Yes, 2010, it was loss of form but lack of a bench that did us in IMO. Elano was a key loss and wasn't adequately replace. 2014, Oscar, Paulinho, Fred was all out of form. Scolari tactics didn't help things either.
Argentina is struggling now, Brazil has struggled to qualify in the past (ultimately always did qualify) and decent teams like Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay have all struggled and have failed to qualify at times (Argentina has also failed to qualify on occasion); even weaker teams like Peru and Ecuador can be quite good on occasion; Bolivia is threatening in the altitude, and recently, surprisingly, even Venezuela has put together some good play. Meanwhile in the UEFA qualifiers the major teams have an incredibly easy time playing against, basically, quasi-amateurs, and Mexico and the United States are not that threatened by the smaller CONCACAF teams even though JK made sure that this time we got scared. Africa, Asia, and Oceania are basically just a question of whoever is less bad at a given time, and none of their teams have ever amounted to much in terms of the World Cup Finals. Just recently before the change in coach Brazil was struggling, out of the qualifying zone until this beautiful string of eight victories. Failing to recognize that the South American qualifiers are the toughest ones is simply ridiculously misinformed. The fact that Brazil has always qualified is in function of the enduring quality of the Brazilian pool of players, maintaining a minimum skill level even in bad years. It is not in function of it being easy. It is not easy, and the parity has increased lately, with especially Chile and Colombia becoming much tougher adversaries than in the past. Darn, Argentina has just lost 2-0 to Bolivia! Please someone show me a UEFA qualifying table that has 5 of the top 10 teams in the world according to the current FIFA rankings: #1, 2, 4, 7, and 9, with two others in the top 25, one more in the top 50, and the two worst ones not below the top 100. Enough said. UEFA on the other hand sports gems such as #182 Malta, #184 Liechtenstein, #200 Andorra, #203 San Marino, and gasp, #209 Gibraltar, LOL. An opinion to the contrary is so preposterous, that I thought the new kid was trolling. I thought it might be an European poster disguised as a new South American poster to troll our forum, so far fetched his opinion was. I was not discriminating against someone new just for the sake of the person being new. I was just thinking that a new account might be a sock account, started by an European to toss in this absurd idea just to see the indignation that it would generate. Now, if the guy is a bona fide South American who actually works for a Brazilian major team like he claimed, then I'd question his soundness of mind when uttering such nonsense.
I don't think that changes anything, still baptized with football, unlike some soccerusas that pretend knowledge based on 5 years watching MLS
Would some mod mind receiving Brasitusa lack of respect regarding my opinion totally based in the fact I'm new to the forum or should I simply leave, since he will probably have more attention even tho I was just balancing the way he treated me back?
That's not hard, years ago the stadium gates were commonly opened for free. Santos is the kind of small team with huge accomplishment, unlike huge teams with little accomplishments. That's something nice, you know?
Normally, I'm fairly lenient towards this because I make the assumption that we are all adults here and should be able to handle things civilly. However, I will make due like a referee and offer a warning. End the barbs now. If it continues, I'll take action. And if you don't care to read someone's posts from here on out, use the ignore feature. Private message me if you need help finding it.
I explained that the new kid thing was a suspicion that the new user was a sock account who was trolling, such as someone from Europe pretending to be a South American to make fun of CONMEBOL - sometimes a new account is created for this purpose. I phrased it as a question. I take it back; he does appear to be Brazilian. The gandula thing was merely a joke; I even used a smiley. My opinion that his opinion about the South American qualifiers was preposterous, I'm entitled to it. As much as I was assuming about him, he is assuming that my knowledge of soccer is from 5 years watching MLS when I was raised in Brazil since I was 6 years old like I've explained before. By the way, one of our most knowledgeable regular posters, Lawsonishere, is also American. But sure, I went out of line and apologize; won't do it again.
Thank you. By the way, knowledge visibility depends entirely on the audience. I've noticed people know numbers around here, that's really cool - to defend Cristiano Ronaldo especially - but have no idea that Jairzinho was behind Fenômeno's rise. I hope I can learn and enjoy everyone's opinion, also hope I can learn even more to be impartial. First step was already taken - stop supporting my childhood team - this affects a lot our opinions. (Don't take these seriously, merely a joke - just like you did, lack of emoji usage makes funny guys seem bad ass males) [emoji12]
Looking back, I actually did not use an emoji when I issued the gandula joke. Sincerely, I intended to; I don't know why I never did. I think that by quoting the other guy with his emoji, mistakenly in my mind the post had an emoji already. But I'm NOT lying when I say that I intended it as a harmless joke. Anyway, peace, Markweiser. I've apologized, you accepted it, let's move on. There is nothing wrong with being new here; we were all new at some point, obviously. Again, I didn't mean the "new kid" thing in any meaner way than suspecting you were trolling. I do acknowledge now that you were not. You are entitled to your opinion about the CONMEBOL qualifiers. I should say that I respectfully disagree, because I do. It is fine to have a difference of opinions, but it is juvenile to make of it a flame war of personal insults, so I was out of line. Cheers. P.S. - Regardless of my national origin, we are both fans of the Brazilian national team, so we are on the same side and shouldn't be fighting each other. My ties with Brazil are very deep. I lived there for most of my formative years, speak fluent Portuguese with no foreign accent, my wife is Brazilian, and my two children are both dual citizens with Brazilian citizenship. I visit the country regularly to be with my wife's relatives, and passionately root for the Seleção (except if it is playing against the USA - but I do realize Brazil is one hundred times better than the USA). My team in Brazil is Cruzeiro. I care for Cruzeiro a lot more than I care for my MLS team, New York City FC.
Good for your children. Even if they later decide to reside permanently in the United States (sounds like it given you apparently live here), the fact they have Brazilian citizenship by virtue of their mother being a native of Brazil is going to save them tons of money over their lifetimes assuming they continue your personal custom of visiting Brazil often, as your wife's relatives probably include your children's cousins, with whom they hopefully have solid relationships. Until Brazil becomes a country whose citizens the U.S. State Department requires no visas from, Brazil will continue to demand that U.S. citizens engage in visa reciprocity and pay a hefty $160 visa fee. Granted, a visa is valid for up to 10 years, but I'd rather spend that kind of money on local food, souvenirs, or other things were I to travel abroad. I've known U.S. citizens who went to Cataratas do Iguaçu but only on the Argentine side (no visa requirement for them to that country) and who didn't cross over to the Brazilian side due to the visa fee. I know non-U.S. citizens living legally in America whose citizenships enable them to go to South America visa-free, and who have enjoyed the waterfalls on both sides. Your children, with their Brazilian passports, can do this as well.
Yes, they do have this advantage, but frankly, the way things are going in the United States, I think the benefits of dual citizenship are deeper than that. They'll have a country to run to if the situation here gets dire! I'm apprehensive with all the sabre rattling.
New FIFA ranking published today, Brazil first, yay! Argentina second, Germany third, Chile fourth, Colombia fifth. CONMEBOL with 4 out of the top 5.
Yeah, but still a joke. Belgium was in first place last year until the Copa America and Euros occurred. What was their merit for being ahead of Germany? Plus if Brazil could surge ahead of both Germany and Argentina without reaching any Cup finals and merely by winning WCQs, while Germany is also winning WCQs (granted, less difficult) and Argentina are dropping point right and left, it doesn't really add up.
The concept itself is stupid. It's impossible to come up with a system that is accurate. Let's rank teams that play every so often ... ha ! I guess some people like the ELO ranking better.