Brazil Leave World Cup With Their Heads Down

So Brazil just lost again by quite a large margin, 3-0 to the Netherlands, in the third place game.

It was a meaningless game no doubt, but Brazil had a lot at stake. They had to leave this tournament with their heads held high after the thrashing they received from Germany in the semi finals. They had to at least give their home country something to be proud about.

Instead they seemingly lost badly again. They got off to a very poor start. David Luiz is cursed and made several mistakes. Most of all, Thiago Silva as captain was a poor leader by obviously fouling Arjen Robben near the box to award the Dutch a penalty kick and score first.

Shameful performance on home soil by Brazil.

The commentators on the version I was watching the game on claimed how Brazil’s president of soccer operations said that Scolari is not going anywhere. If that’s the truth you may as well demolish the sport in Brazil. He was putrid as a coach and it showed in their end result. They played like thugs against Colombia which seemingly cost them the tournament. Then he selected duds like Marcelo, Fred, Fernandinho, and Jo to play as well as subbing Dani Alves for the old Maicon. He also refused to take on the young Lucas Moura and Coutinho on his squad who could be just as talented as Oscar and Neymar. What a stubborn old man. I don’t buy that the president said that. He is as good as gone.

Revisiting the Worst Brazil Performance in History

A few days ago I predicted Germany to beat Brazil due to the the losses of Neymar and captain Thiago Silva in the semi finals.

I could have never been so wrong and right at the same time.

I was right that Silva and Neymar were big losses and that Brazil lost.

I was wrong in the fact that Brazil not only loss, it was their worst ever performance in world cup or international soccer history.

7-1. Wow. Where do I begin?

First off I said without Neymar they would lack scoring. I was right. Bernard (the replacement) was completely invisible. Fred and Jo have resembled Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels from Dumb and Dumber this whole tournament. No wonder Fred was booed when getting pulled off the field.

David Luiz was the biggest shocker. I thought he would play fine but the game showed he was nothing without Thiago Silva.

That first goal Thomas Muller scored to give Germany the lead would have never happened had Thiago Silva been on the field defending. They don’t call him the best defender in the world for nothing and it showed.

Some of this has to lie on coach Filipe Scolari. He told his squad to play a physical, thuggish style against the tough Colombian team in the quarter finals. It paid off for them when they won 2-1 but Thiago Silva got carded out and the Colombian player settled the score by kneeing Neymar in the back.

Then we look at the squad outside of those two. I really feel like he could have found better players in a country that treats soccer/football like it’s religion than freaking Fred. He looked like a buffoon the whole tournament.

I was not a fan of the roster Brazil put on the field or the end result. In 2010 with a pretty weak squad they still played an elegant style of football. This tournament they have looked bad most of the time…on home soil too. Goodbye Scolari.

People Need To Stop Saying Messi Has No One On Argentina

Over and over I keep reading people saying how Lionel Messi has no one to play with on Argentina.

My thoughts? Shut up.

He does so.

His defense is playing lights out at this world cup and on paper is one of the best in the world. Zabaleta and Mascherano are both the best in the world at what they play in.

Angel Di Maria and Sergio Aguero are both no slouches in the midfield either. Again, they are both one of the best in the world at their respective positions.

Lavezzi and Higuain are both very good when they are on their game.

Like Samuel L Jackson said in Snakes on a Plane, “I’ve had it with people saying Messi has no one to play with internationally!”

He does. Enough, stop it. If he doesn’t win the world cup this year it will be a bust just like Germany with their stacked roster.

Saying Messi has no one to play with is an insult to Cristiano Ronaldo who has to play with scrubs on team Portugal outside of Pepe and a past his prime Nani in the midfield. How they even gave Spain a tough match in the 2010 world cup and 2012 euro cup is beyond me.

Germany and Argentina Must Win the World Cup

There’s no other way around it.

If Germany lose tomorrow against Brazil their era under Joacim Low will be considered an era of shortcomings. Yeah they should not have won the 2010 world cup over the dominant Spain but there is really no excuse for the last Euro Cup shortcoming or this year. They are far and away the best team and most stacked roster. The loss of Marco Reus has been hurting a bit but they are still flat out dominant and good on both sides of the ball.

Meanwhile Argentina must win. If Messi does not win a world cup he won’t be seen in the likes of Pele or Maradona. Argentina is better than ever. They are playing great defense. If Higuain gets going there is no reason they can’t win or at least make it to the finals.

Brazil has an excuse. With no Neymar or Thiago Silva they are essentially crippled and have to rely on tweedle dee and tweedle dum aka Fred and Jo. No way do they score more than twice against Germany with that roster.

For these reasons I am picking Germany-Argentina to meet again in the final just like in 1990.

The Dutch are the Villains of this World Cup

Every world cup needs a team to hate on.

2002 it was South Korea for the obvious referee bias towards them resulting in suspicious wins against Spain and Italy.

2010 it was Uruguay for Suarez handballing the loveable Ghanians out of the world cup in the quarter finals held in Africa.

This year it appears to be Holland that is the team that is hated on. I say it’s completely warranted.

First we see the Dutch get their revenge on Spain in their first group match winning 5-1 with Robben making hand gestures to the camera acting arrogant after scoring. Okay, whatever.

Then in their first group stage match against Mexico Robben admits to diving all over the place in the first half (to the media, no less) and then gets a penalty kick after acting like he got shot tripping over a defenders foot in the 89th or so minute. Unreal, how could you decide such a crucial game like that between two countries?

Then today he does it again. Dove at least ten times I counted and still got the benefit of the doubt from the referees. Man, at least NHL referees get it. Alex Burrows never gets any calls his way due to his past flopping and antics. The same should be applied for Robben after his stupid antics in the Mexico game.

And finally before the penalty kicks it was said Krul (the new Holland goalie put in by coach Van Gaal) made hand gestures as well as talked trash to the Costa Rica team.

Let’s hope this cocky Holland team goes down. Starting with Jacques Cousteau’s great apprentice Arjen Robben. Go Argentina!

Argentina Beats Weaker Belgian Squad

Well that was a bit of a dull game. Similar to Germany’s game against France yesterday.

Argentina got it done against Belgium winning 1-0 after Gonzalo Higuain scored a goal eight minutes in after getting a bit of a lucky deflection/pass that went off a Belgian defender.

Credit where credit is due, Argentina held on. Belgium didn’t get very many significant chances all game due to Argentina’s stingy defense. The only bright light for Belgium was Vincent Kompany’s remarkable defending. Even Eden Hazard got pulled off the field and subbed around the 70th minute.

Before the game I picked Argentina to win barely just like they have all tournament. It may be ugly, but a win is a win. This team looks a lot better than the one that was coached by Maradona and thrashed by Germany in the last world cup 4-0 in the quarter finals.

Di Maria went out with an apparent injury around 15 minutes in but he should be fine, it did not look serious. If he plays, Higuain gets going, Messi is Messi, and their defense keeps playing well, this team may have a chance against Netherlands (assuming Netherlands beats Costa Rica, which they should).

Belgium, just like Colombia, should not be upset with their performance this world cup. They had to have been one of the highest placing Belgian squads in recent memory. They also got a very young squad. Once they get more experience they may be the team to beat in the next Euro cup in 2016 or the next world cup in Russia in 2018.

Brazil Should Be Ashamed Of Performance Against Colombia

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.