Sorry to my followers, I have not been blogging in a while as I have been very busy. I will try to blog more often.
What has happened since I was last on here in early June was that the World Cup has in fact started. In fact, it has been a great world cup so far. There is no clear cut favourite. One could argue that most teams in the quarter finals besides Costa Rica had a chance at winning it all.
The two countries or teams rather that I have started to dislike are Brazil and the Netherlands. Brazil for their shameful performance against a Colombian side that was playing remarkably well without Radamel Falcao and the Dutch for their diving antics against a Mexican side that can leave this tournament with their heads held high.
Every time star player of the tournament James Rodriguez of Colombia touched the ball he was met with a body check by either Fernandinho or Oscar of Brazil. For those who have been following the world cup for a while this is nothing new with a Filipe Scolari coached squad. Remember Portugal in 2006 that was coached by him? They committed the same exact same antics against England in the later rounds of the tournament.
I picked in my bracket that Brazil would oust Germany in the semi finals and got the other side completely wrong (picked Spain to win, wow did that backfire). Now, I am not sure that will happen.
Not only is star defender Thiago Silva out due to being carded so often this tournament, so is Neymar with a fractured vertebrae. Without Neymar they have to rely on Fred or Jo, who with all due respect are the equivalent of garbage.
Germany hasn’t been remarkable but they have played some solid defense throughout this tournament. Without Neymar I can’t picture Brazil potting more than two goals on Manuel Neuer and the German squad. Those are two losses that Brazil could not afford, the third being their goalkeeper (who could or should have gotten red carded before the penalty kick in the 80th minute against Colombia but instead received a yellow card) or David Luiz.
If (or when) Germany beats Brazil on home soil, one could ask if Brazil’s shameful performance and diving against Colombia was truly worth it. We will see next week.