Who will advance second place after Brazil?

What a smooth beautiful goal by Neymar.

It was like something I would do on my Xbox.

 

Can't even do that shit on Xbox.

 

I don't really give much credence to friendly results but I do use it to judge style, substance and cohesion amongst other things.

Brazil is playing some absolutely beautiful soccer with great triangulation and offensive movement. And on defense still keeping their shape.
It is great to watch.

 

Pele's *prediction* regarding the potential of Freddy Adu.

In Pele's defense, he predicted Adu would follow on his footsteps, while Pele was filming TV commercials with the young player.

$$$$ clouded Pele's mind. Pele being Pele, has refused to acknowledge that money influenced his prediction. Pele said that he even tried to bring Adu to Santos FC

Adu recently decided to return to professional football, after a 2-year hiatus. He currently plays in a 2nd-tier US football league.

 

Brazil will get 9 points in this group. And I would even go out to say that they might do it without conceding a single goal.

 

Brazil once again with a very convincing display. This time 3-0 victory in Austria. Brazil is absolutely rock-solid. Under the guidance of Tite Brazil managed to keep 16 times a clean sheet in 21 matches. Interestingly it was Colombia that managed to score against Brazil in two matches.

 

One *Colombian goal* was an own-goal by Marquinhos (September 2016).

 

Brasil looked good, confident they win the group. -350 to win the group looks like a good bet.

 

Yes.
Falcao scored a beautiful goal in Barranquilla to tie up the match.

 

Hi
Am following the Costa Rica games.
Anyone going to be in Samara on the day of the match or the day before? Could do with knowledge of any of the good bars there to watch the Saturday matches.

 

After these two last preparation matches (2:0 Croatia and 3:0 Austria) I'm pretty much confident that Brazil could overcome the problem of the short training period for the World Cup, and the form they reached should be enough to advance from the group phase.
Then we will see what happens.
I'm happy that despite of the difficulties of the Conmebol qualifying system (compared to UEFA or Concacaf), Brazil could qualify so early and Tite could concentrate on building up a team instead of just trying desperately to get the tickets to Russia.
Today I still felt some insecurities in the defensive system against Austria, but I have the impression that conceding a couple of goals against Switzerland, Serbia and Costa Rica shouldn't put at risk the way to the round of 16. Neymar & Co should be able at least to break the 0 with all three.

 

The standard midfield configuration used during the qualifiers was Casemiro/Paulinho/Renato Augusto. If Tite decides to use three defensive midlfielders, Fernandinho will most likely take Renato Augusto's spot.

I think today's configuration (more offensive - Willian in, Fernandinho out) will be the standard during the group stage. After that, Tite will probably choose more defensive protection. I don't see Coutinho leaving the team, but Willian may be sacrificed.

 

Well,many 'experts' thought Adu was the next coming.
Anyway, that's two, I suppose. I was thinking more along the lines of World Cup predictions since everyone always mentions his '94 prediction.

 

4 years ago the NY Times released the results of an insteresting poll regarding the wishes and expectations of people from 19 different countries regarding the World Cup.
I found it specially interesting to see the "Which team are you rooting against" question.
What I can say is that considering what I've been observing on my brazilian friends, this year they are escaping from the South American pattern of having Argentina as the most hated team and will be switching to their 2nd place on that pool as the one they root against the most.
For those who don't know brazilians well that 2nd place may be already sort of unexpected. I'm pretty sure it's now their 1st.

 

Pele also proclaimed that an African NT would win the WC by 2010.

 

Pelé’s predictions have fortunately for fans of the Brazilian NT not been very accurate. For the 1994 World Cup, Pelé pointed to Colombia as a favorite, but the team that destroyed Argentina 0-5 in Buenos Aires in 1993 later lost to Team USA and left the tournament after the first round. Brazil won that World Cup.

8 years later, Pelé did not speak highly of Brazil’s chances for Korea/Japan. Once again, the Brazilians ended the tournament as World Cup champions, and Pelé himself celebrated on the podium after embracing every member of Brazil’s roster. He celebrated as any other Brazilian fan did in 2002; and, in 1994, let’s remember, he was part of Rede Globo’s live broadcast team; all Brazilians who remember the final have seen, on TV or on online video, Pelé wearing a stars-and-stripes necktie as he cheered, on his feet and with his fists pumping, Brazil’s tetracampeonato (fourth title).

In conclusion, Pelé has the right to his opinion and he has the right to voice it. He is the greatest player of all time and an icon in the annals of the greatest World Cup stars ever, but that doesn’t mean that his forecasts will come true. And in that sense, looking at 1994 and at 2002, I’m very glad Pelé was wrong. His accomplishments as a player have nothing to do with his predictions. I’ll take both, for they resulted in 5 stars.

 

The point is that some people criticize Pelé for what turned out to be incorrect predictions, but really, who cares... he is just one person and people think he's going to be right (or should be right) because he won the World Cup three times when he was a player. I say let him be wrong as in 1994 and in 2002...

