Game over, up until the goal I would say pretty equal performance, then Bale scored at the end. Neymar almost pulled one back hitting the post on this second shot on goal. But Bale was the man of the match on this one, great type of game for him, wait to pull counters and just out run a slow Barcelona D But seriously he had 23 touches in the whole game.
Yes, if you cut down the # of European teams they would win less, but if you increase the # of AFC, CONCACAF and CAF teams (e.g. a giant 60-team tournament with 12 teams from each continent), they wouldn't win any more. They would just make for even more easier opponents for the 12 UEFA teams to beat. So it depends which direction you go in to even out the numbers.
If we're trying to increase the competitiveness of the Cup it would be lowering the number of teams. Plus half of the teams in Europe should not be making to the WC anyways, I get that there is more money on a bigger tournament, but seriously I think there are way too many.
It's kinda funny reading back at some of these comments that were posted about Bale being overrated, and the British media hyping him up lol Dullards.
Yeah because playing Barca is the only big game Bale has played :::rolls eyes::: Neymar is nowhere near on Bale's level, Bale being a much stronger, physical player is what makes such a big difference between the two. Also...to the people that like to mention when Bale scored the Hattrick at San Siro, I think he played a better game in the return leg at White Hart Lane, when he didn't even score. He caused problems for Inter quite literally for 90 mins, as where at San Siro it was like he produced moments of magic but in a 15 minute spell.
No but this is the first time he has done well against a big team... non factor on all other classicos while neymar has been a part of every classico. Non factor vs A.Madrid whileNeymar seemed to be the only one playing for Barca against Atletico. I'm giviing credit where is due to bale he was motm, but to say neymar is nowhere his level when bale has not accomplished 1/8 of what neymar has is silly. Neymar will be one of the main attractions of the WC for a reason, he would be that even before he joined Barca.
Because the football-related media are generally all very willing to participate in over-hyping and hyperventilate over the latest good Brazillian player?
But Gareth Bale has scored against tougher sides than what Neymar has, so you can't really go down the route that Bale has only done it once against a big team, because that's rubbish. Bale has scored against Villarreal (both matches), Sevilla, Juventus, Shalke, Dortmund, and obviously Barca...whilst Neymars most noteable teams he has scored against are Real Madrid, Villarreal and Atletico Madrid...the rest of the teams have all been in the lower half of the table, but Bale has scored against them as well. And Gareth Bale was still trying to re-gain match fitness in the 1st classico seeing as he came back from a back injury, that's why Di Maria was getting pretty much all the game time at the start of the season, and Bale was quite literally being subbed in every match (Di Maria was in fantastic form too)...hardly fair to use that against him (or you probably didn't know that). So what has Neymar accomplished in Europe? nothing either. But if you're going to start posting what Neymar has achieved with Santos then that is kinda irrelevant simply because Santos are a huge club in South America, so they're kinda expected to win bigger things over there than say what Spurs are going to do over here in Europe. If you put Neymar in Tottenhams team I very much doubt they'd start winning The Premiership, or the Champions League...so your logic doesn't wash I'm afraid...and a team achievement certainly isn't a way to fairly judge a player anyway...If Bale won the La Liga and Champions League this season, I wouldn't use that as a way of trying to show that Bale is a better player than Neymar...because that doesn't make sense.
No other brazilian player outside of Pelè has done what Neymar has at such young age, of course Pelè did way more, but Neymar is not Robinho, Kaka, Diego, Ronaldinho etc, those guys were role players or had only 1 good season before leaving Brazil, Neymar has had 2 good seasons and 2 amazing seasons, winning south American player of the year twice... show me another brazilian hyped up prospect that has done the same.... you won't find it.
Neymar also has been injured this season, saying santos is kind of big and should be winning everything is like saying Arsenal is kind of big and should be winning everything, this is not the santos of Pelè, not sure you know that. Santos without Neymar to carry them wouldn't have won anything, he did it at the age of 17-21.. sure he's overrated and hyped, well that's because he actually performed up to standard for 4 years. And regardless of how people feel about the Confed Cup, if Spain had won it, people would be saying they are the best ever, and they beat Brazil at a tournament. Then people would be saying how bad Brazil is getting embarrassed in front of their fans. Since it didn't happen that way, and Neymar did great on the tournament... Mickey mouse cup, only Brazil cared, Neymar did it on a tournament that doesn't count. Excuses excuses Lá liga has 3 teams, A.Madrid, real Barca, Neymar has been good against all 3. Bale did well against a depleted BD and 1 good clássico.
None of this disproves the tendency amongst the general footballing public to be prone to hype and market a Brazillian player. And also, Ronaldo, while he left Brazil early, accomplished a great deal early in his career, no?
Ronaldo had accomplished absolutely nothing, he had just had 1 good tournament (state tournament of Minas which is weak) and started the brasileiro on the bench. I'm not talking about tendencies, I'm talking about you guys not wanting to see this guy for what he is. Simply refusing to see all he's done, and not even bothering to check that all other brazilian young prospects were just that, prospects, never having any accolades to their career before being traded. Part of this is big european teams trying to sign the next big thing out of Brazil, so they keep signing players at the age of 16, how can you know at 16 if somebody will be good?!
