Vini is definitely Brazil's best player as shown? Even better than Neymar prolly? Hes even more important to them almost as much as Benz n Mbappe for France. If he continues to perform Brazil definitely gonna be in the final.

Yet another Bra v Fra final? 2 best teams so far.

Neymar got marked much more than anyone and in 45 minutes was already the most fouled player in the tournament so far.

Chill with Vinicius and his 1 goal for Brazil. He benefits from the space that Neymar doesn't have.

rincon wrote:Neymar got marked much more than anyone and in 45 minutes was already the most fouled player in the tournament so far.

Chill with Vinicius and his 1 goal for Brazil. He benefits from the space that Neymar doesn't have.

Chill with Vini? have you just come out of a cave or something...

I agree that Neymar is marked much more closely which benefits Vini the same way Benzema taking all the attention benefits him. He doesn't have the luxury other wingers have of having a marauding LB behind him to drag players away. At Madrid he has below average Mendy and at Brazil below average Sandro. Benz and Neymar have masked that by being great partners.

The problem with Neymar is that he tends to hold onto the ball faaar too long and usually doesn't release it to the right player and all of that is not due to marking but due to his obsession with hollywood football that benefits neither him or his team. He needs to be far quicker in releasing the ball.

Either way, it looks like Neymar is definitely out of the next game at least. Rodrygo hasn't had a better chance of playing in his favoured position in his life. This is it, the SS/AM he wants to play in. Remains to be seen if Tite starts him or opts for another midfielder which I wouldn't get because Rodrygo does more defensive work than both Vini and Neymar.

halamadrid2 wrote:

rincon wrote:Neymar got marked much more than anyone and in 45 minutes was already the most fouled player in the tournament so far.

Chill with Vinicius and his 1 goal for Brazil. He benefits from the space that Neymar doesn't have.

Chill with Vini? have you just come out of a cave or something...

Chill with Vini not as in he isn't he isn't one of the best wingers in the world, but as in calling him Brazil's best player.

Nerman is huge for the national team he has a crazy record in performances and goals. Clearly the most important player. Vinicius has yet to dethrone him for Brazil. Reminds me a bit of the Ronaldinho/Robinho debates.

Looks like Neymar is out of the group stage on injury, and might not be back by last 16

This Brasil team has so much talent, that they won’t even miss Neymar. And to think, most of folks here thought Messi and co would be the favourite! Lol

️| In Brazil they think that the Serbian NT targeted Neymar. They are now worried the same will happen to Vinícius. @MarioCortegana

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) November 25, 2022

I have to say Neymar was really mature in his reaction to the constant fouls. Only took him until he was 30 years old but he got there in the end. The referee in that game let Serbia get away with murder against Neymar. I think Switzerland will use the same tactics to unsettle Vini who everyone know from LaLiga games that he completely loses focus when he gets battered with fouls.

Typical Serbia

Expert bottlers

I can't see anyone beating Brazil. Need to me much sharper when in possession though and Tite is so negative. At least he made the right changes. Rodrygo should have started.

I missed some chunks of the match, so unless it happened in those points, did Switzerland have any shots on goal?

I think over two matches Alisson has made 0 saves. Very dominant performance from Brazil that only missed a bit of magic to break down a good Swiss defense. With Neymar's absence I agree that Rodrygo would have been useful to have from the start or at least a bit ealier.

It's important to manage their minutes, imo it's not the worst idea to sub Rodrygo on against a tired opponent, he brings some crazy energy to turn the game around if things arent going exactly as planned. They have great depth; Gabi Jesus, Rodrygo, Guimaraes, Martinelli is a lot of quality that can completely change the course of the match

Hopefully Neymar is back for the KOs

No, Switzerland had no shots on target. Absolutely dominant performance by Brazil.

Brazil need to be much better infront of goal and Vini needs to look up to see his teammates free instead of gettinf tunnelvision and Rodrygo definitely needs to start to help with penetration from the middle.

Ugly game offensively but we'll take it.

Important win so we can play our reserves on Friday. If we get first place, we'll play our round of 16 game 72 hours after our last group game. Looks like depth will be a big factor with the condensed schedule.

There are some red flags for Brazil imo.

For all the talk about their insane attacking depth, Raphinha and Richarlison were dire, Jesus came on and was invisible, while Antony was super wasteful. Maybe they'll fare against non defensive teams. Also Paqueta has been De Paul 2.0 this tourney. Guimaraes was great, 100 times better than fucking Fred.

Agree that players should be rested. Play Bremer, Fabinho, Martinelli etc the second team is more than good enough to beat Cameroon.

Swiss are toothless, but Brazil played some really fast entertaining football I thought, players click n the interpasses with so much movement were great to watch, traditional Brazil style. Richarlison does look terrible on the ball though, Jesus should get more minues if the former continues to break down attacks. Casemiro is a beast ffs...

Militao at RB is quite a sad sight though, consider the INSANE level of FBs Brazil has had over the yrs, n now they dont even have one, biggest WTF?@!

halamadrid2 wrote:

elitedam wrote:Judging by what happened today, probably Rodrygo.