 

Belgium 4 - 1 Costa Rica.

 

Guys I am honestly 70% sure Brazil will win this World Cup. They look really good, and are much better than the Brazil 2014. History also favors them:

After Brazil's biggest defeat in history before 2014 (Uruguay 6-0 Brazil), Brazil won the next World Cup. Germany just gave them their biggest defeat 7-1 last World Cup.

#2 in FIFA Ranking before World Cup usually wins. Germany was #2 in June 2014. Spain was #2 in June 2014 prior to WC. Brazil is #2 currently.

Last time Italy failed to qualify, Brazil won.

The only other teams I see that look strong enough are Spain and Germany. And there is history against Germany here:

Very rarely does a team win twice in a row. Brazil & Italy were the only teams to have done it (World Cup was a lot smaller back then).

Never does the previous confederations cup champion win the World Cup. Germany won 2017 Confederations Cup.

Spain might be favored a little more according to history and superstitions, but I don't think they will win it this time. They are very strong, but not sure if they are the strongest.

Also this Brazil appears to have a complete team. Other than Danillo, they look to have not too many weaknesses. Casameiro as arguably the best DM in the world right now. Neymar, Douglas Costa, and Gabriel Jesus look like a great pairing. Coutinho and Paulinho will do well in the midfield, and the defense seems to be pretty good. T. Silva is overrated, but he is still solid, and Marcelo and Miranda are pretty solid as well.

The only national teams that I'd say have a better defense are Germany and Spain. Germany is lacking a number 9 striker. Gomez and Timo Werner are alright but not comparable to Miroslav Klose. Spain's midfield is aging a bit with Busquets & Iniesta. Koke and Isco are really good, but Isco will likely be moved a little more forward. Spain also lacks a little on the wings. David Silva is great, but other than him, nobody else is world class. Isco, and Iniesta can play on the wings, but its not like their prime positions.

 

The way Tite has set up his Brazilian team reminds me of the 2006 Italy a bit. Plays quite defensively but has quality players up front to score the goals. Just like Totti, Del Piero, and Toni in 2006, Brazil has Neymar, Gabriel Jesus, and Douglas Costa/Coutinho.

Definitely not as good as 2006 Italy as that team was one of the best national teams in history, but considering the generation of players we have now not being as good as they were in the past, This Brazil has a really good team.

 

https://www.publico.pt/2018/06/12/d...asil-em-duas-equipas-antes-do-mundial-1834049

So I guess this article hás some substance (in Portuguese).

 

Absolutely.
Politics have always had an influence, as well as the feeling that football players pretend to represent the people, but people can't feel represented by them.
This may be valid in most countries, but Brazil started with a WC title (1970) being misused by our dictatorship, and thereafter a whole regime trying to push people to have football as the most important issue in the country and oversee their atrocities. And a dictatorship based on blind nationalism has very good material with a definitively won Jules Rimet cup in the hands of a Pelé.
It was in 1982 when we were sort of liberated from that. People noticed that the regime was fading to its end, some strict decrees were overridden and suddenly to wear green and yellow wasn't something to be frown upon any longer (a similar feeling Germans had in 2006 ... when they finally felt that rooting demonstrative and openly for Germany didn't mean they were nazis).
Like said in the text, nowadays Brazil is politically divided. And one side took the yellow CBF jersey as its symbol (in order to affirm they were really for Brazil, not the others).
Now most people in this other group reject the jersey - and as extension, the brazilian football team. And they join the large group of brazilians that already hated the hype on football. I imagine at this point we should have as many brazilians rooting against Brazil (or at least refusing to root for Brazil) as the ones rooting for Brazil. At least the statistics show that most brazilians don't care about the WC.
The media will try to work against it. Actually in 2014 they managed at least to empty the protests against the local WC. Let's see how the acceptance will be when Neymar & Co. are on the pitch. Indeed this can change with time.
Anyway the tv quotes they had in WC matches in the 80's are unreacheable. At that time, also because there were no more laws against mass concentration, after each match the whole country was on the streets feasting, still far away from getting the title (which didn't come). It was amazing. Like if Panama wins a match in 2018. This was Brazil in the 80's.
Don't believe if they show in your tv mass euphoria after Brazil wins match, like in many other countries. I'm sure that if they exist in Brazil, they will be very limited.

P.S. And indeed it's interesting, your text is right ... for some people who still want to root for Brazil despite of everything going on, they're already selling (of course unofficial) Brazil jerseys ... in red!

 

This would be nice ...
But there is one even bigger thing playing against Brazil.
Again this time Brazil is top favorite in most odds. Even before Germany and Spain.
Actually this has been the rule for many times.
And in the last 6 WCs Brazil wasn't top favorite before the tournament starts only twice: in 1994 and in 2002.
Weird but so true.