Brasil vs. The Netherlands: Third Place Match Game Day Thread

F**** Y***

 

I would like to thank

Don't hurt yourself.

You are one of the people I thought of when I thought who could benefit most.

 

Ah, I see what you did there. Where do I sign up?
Does it have to be a Danish teacher or do they come in other flavors?

 

Brazl's no good. Bunch of medicore players. Even Neymar is overrated. He's good but not in the Fat Ronaldo, Zidane, Pele, Messi, Maradona class.

What happened to the great Brazilian players like Fat Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Socrates, Jossamar, etc. I was appalled at the quality out there this year.

 

That means nothing. This Brasil is sh*t. Tactically unsound and emotionally unstable.

A better pattern for you is this:

Since 1994, the team that played the eventual third place winner in the semi was gone on to win the WC.

1994: Sweden 3rd (beat Bulgaria) --> Brasil champion
1998: Croatia 3rd (beat Netherlands) --> France champion
2002: Turkey 3rd (beat South Korea) --> Brasil champion
2006: Germany 3rd (beat Portugal) --> Italy champion
2010: Germany 3rd (beat Uruguay) --> Spain champion
2014: Netherlands 3rd (beat Brasil) --> ....

 

This year is the year that long term patterns die

For example
Since 2007-2008 the rule was either Barca wins the CL or who beats them
This year that didn't happen as Atltetico lost the CL

The thing that is more important is that since 2010 the 2 teams still have 18 players in common with 17 of them will be in the starting XI for both teams. Maxi will be only one not in the starting lineup

Also another pattern will die... European teams don't win in S America

 

@Guigs @Guigs

 

And this is what happens when you breed a generation of defensive minded water carrying midfielders...
I knew that paulinho hulk ramires fred luiz and co were not selecao standard and i predicted this demise last year..
The confederations cup was a smoke screen..
Brazil have this fear of losing that stretches back to 1982 and 1986 , the great teams of tele santana that lost games due to individual errors and bad luck but in reality brazil should have continued to develop players in the mould of cerezo and falcao- players that could run a midfield with steel and creativity..
But brazil have lost their football identity- they no longer want to entertain - its a win at all costs situation..
Yes theres never gonna be another midfield in the class of falcao cerezo socrates eder and zico - not even the teams of rivaldo and R9 had midfields to compare with that.. But this current team havent even got the class of brazil 1990 1994 1998 or 2002..
I didnt really rate the 2002 midfield as being great with kleberson and silva but they did a job for the great attacking players in front of them.. This brazil team has no great players to cover for the lack of talent in the middle of the pitch..
They have no decent wing backs or goalscorers..
This lack of talent is absolutely unbelievable for a great footballing country the size of brazil..
I am not surprised that brazil played poorly - i expected it - but this exceeded my expectations...

 

One of my highlights from yesterday's game came after the final whistle. There, on the ceremonial podium, as the last of the referees received his medal, l saw Blatter temporarily transform into such a cliché that I recall then feeling a sinking disappointment at the thought that millions of viewers I was watching the match with would unwittingly fail to recognise just how much life imitated art in that one moment, how much that moment was simultaneously a gift and a performance -- to us, dutiful followers of the game. For it was the manner in which Blatter briefly fixed his tie and shifted his eyes, the manner in which it was all acted out with such barely restrained refinement, such culture, that no follower of the game could have interpreted it as anything other than Blatter's gracious decision to fulfil our wish to see him perfom in all the familiar aura of his persona.

Merci, Sepp. I hope to treasure this little moment of candour for years to come.

 

Agreed.
It does appear as though the epic battle with Italy on July 5th, 1982 in Barcelona shook Brazil to the core, so much so that they abandoned the style of play that won them 3 WCs and made them the most popular and revered national team on the planet. The style that looked almost more like futvolei, hacky sack or magic tricks than soccer.
Instead we get Lokomotive Mineirao and their long (inaccurate) passes, Atletica Favela and 2 fouls per touch (knives optional) and Glitterati Ipanema where 1 completely unsupported star player runs into the penalty box, awkwardly kicks the ball towards 7 defenders and pretends to have been fouled if the shot doesn't magically reappear behind the goal line.
I don't know how much of a 'gentleman' Mr. Scolari is, but if he wants to do the right thing by his team and his country, he ought to resign, like, today.
So should several players, at least half of them.
There's certainly much more to life than soccer - beaches, girls, skateboards, guitars come to mind - but Brazil being outclassed to the tune of 10-1 to close out a WC at home.....
Ouch.

 

But people exaggerated that loss in 1982 ! ..even though brazil lost that day they were still regarded as the best in the world.. It was a matter of brazil being over confident and only needing a draw.. Italy did not thrash brazil .. Brazil were a better team but just lost on the day because of their attitude towards italy..and people also forget they were playing without their first choice centre forward careca ( or reinaldo )
There was no need for brazil to ditch the creative midfielders...
But slowly the great midfielders declined and now in an era where creative midfielders can make all the difference brazil dont have any ...

 

At least the dutch were kind enough not to humiliate brazil last night..

 

We are polite guests and are hoping to get invited back to the next party.

 

Better be nice to the Germans then.

 

Never.

 

it will be a nice championship party either way

 

man brazil sucked. wealth of talents in ronaldinho, pato, coutinho, robinho, kaka and they chose fred and hulk. LOL these guys are at best Olympic squad over-23 material, not WC final selection.

Aside from Neymar the attacking prowess of the Brazilian squad is laughable considering the dignified history of their jerseys. They didn't deserve to play this game, should have been eliminated by Chile two rounds ago.

 

Even Neymar doesn't scare me. That frail guy dives all the time and is looking for fouls. The hometown bias and calls (Fred/Japanese ref) were the only thing that really scared me about this Brazilian team. But the players including Neymar. No. Not scary.

 

Well, Scolari is gone...

... but they are considering Tite to replace him.

That's it. I give up.

Back to club football, guys.

 

This is mostly right on. Except we tried futebol arte again in 1986, with Telê Santana again at the helm of a slightly aged crew and were eliminated again--albeit on penalties and with a shocking penalty non-call.

Maybe the prevailing style of defending at the time (with very physical challenges by players like Gentile) put that kind of playing style and the players required to pull it off at a disadvantage. Maybe it would work better now. But the adaptation Brasil undertook after 1986 brought us two titles. It wasn't a complete failure. It's just time to move on again. Not back to a naive version of 1982, but something that synthesizes and incorporates the lessons of the past 32 years.