2014 FIFA World Cup™ Semi-Finals: Germany vs Brazil| Tuesday, Jul 8, 3:00 PM

Well not unnatural for supporters of a team which has won 5 WC-s and runners up at 2 of them to be cocky .

 

Actually it should be 'supporter of a nation of which different teams have won 5 WC's / 2 runners=up'.
No team won 5 WC's, several teams playing for Brazil combined did.
Each with its own style, strengths and weaknesses.
And yes, that makes people cocky.

I don't see this current team for Brazil advance past Germany in any way without resorting to hard and
lots and lots of foul play. Brazil needs to kill a dynamic playing Germany and lacks the power or quality.

[I hope I am right or else it will be a pretty humbling experience for me]

 

I would say dismissive.

 

Germany lost Reus, Gündogan, the Benders and many other first choice and strong second team players prior to the 23 man roster selection, so it's not like Germany is (or ever was) at full strength in this tournament. So the loss of Neymar sort of evens it out. Not to mention had the refs properly cautioned Neymar for his unsporting play in the previous matches, he'd have missed this round anyway. Brazil got away with many possible cautions in the Colombia match so they are lucky not to be missing more players.

 

You are really nitpicking !!!!! .....

As a neutral , I would like to see Netherlands win , they have been cruelly denied a number of times , but if Brazil advances to the final I don't see them losing .

While there have been chants of the WC being fixed ( which I find to be irrational and juvenile ) , Brasil probably has the toughest route to Rio . Imo Brasil would have had a better chance against the likes of Holland and Argentina in the semi-finals rather than Germany .

Germany is the only team which can play possession oriented football , slow down the tempo and frustrate the Brasilians. They are the antithesis to the way Brasil plays. And it obviously helps that the two stalwarts of Brasil will miss the semi-final . I think the loss of Thiago Silva can have a greater impact than Neymar .

And another thing, which I would like to bring to note is , there is a big misconception about Brasil being overtly physical - this probably generated due to the last match - I rewatched it , and the stats are as follows if there would have been ideal refereeing :

Fouls committed on
Colombia :34
Fouls on Hames :7
Dives Hames : 1
Chances created by Colombia :15 ( 3 in first half , 12 in 2nd half)
Cards : RC - Zuniga ( 43' min, stud up challenge on Hulk, same challenge got Marchisio a red)
YC- Quintero , Yepes , Ramos
RC- Zuniga ( 74' min , knee on Neymar , which ended his WC, could have ended his career)

Fouls committed on Brasil :
27
Fouls on Neymar :5 ( one breaking his vertebrae)
Dives Neymar :1
Chances created by Brasil : 16 ( 10 in first half , 6 in 2nd half)
YC - Maicon , Fernandinho , Silva, Marcelo , Cesar

What is more astounding is Colombia actually was far more physical than Brasil in the second half , when they were the ones who were actually chasing the game , with Colombia committing 18 fouls comparing to Brasil's 15 , and in the first half it was Brasil who had fouled 19 times to Colombia's 9 . It is all about how you view the game .

I have always supported Brasil since childhood , but was swept away by the media tirade against Brasil and was supporting Colombia ( being a neutral you sometimes tend to support the underdog) , and saw an entirely different game when the game was being played , when I felt Brasil resorting to "animalistic" tactics , and felt Hames was brutally being hacked down.

But today , when I rewatched the match , with a totally unbiased view and knowing how frenetic the game would be , the difference in physical , rough play and so called "animalistic" tactics from Brasil were actually way overblown , and one of the most interesting facts is - in no quarter was the difference in number of fouls committed by the two sides more than 2 , that is MARGINAL .

Brasil completely dominated the first half creating as many as 10 chances compared to only 3 from Colombia . So the stats are infront of you to decide who actually gained from the hacking and hard fouls , which came thick and fast in the 2nd half and who would have to play with probably 10 men had the referee been spot on .

/rant .

 

You kidding? Brazil fouled their way through that match without being punished except for that silly foul on the Colombian keeper. Had the referee punished the players properly, the irony is that Brazil would have lost several more players for the Germany match but likely would have had Neymar still.

As it was the referee let the game get out of hand and Neymar got injured. To suggest Brazil wasn't fouling more that Colombia is just silly.

 

Wow, if you don't think a few of the Brazilian players would have gotten second cautions by a better referee you're mistaken. Also, several fouls missed such as David Luiz and his hip check of a Colombian player in the dying minutes when only minutes later a similar foul was punished with a card.

As I said in a previous post, a better referee may have saved a Neymar injury but at the expense of many more key Brazilian players eligible in the next match.

 

All the fouls have been accounted for , I just merely jotted down the facts . You see entire Brasilian media is harping about how tough Colombia played , while if you read Colombian newspapers they are saying the same thing , both of them cannot be correct , that is where you need an unbiased and objective viewpoint . As I noted down , there would have been yellow cards for several Brasilian players , but not one RC worthy challenges were made , while Colombia got away with two such instances .

It eventually depends on who you are supporting and how you are viewing the game . Classic example would be 2010 Barca- Inter match - Cules would have been thinking wow , the groundsmen did a wonderful job to turn on the sprinklers to mar the celebration of Mourinho and his men for robbing them from a legit goal , while the rest of the world would think that it was a cheap antic .

 

How neutral must I be? I had exactly zero thoughts about supporting anyone after Italy went out. I was hoping to see some great football by players like James and Neymar. But the fact remains that Brazil caused the match to deteriorate because of tactical fouling, and a referee incapable of putting an end to that.

