Matchday Thread | GROUP A

This is so exciting! I think that Brazil are going to roll over this group, but second place is up for grabs. Croatia vs Mexico on the 23rd is going to be an awesome game.

 

This post is for the Mexican crowd. Are you wearing the Green or Red jersey to the Mexico vs Brazil match?

(Mexico will be wearing the red jersey on this match)

 

Cameroon on strike... again... its 2002 and 2010 all over.
Missed the flight to Brasil.

 

this is why African teams rarely do anything at the World Cup, they simply dont care about the pride of representing your country

they have talent, they just lack the heart

disgraceful

 

No. Not disgraceful. A typical knee-jerk reaction of people who don't know what's going on and just hear 'they want money'.

But its not about the money. At least not as far as the players as concerned. Its about the corruption of the Cameroon FA and their attempts to pocket the amount they received from FIFA while giving over scraps to the players. Eto'o for one traditionally donates the entire amount he receives from playing for the national team to various NGOs (his own as well to be honest). Cameroon is one of the few remaining dictatorships in Africa and corruption is rampant. The Cameroonian FA is the most corrupt FA and the Cameroonian players decided to take a stand against them. They should be congratulated, not vilified.

Not to mention Cameroon is not representative of Africa. The Ghana FA is nicely organised, although not without flaws. Similarly the Ivorian FA. The Nigerian FA is improving leaps and bounds as well.

BTW: Not all Cameroonian players pocket millions of dollars each year from club contracts. For the two locals these are real significant amounts.

 

In the States, the TV schedule says the game starts at 4pm EST. Is that for coverage or is kickoff actually at 4pm EST? I never know in regards to ESPN... Thanks

 

Brazil 2-1 Croatia

 

I want Croatia to win just to make this group that much interesting and to see how Brazil will react to a loss on home soil.

 

Oh and guys if you can't watch the game for some reason or you just want some in depth analysis on the matches then this is a good place to visit... http://news.rapgenius.com/2014-fifa-world-cup-brazil-finals-group-stage-fixtures-annotated

 

Brazil 2-1 Croatia
My matchday preview

 

Brazil 2 Croatia 0

 

The likeliest line-ups are
Julio Cesar; Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo; Paulinho, Luiz Gustavo; Hulk, Oscar, Neymar; Fred


Pletikosa; Srna, Corluka, Lovren, Vrsaljko; Vukojevic, Modric; Perisic, Rakitic, Kovacic; Olic

That Croatian midfield is talented with both Modric and Rakitic in the form of their lives coming into this World Cup.
I hope its a close contest but it will be good for the tournament as a whole if Brazil win

 

Honestly it seems Brazil is somewhat overhyped. The general opinion seems to be based on the confed cup and a couple of practice games but in the confed cup Brazil only played good the 1st half against Spain. In the other matches they were barely convincing, and if David Luiz hadn't been paying attention, they could've easily lost against Mexico in the group games. Not saying they have a bad team, just...there are definitely chances for Croatia here, provided they don't let themselves be overwhelmed by the ambiance.

 

Is there going to be a specific match thread for Brazil v. Croatia, or are we just going to discuss the match here?

 

http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/brazil-vs-croatia-june-12-2014-são-paulo-r.2006330/