Right so ok...so because Neymar has scored against A.Madrid and yet Bale hasn't, that means Neymar can score important goals but Bale can't? laughable, what a load of rubbish... And I didn't post Santos should be winning everything with Santos, I posted that a club like them are expected to win trophies, given the players they have, and the history they have compared to the other sides Santos are competing with. Santos have won 3 Copa Libertadores which is the equivalent of 3 Champions Leagues to a European team, and god knows how many League and other Cup wins they have. Spurs have reached the Quarter Finals of a Champions League that's the furthest they've ever gone in the comp when they've been lucky enough to qualify for it, and funnily enough done that with Bale...and won the League twice throughout their 127 year history. Santos are seen as a big, powerful club in South America, Spurs aren't in Europe...And like I've posted...Bale was up against much stronger opposition than what Neymar ever was whilst he was in Brazil, it's stupid to even make the comparisons. If you seriously thought Neymar is so much better than Bale, then why isn't he doing it in the same league right now? Bale quite clearly stands out as the better player.
I didn't say score I'm talking about just being a factor in the game. It's like comparing Santos to Inter Milan actually... Inter is a famous side sure, but they won twice in the 60s and once in 2010.. for a total of three. Are they contenders every time they go out there? I think not... Actually that comparison is not even fair since Inter is a contender for the Serie A title in Italy while Santos is not a contender for the title in the Brazilian League. So more like.. Nottingham Forest I guess.. the have two CLs, they must be a good team still never compared them to the Spurs, you did, plus because the Spurs don't have a history it means that Bale couldn't make one for them? Once again, you know Santos of Pele, that Santos is long gone. Neymar faced tough opposition in Brazil and specially S. America, I would like to see an European team going over to S.America and trying to play there, because I guarantee you just the travel alone would kill most of the teams in Europe. Just so you have an idea, when you go into Bolivia or Peru, the home team which would likely lose away by 5-6 goals, will simply beat anybody that walks in there because of the altitude by 2-3 goal difference. Why do you think the Argentina team which is stacked can't beat Bolivia in Bolivia? Libertadores brings so many different challenges that players playing in the CL can't even fathom. Plus the Brazilian league has been really strong as of late, bringing in players and winning the last 4 Libertadores, all with different teams (showing the strength of the league) Bale has played about 3 more games worth in minutes than Neymar. Bale has been subbed what 3 times? Neymar 7 times... Neymar has only finished 8 games he started because of Barcelona's rotation of players, and because of the rotation of players Neymar gets to play the tougher opponents while Alexis and Pedro (both with more playtime than Neymar) get to play Getafe.
UEFA teams overall outperform AFC, CONCACAF and CAF teams overall by a wide margin. If you took out Portugal, France and Croatia from the WC'14 in Brazil, you would be reducing the level of competitiveness. You like math? Well, that is simple math. (yet watch you try to argue against it)
Dani Alves was getting humiliated all night. Feel bad that Bartra was criticized on the play, he did everything he could though you could make argument he should have sacrificed himself and tackled Bale at some point.
Oh I get it now, so to increase the level of competition we need to add the mediocre teams from Europe. Look I get it that Fifa gets a lot of it's income from Europe and that's why Europe has so many more slots, but do you get that? because I don't think you do. So in order for Fifa to calm the nerves of the other confederations they keep giving them more slots, which then does lower the competitiveness of the tournament, since most other confederations have about 3-4 competitive teams, anything more than that they are entering bad teams in the tournament.
Everyone in Brazil want's Dani Alves far away from the National Team squad, but somehow people in Europe keep thinking he's good because he plays for Barcelona. Go figure
Look, Santos are a well financed club, a club with top players in South America, one of the best teams...they're nothing like ********ing Inter Milan or Nottingham Forest, what are you on about? Inter are a struggling club financially and Nottingham Forest have been in the lower divisions for years...Santos play regular top flight football and play in the Copa Libertadores on a regular basis, Tottenham do not play regular Champions League football. Your comparisons are way off. And I'm not even going to continue this debate because what Neymar has achieved with Santos is totally irrelevant...a fairer way to judge both players is what they're both doing whilst in the same League. Your logic is flawed big time, it's a bit like saying...Wes Brown is a better defender than John Terry because he has won more Premier League titles and has a better European record on paper... I just can't be bothered to debate with people like you.
what are you about man? How the hell do you know how financed Santos is or is not... Santos more than doubled their yearly income in 1 year because they sold Neymar, and that's only because the previous season they had sold Ganso. That team is filled with 18-22 year olds in their first contracts, and they ALWAYS leave Santos after their first contract is done, because Santos doesn't have the money to keep them. Now stop acting like you know Santos, because clearly you don't. Inter struggling financially has more money than Santos, and Nottingham Forest was an over the top comparison to show you how stupid you were sounding by comparing the Santos of 1960s to todays' game as if they still played today. Regular... sure Santos has played in 12 Libertadores since it's inception in the 1960s... 4 times in the 60s once in the 80s 5 times in 2000s with the second coming of the Santasticos (Robinho, Elano, Diego, Alex, Ricardo Oliveira, Renato and Leo) twice with Neymar in 11 and 12 to you, that's like saying Man U won the CL with Beckham and then got showed off in Brazil by Edmundo and Romario, so all of their accomplishments in Europe is irrelevant. I agree but this first season Neymar was not even close as playing the same amount of games and teams as Bale, Real doesn't rotate their roster as Barca does. Difference is if Wes Brown was the main player and the main reason why his team was winning championships (like Neymar has been for his teams). Neymar gives people championships while Wes Brown receives championships from others. Sure nice logic there. Because you make up things as you go along and I prove you wrong? what don't like being wrong? bring something that has value to an argument and you wont be.