Can Brazil Or Germany Fail To Reach The Semi Finals?

Wait Sané didn't even make it into the world cup squad?????

You totally correct, Mole. By now he should be one of their key players, imagine being so arrogant lol.

Germany can go fail in hell for all I care.

Easily. This is NT football, not club football. All teams are deeply flawed as a result... meaning that they can lose against most teams. That's the beauty of NT football.

i have a different take on this. I think modern football methods are now mainstream to the point where teams are training the same in England, and in Australia. Different levels of talent obviously but at NT level, you will find players who are playing in the biggest leagues in the world: England, Spain, Germany, etc...

they understand tactics well, and physically, they are up to par. So in a short tournament like the world cup, it makes it harder for the traditionally bigger nations to just blow the other teams out of the water. It's not easy to up against a group of player who are tactically committed to defend and counter like Iceland, and know they can outrun you.

To me, that's hat we are seeing so far, every single game is key, so these guys compete extra hard so far not to get blown off, and it makes for tight games.

There are more factors than that, although yours are part of of it for sure. Tactics were always available and most WC NT teams had proper tactical training since forever. What's changed:

- Nutrition and athleticism - A lot of teams are fit. So the pitch has shrunk as a result
- Technology - You can get film on every team and everyone. Easier to prepare for all teams. In the past, information wasn't available to everyone
- Longer (much) top flight club seasons - players on teams that play deep into a season are out of gas come the summer. Not so much for teams with none elite players
- Better tactics overall - as you mentioned Nick
- Global scouting and recruiting and Bosman ruling - you have a lot more players from many more countries who play in good leagues as a result. Overall quality is higher. So there's less of a gap.

Etc.

Neither looked very good today.

We'll see. I see no reason to overreact, and won't do so based on one game. After the second game, I'll start to make conclusions about how far I think each team will go.

Lest we forget Spain also lost their opening game in 2010 (although I would argue they looked better than either Brazil or Germany today, despite the loss)

Spain looked horrible in the matches they won, in 2010, though.
But yeah based on yesterday's performances Germany are going nowhere, and Brazil will have a short tournament as well.

Just need Sergej to do a Zidane now

If Serbia wins then Segej price goes up by 50m by Lotito logic. So I would prefer Serbia losing and Sergej playing like Khedira.

I'd rather see my future Juve players succeed, no need to play fake accountants with the sport

Some very good foreseers again in this thread, some of those posts in the first page Cheers for GL

Luca wrote:I'd rather see my future Juve players succeed, no need to play fake accountants with the sport

He can succeed later and be instrumental in our 3CHL in a row together with Dybala. If he does now he'll never put a foot in Turin.

Not kidding , with the old enemy out and with all top teams looking meh, this is the best chance England are gonna get to bring it home

Not sure hoping your would-be marquee signing to fail in a major moment is a great strategy to win the biggest club competition out there, but we'll see I guess

S wrote:Not kidding , with the old enemy out and with all top teams looking meh, this is the best chance England are gonna get to bring it home

You are ignoring Argentina bruh. This is the GOATs last year, of course he is going to cling it.

England getting high in the list of favorites just because they beat Panama papers by 6 goals

I am still in a state of shock. Even today I was more seriously considering the possibility of Brazil bowing out than Germany bowing out.

Now its not like I was not aware of the ills that plagued the defending champions. I remember remarking to a colleague that Germany have many problems and the main reason we are still rating them so high is that their name is Germany.

The match against Sweden reaffirmed that belief. Even if playing poorly and riding on luck Germany always find a way to win.

So how could what happened today possibly happen??? Germany had never exited in a group stage. The only time they had exited in the first round was in 1938 and that had no group stage.

So how could I have ever seen this happening. I am still not quite being able to believe what happened today.

After this result I feel its better not to predict anything. International football has become too close to call. If an unfancied team without pedigree has enough belief they could even win this world cup.

juvealbanian wrote:England getting high in the list of favorites just because they beat Panama papers by 6 goals

Yet Belgium who everyone loves only managed 3 and they didn't score any before half time.

It's coming home, might as well embrace it now tbh.

incredible from the germans

The last nation I would ever expect to bow out of the group stages, especially after winning the world cup

Their group wasn't even that good

Winning the World Cup has guaranteed that the reigning Champion gets booted out in the group stage for the following World Cup. It's happened regularly since 2006.

Lol, who started this thread in 1st place?

Anyway,what was Neuer doing yesterday 30m from Korea's goal ? Poor guy bought into his own hype believing he could cut it as a mid ? :ROFL:

Germany needed 2 goals with no time left. What good would staying back do? Tired of this forced hating just for the sake of it.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

juvealbanian wrote:England getting high in the list of favorites just because they beat Panama papers by 6 goals

Yet Belgium who everyone loves only managed 3 and they didn't score any before half time.

It's coming home, might as well embrace it now tbh.

I would be happy to see England win it since my two favorite NT Italy & Netherlands are out and I don't cheer for any team this WC,I would be ok with it.But I'm highly doubtful they can make it.
Let's wait and see them try their strength vs. Belgium.