It would be nice and it might lead to national styles reviving although in the age of IT that would be an ask. But the economics now and for the forseeable future mean that isn't going to happen.
Can't look into the past. Gotta find solutions for the now. It is what it is. We are still developing good individual talent. I guess people may not like wingers nowadays, but the joke in 82 was that the team needed wingers. Brazil has had wingers in the past, it's not a strictly European thing.
Yes, that's simply the way it is. CONMEBOL teams cannot compete with the salaries the wealthiest UEFA teams are able to muster. This isn't the 1980s. Globalization may have harmful effects, but the world isn't going to go back to what it was immediately after Brazil won the 1970 World Cup or to what things were like right after Italy won its third World Cup.
Another channel I've enjoyed analysis from is this one: The channel is obviously a good advertisement for the product they use to analyze matches, but putting that aside, it's insightful post-match analysis. Of course, post-match analysis can't fix issues unless the team is also coming to the same conclusions and making adjustments. And maybe they are, but we won't know that until they do.
Good share. Very interesting about João Gomes movement. It's not smart if you want to give your CB options and play through the midfield. Then again, that might be a case of Dorival not trusting him receiving the ball in the midfield after our mids display vs Colombia getting pick pocketed a few times. Seems like the direct ball to the attack was the plan rather than the only option left. It shows Dorival's lack of confidence in the mids ability to handle the ball. At least in this game.
The two Euro finalists are the teams we faced in March. Quite a coincidence. And Dorival got a win and a draw against them!
5 mins and only one foul in the Colombia x Uruguay game. When both teams played against us I think each had committed 3-5 fouls already.
Now that Uruguay are down it's getting closer to what I expected. Uruguay successfully provoked Munoz who stupidly elbowed Ugarte and got a second yellow. So Colombia are up 1x0 but down a player.
It’s interesting that without a biased Argentine ref supporting them in being violent against Brazil, the Uruguayans are NOT playing violently against Colombia. The first violent foul they committed, the Mexican ref immediately showed them a yellow, unlike what the Argie POS did against Brazil. This makes it even clearer that CONMEBOL likely told the Uruguayans “you can foul the Brazilians at will; we got an Argentine ref there to help you.”
The game now is turning violent again. Poor South American soccer. This kind of stuff is simply not allowed by UEFA but CONMEBOL and CONCACAF seem to almost encourage violence, with refs that don’t curb it.
Colombia 1x0 Uruguay, despite Uruguay being up a player for the entire second half. Deserved win by Colombia, I think. Felt like the better team until the red, and created chances and defended well even down to 10. At the end they really should have scored a second on breakaways. Argentina x Colombia on Sunday is definitely an enticing match-up, current champs vs. best form in South America (and longest winning streak in the world right now).
I thought Uruguay were better until the red card. Or at least until Colombia's goal. Definitely had the better chances. Nuñez wasted like 3 of them.
I don't want Argentina to win, for obvious reasons. However, if they do take the title, it won't be a surprise. Colombia, however, is looking solid - as you wrote, the world's longest unbeaten streak (28 matches); incidentally, the last team to defeat Colombia was.... Argentina. Colombia with a very solid tactical system executed by players with athleticism, skill, and size. Argentina, as I wrote, may very well emerge victorious in Miami, but if Colombia takes it, it'll be the culmination of a process which has seen this team get quite competitive. It's worth noting that despite 3 draws and being in 3rd place, Colombia is the only team in WCQ who remains undefeated. Five days before Uruguay beat Brazil 2-0, Colombia and Uruguay drew 2-2 in Barranquilla, and Uruguay salvaged a point thanks to a 90th minute PK. As for Argentina, I've actually seen few of their highlights, but I do wonder one thing. I've read Messi is definitely showing his age, despite his lampejos which can determine outcome of matches. But whereas one Brazilian journalist said Argentina was looking unchanged from what it looked like in Qatar, another (more recently) said Argentina, while a contender, is showing signs of tear and wear. If this is the case, and especially if Colombia defeats Argentina convincingly, we may be witnessing the beginning of the end of an era/cycle. How they manage as Messi ages further and how well their team is renovated remains to be seen; a title win may well be the last hurrah before further rebuilding occurs. And tonight, U.S. fans, stadium staff, police officers, and casual observers got a taste of the pandemonium which has been seen in South America. Uruguay is #1 in WCQ at the moment and it has an excellent manager; this type of behavior was simply unnecessary. I won't deny CONMEBOL referees have at times made terrible calls, and around these parts, few Brazilian posters have "rivalized" with Argentina as often and as much as I have. That said, the "Argie POS" referee red-carded a Uruguayan player against Brazil. If he was that anti-Brazilian/pro-Uruguay, why would he have done so?
I will differ here. Because for that type of play, you can't just ignore giving a red card. Specially with VAR involved (which had to call him). It would look really obvious. A ref can definitely tilt the scales in other ways during the game. Not saying that's what happened though. I think Uruguay committing 26 fouls and only 2 YCs is bad refing for sure. The non PK call on the Colombia game was a bit more suspect to me.
Well, I've seen similarly blatant fouls not earn even a yellow card, in both club and country play. I don't agree with those decisions per se - all I'm saying is that if that specific Argentine referee was out to harm Brazil, he could have opted for a yellow. And I've seen more than a few fishy calls in club play in South America, so it's not as if I think referees being biased is out of the question. Uruguay may have committed that many fouls, but it's on them that they couldn't break through a 10-man Colombia - just as it's on us we couldn't break through a 10-man Uruguay, even though we had far less time than Uruguay did.
The ref only showed the red card once VAR called him. The VAR conversations with the ref are recorded and often made public to clarify controversial decisions. The ref could not ignore VAR’s arguments for a red card without pretty much confirming his bias, potentially damaging his own status. I am quite sure, given what he did in the rest of the game, that he wouldn’t have shown a red to the Uruguayan without the intervention of VAR. what you see as exculpatory, I see as confirmation of his bias, as in, only acting against Uruguay once he was under pressure from VAR.
It seemed to me that the Colombian players were somewhat physically imposing and that Uruguay (yes! Uruguay) was a bit intimidated by that. Colombia, just like against Brazil, was much faster to the ball and to attack. Also, Colombia, even while a man down, was way more dominating over Uruguay than they were against Brazil. My conclusion: Uruguay are overrated and Brazil only needs a little to be better than Colombia.