

that Norway-Brazil was an useless match anyway , Brazil was sure about the 1st place
Anyway i agree about not overract group stage performances, as Interista I can remember we didn't any of the first three matches of CL group 2010 , but just 3 ties.

I completely agree with what a lot of journalists are saying here in Brazil, it's much better having a NT full of doubts in terms of individual players rather than being in the same situation as in 2006 with Adriano,Kaka,Dinho etc in which we were overconfident and expecting Brazil to destroy every opposing team.

The players will give 110% vs Spain now that the hype has lowered down

Gil wrote:Why have Brazil changed their system?

Hulk was injured and Scolari is the Mourinho of international football.he treated this like a KO match and replaced a forward with Ramires.Thank God Hulk said he will be ready for the next game.

What happened to Brazil, fss? Beautiful football, flair, passing, possession, Zico, Socrates, Falcao, Eder, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho. Now managed by the Big Sam of intl. footy. Paulinho, Gustavo, Ramires, Oscar, Fred, Jo. Disgrace. Creating chances via set pieces and counterattacks. No true Brazilian should support that.

Ochoa happened.

All jokes aside, Brazil really didn't look good vs Croatia but in many peoples eyes got help from the refs and the terrible goal keeping errors from Croatia. Against Brazil, the ref was letting them play and was letting fouls go unpunished which allowed Mexico to seriously disrupt Brazil's game. Plus Ochoa was god mode.

I still fancy Brazil to make the semis. They got 4 pts from 6 against Mexico and Croatia which, despite questionable performances, isn't that bad at the end of the day - Mexico and Croatia are never a team of mugs. They should beat Cameroon pretty easily to top this group.

Then they will have a tough round of 16 match against Spain or Chile, who I think they will beat. Then a relatively easy quarter final against what looks like Colombia/England/Uruguay/Costa Rica.

Still a top four favourite to win the tournament for me.

not even in 2014 the Brazil manager should prefer Dani Alves to Maicon imo

Has any team in history faced more pressure and expectation than this current Brazil team? Maybe that Colombia 94 team is the only exception.

Gil wrote:Has any team in history faced more pressure and expectation than this current Brazil team? Maybe that Colombia 94 team is the only exception.

brazil 2006.
england in  euro 1992.

So the world cup's most hyped team meets the world cup's least hyped team and they play out a draw.