Brazil is a much better team with Neymar. I also think like us South Korea spent all the gas in the tank to get to the round of 16. Brazil is clearly better, but I don't know if they are this much better. If this was a boxing bout, the referee would step in to prevent further punishment. 4-0 #BRA— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) December 5, 2022
South Korea spent it all to get here, much like us. They were fortunately to get through, anyway. Add that Brazil is so much more explosive that Netherlands, and this is what you get.
Croatia already planning how to take this Brazil to kicks from the spot. Time to rest Neymar, Richarlison & Vinicius.
Brazil’s attackers are absurdly calm on the ball. They’re all holding it long enough to do the required trigonometry before picking out a shot.
So far in the round of 16 we've had 3 games that were total blowouts (FRAvPOL, ENGvSEN, BRAvKOR), 2 games where one opponent was clearly outplaying the other (USAvNED, ARGvAUS), and one truly competitive and intense game (JPNvCRO)... Portugal vs Switzerland could get interesting, but I don't have high hopes for Spain vs Morocco. ... And FIFA wants to add an EXTRA knock-out round?
People think too easy on progressing in the WC. History tells you otherwise. You talk about a habit, but I prefer to call it a mindset. Take a look at the countries with the highest semi-final numbers. It's a rather small collection of countries, in which we Dutch are an anomalie because of our tiny population.
So how exactly does this work? Brazil won the 1st half, but South Korea won the 2nd half... does that mean they're now going to play a 3rd half to see who wins the best out of 3?
Lots of chalk. The US is just more like Poland, Senegal, Japan, South Korea and Australia than they are like France, Argentina, England, Brazil and even Croatia.
Typically this is what happens in this round, though. The cream rises to the top. When was the last time Brazil lost in the Round of 16? So far teams that have reached a World Cup final are 6-0 in this round of 16. Those that haven't are 0-6. The one that could have gone was Japan-Croatia. Croatia was ripe for the taking, and Japan couldn't get it done. Since 1990, the record of CONMEBOL/UEFA teams against Asia/Africa/CONCACAF/etc. in this round is extremely depressing. For instance, only 4 African nations IN HISTORY have made it past the round of 16. How many CONCACAF teams have since 1990? Is the answer only 2? The USMNT in 2002, and Costa Rica in 2014? And by the way, on both of those occassions, they didn't have to face UEFA/CONMEBOL powers. The USMNT got Mexico in 2002, and Costa Rica got Greece in 2014. It makes the event a little less interesting. 2002 was fun because there were so many non-powers in the quarters. Korea, Senegal, US, Turkey, etc. Then again, the quality of games in this quarterfinals is going to be outstanding. I was listening to a podcast at the start of the round, and the commentators said THIS is the day for an upset. Maybe they'll be right. Switzerland in particular is capable of knocking off Portugal. Morocco has been playing very well.
Also helps when you're just blowing people out. Note that France basically rested their starting lineup in their last group game. They lost that match, but just cruised thru the round of 16 game. Meanwhile a nation like Croatia has been unable to give their key players any rest. They looked exhausted yesterday, even having to take Modric/Kovacic out. I'm not sure they're going to have much left in the tank for Brazil...................... If the USMNT had managed to get by Holland, they'd be in the same position. Key players, particularly the midfield, running on fumes.
There’s at least a much longer gap between the round of 16 and the quarterfinals compared to between other games. We had 3 days of rest between Wales and England, 3 days between England and Iran, and 3 days between Iran and Netherlands. Had we won against Netherlands we would have had 5 days of rest before playing Argentina. Would have had more time to recover and recharge.
Also, people management. You have a sense of unity on this Brazilian team. They really enjoy each other company. Belgium had locker room problems and couldn't get out of group stage; when you bring together many egos and force them to live with each other for a extended period of time; you must people/ego manage. I think France is as good and might be even better than Brazil, if Mbappé is inspired (I think he is as good and will be as dominate as Ronaldo in his prime); The only thing that could hamper France is locker room climate. If Mbappé isn't happy with tactics or how the team is playing they will suffer. On the opposite spectrum you have Argentina; They all play for Messi, no conflicts because they have a shared goal.