 

My great concern that Muller is one of the few players who don't wear protection which makes it very dangerous specially how the Brazilians are playing , hopefully he doesn't get injured ( or his coach convince him somehow to wear them )

 

Brasil 5 WC-s , Italy 4 WC-s , Baggio missed the decisive penalty in 94' , and you have him as his avatar - how neutral can you possibly be ???

 

So I'm pretty neutral not being a Brazilian or Colombian. There were several tactical challenges you did not account for that should have been punished with a caution for unsporting behavior. Also, there were a few cards which could have been given for persistent infringement by Brazil. So, while I agree there were no straight red cards for Brazil, there were several instances where players could have received second bookable offense cautions and therefore sent off. Had the German referee been in charge of that match you'd have seen a better run game. Sadly, FIFA sent him home as he was deemed not needed...though he's one of the best referees in the pool.

 

I see Brazil taking this, even without Neymar. History is on its side. Plus the Brazilians seem to be on better physical shape than the Germans. The German backbone is too slow. I say 2-0 for Brazil.

 

The Germany will choke once again playing against the South American giant.

 

Ha ha ha. I am against Brazil because they have won more cups? I respect Brazil a great deal (as I do Germany) and they have offered the world some fantastic football, but what you and others refuse to admit is that they are also equally capable of what we saw against Colombia. I have never cheered against Brazil in my life except for in the match you mentioned. And I do not blame the missed penalty. Brazil were better than Italy that day.

And yes, Baggio is my favorite Italy player. But my respect for him goes well beyond the pitch.

 

Many have teams with a history. This doesn't mean you can not be neutral anymore.

Dutch team never lost a final against Brazil for example, but the current German team play better football (imho).
So I am happy to cheer for Germany in their match vs Brazil.
Even though I rather have a Brazil than Germany as opponent for the Netherlands should they reach the final.

 

He does wear shin pads. He has to according to the LOTG. IF he doesn't he'll be told to put them on. He does wear the most minor form of pad allowed.

 

It is really refreshing that objective posters like @DutchLion , @jerrito exist, from were I am coming , I have been clouded by the blind hatred , skepticism and always conspiracy spewing theory people who would even cheer if a 22 year old kid's dream is dashed by a horrible tackle , where people live off hate only , and yes it happens in this board only , I really do not care about being infracted anymore @Cviet , here is the proof of what I claimed that people were rejoicing that Neymar was injured :

http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads...razil-2014-world-cup-edition.2005213/page-399

 

Yes, it is sad to see people celebrating any injury

 

I saw this video today , amazing what kind of human beings these are , even if they can be called human beings on the first place .

 

For some rivalry supersedes humanity. Never understood that.

 

Deep Pal, I read that thread and the game thread and you will always have this kind of comments.
It is disgraceful and in the end you are better off moving on (and/or add to ignore list).
Nothing to win really.

Allowed to post anonymously brings out the worst in a lot of people.

 

I think the Dutch may be ashamed of how they played because they lost. Had they won (and they nearly did), that team would've been a symbol of pride for generations to come. The same way Spain will be remembered because they won, but Spain did anything but dominate that World Cup. They had close games throughout.

Brazilians are not ashamed of the way the team is playing because we've been way too traumatized by losses when we were playing the jogo bonito. I don't like this current style, but Brazil is not reinventing football, we're simply playing the way our opponents have always played against us. Both the 1994 and 2002 teams were heavily criticized all the way until they held the trophy. Winning or losing makes a huge difference here. I don't know any Italians that are ashamed of their World Cup titles, when they've played anything but stylish football. Two of Germany's titles came to the expense of ruining two of the greatest teams in the history of the game (Hungary in 1954, and Netherlands in 1974) by simply playing organized error-free football. I also don't see any shame from their side. I don't think there should be. These teams do what they have to do with the resources they have to achieve football greatness, and they achieved their goal, so I think we can only say they were ultimately better.

When Brazil lost to Paraguay in the Quarter Finals of the last Copa America, I was ashamed. I think it's ok for Brazil to lose against Paraguay, but to lose against Paraguay while playing like Paraguay was a real shock for me. I would've preferred watching Neymar getting his ass kicked by the opponents while trying to dribble his way forward. I guess it's part of it. Have no doubt that Brazilians would rather be watching 1982 team than our current team, but unfortunately that generation was forever tagged as a losing team. Brazilians want the same end result as the 1994 and 2002 World Cups, which at this point is still possible, so we'll take what we can get.

 

I'm just one of the Dutch and I disagree.

Someone here posted that the greatest miracle of WC 2010 was: van Bommel and de Jong not getting a red card.
Which pretty much described the feeling me and my friend's had at that time.

Don't get me wrong, I almost threw a beer bottle at the TV when Robben failed vs Casillas. Wanted to win but it all was too much, too hard for my liking.

You do have a point that winning obviously makes a lot bearable/good.
A symbol of pride of generations to come however is really too much and far off imho.

 

Would you believe that I actually felt bad for Zidane for going out in that fashion in 2006? He was never my favorite player, but anyone who has experienced injury or disgrace in some way should at least be a little bit sympathetic. Hopefully Neymar is back at full strength soon.

I also posted in the Italian forum that Balotelli should never play for Italy again because of his behavior in the past and especially recently. As an Italian, I do not want to be associated with that.

And thank you for the kind words.