Today was Neymar at his worst. I can't believe he's still doing the same dumb shit after all these years. I thought he was past that. He's still massively important for us though.

When he got up repeatedly after being fouled I thought oh wow finally a mature performance. He then started his showboating

Spain v Brazil QF is going to be epic. All these fast attackers on the break.....

Brazil sure, but what fast attackers do Spain actually have? Fking Ferran n Ascensio?

M99 wrote:There are some red flags for Brazil imo.

For all the talk about their insane attacking depth, Raphinha and Richarlison were dire, Jesus came on and was invisible, while Antony was super wasteful. Maybe they'll fare against non defensive teams. Also Paqueta has been De Paul 2.0 this tourney. Guimaraes was great, 100 times better than fucking Fred.

Agree that players should be rested. Play Bremer, Fabinho, Martinelli etc the second team is more than good enough to beat Cameroon.

Brazil’s attack is severely overrated due to PL bias. They only really have Vinicius and Neymar as world class attackers, so their depth is much less than people seem to think.

Cruijf wrote:

M99 wrote:There are some red flags for Brazil imo.

For all the talk about their insane attacking depth, Raphinha and Richarlison were dire, Jesus came on and was invisible, while Antony was super wasteful. Maybe they'll fare against non defensive teams. Also Paqueta has been De Paul 2.0 this tourney. Guimaraes was great, 100 times better than fucking Fred.

Agree that players should be rested. Play Bremer, Fabinho, Martinelli etc the second team is more than good enough to beat Cameroon.

Brazil’s attack is severely overrated due to PL bias. They only really have Vinicius and Neymar as world class attackers, so their depth is much less than people seem to think.

Rogrygo is great too. Certainly a much better finisher than Vini. Problem with him is that he is only just starting to find his ideal position in the team. Gab Jesus is also great but he really needs to start scoring. The rest are meh

Richarlison is great for Brazil, he is the goalscorer they had been looking for the last few years.

As for PL bias, Neymar, Richarlison, Vinicius, Raphinha has only 1 PL player there and he is clutch for them. The worse one there is Raphinha.

Antony, Marinelli, Jesus and Rodrygo is pretty great depth.

Neymar was needed there last night to unlock that defense. Danilo was missed so much as well, Militao as RB is pointless and Tite absurdly called up Dani Alves. Ridiculous to only with one proper RB to the tournament.

Playing both Militao and Sandro is pointless as they both don't attack very much but Militao is solid defensively which is probably why he started in place of Alves I suspect. Still if Militao is the best you can do at RB you are basically scraping the bottom of a barrel in that position.

Brazil need a set style imo. You are either a wing team and start playing players that maximises your wing play or you play predominantly through the middle and play players who can offer penetrations. Brazil have an abundance of qualities on the wings and should shift it out there imo. Yes, Neymar offers great penetration through the middle but the only one similar is Rodrygo and he is levels below. So while Neymar is out they really need to start offering their wingers greater support on the wings. Danilo did that in the first game but neither FB did it in the second game. It makes Brazil alittle predictable offensively but they are huge defensively at the very least which is important while they find their feet offensively.

You could also put it down to inexperience. The only ones with prior WC experience all play defensively (minus Neymar and prob Gab Jesus) the rest are playing their first WC with huge expectations from their nation hence why they might be abit reserved while the likes of Neymar and the other experienced players play relaxed.

Eh I thought both Militao and Sandro played quite well.

It is ridiculous that a 39 yo Dani Alves is one injury/suspension away from playing. I'd rather see Fabinho at RB. Monaco's Vanderson could have been called up as the backup RB.

I guess Danilo is back for the knockouts and will sort it out. Still terrible decision to call Alves as a backup and end up playing a CB there.

M99 wrote:Eh I thought both Militao and Sandro played quite well.

It is ridiculous that a 39 yo Dani Alves is one injury/suspension away from playing. I'd rather see Fabinho at RB. Monaco's Vanderson could have been called up as the backup RB.

They played really well but I think we have all known Brazilian fullbacks to be super attacking so seeing two defensive ones can be seen as abit dissapointing imo. But that shouldn't bother them as they have kept 2 clean sheets without much trouble

rincon wrote:Richarlison is great for Brazil, he is the goalscorer they had been looking for the last few years.

As for PL bias, Neymar, Richarlison, Vinicius, Raphinha has only 1 PL player there and he is clutch for them. The worse one there is Raphinha.

Antony, Marinelli, Jesus and Rodrygo is pretty great depth.

Neymar was needed there last night to unlock that defense. Danilo was missed so much as well, Militao as RB is pointless and Tite absurdly called up Dani Alves. Ridiculous to only with one proper RB to the tournament.

Raphinha counts as PL player because he acquired his hype in the PL

As for Richarlison, I am unconvinced. I am very confident he will ghost against the first strong opposition Brazil play. Feel free to call me out if I am wrong

Every time Shaqiri is relevant enough to watch him, which is once every couple of years, he looks even funnier.