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 Brazil are a footballing superpower. They are the most successful team in World Cup history, with five wins in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002, and are one of only two countries to ever win back-to-back World Cups. The top scorer in the history of the World Cup is a Brazilian. They are also the host country for this year's edition, and would like nothing more than Being the host country also means they qualified automatically and did not have to play qualifiers. While this means they have played less competitive matches, it doesn't mean they are any worse as a result. They also won the 2013 Confederations Cup, which doesn't really mean anything because that tournament is such a joke that last time it happened the United States beat Spain, who then won the World Cup anyway, because the Confederations Cup is irrelevant. Regardless, Brazil are one of the favourite teams to win the World Cup, right up there with Germany and Spain.  Brazil are managed by Luiz Felipe Scolari. Coincidentally, he was also the manager when Brazil won the World Cup in 2002. He then managed Portugal to the final of Euro 2004, before everyone decided there shouldn't be a final that year and went home, and then also managed them to a fourth place finish at the 2006 World Cup. He managed Chelsea for a year and was a big flop, so he succeeded that by literally managing at an oligarch cub in Uzbekistan, where he was the highest paid manager in the world and made 13 million euros a year to ignore the fact that he was getting rich off the exploitation of a country where people get boiled to death for opposing the regime. Anyway, eventually he ended up back in Brazil and got rehired to manage the team to World Cup glory. The hype is so high in Brazil that if Scolari does not actually win the World Cup, he will probably be sacked. If he made it to the final and lost, or finished in third place, or whatever, he would probably be sacked. And if he does win it, he'll probably retire. But he's one of the few managers to have actually won the World Cup before, so he knows what it takes. The Squad: Brazil being a footballing superpower, Scolari has an embarrassment of riches to choose from when selecting his squad. That being said, not every position on the pitch is a winner.  Julio Cesar, Goalkeeper (Toronto FC, CAN) Julio Cesar is a good goalkeeper, which is why it's such a mystery that he's ended up at one of the worst clubs in one of the worst leagues in the sport, on loan from a second division team in England that he doesn't want to leave because they're paying him way too much money. He's kind of chubby and out of shape, as well as being 34 years old, but he's still the best Brazil has got so he'll start every game unless something drastic happens.  Jefferson, Goalkeeper (Botafogo, BRA) Jefferson is a goalkeeper, I dunno much about him because he's never really left the Brazilian leagues. Has 9 caps to Julio Cesar's 78, so don't expect to see him on the pitch.  Victor, Goalkeeper (Atletico Mineiro, BRA) Same goes for Victor, only with 6 caps instead of 9. He's the youngest of the three, at age 31, but he's never played outside Brazil so not many global fans know him.  Dani Alves, Right Back (Barcelona, SPA) Dani Alves is a very good right back who has won shitloads of trophies with Barcelona. He loves bombing forward and is a serious attacking threat, but is fast enough and has enough stamina that this somehow doesn't make him a defensive liability. Scolari's Brazil plays with the fullbacks attacking a lot on the overlap, so expect to see Alves closer to the opposition's goal than his own most of the time.  Thiago Silva, Centre Back, Captain (PSG, FRA) Thiago Silva is the best centre back in the world, is rock solid defensively, and can still do insane things with the ball, as seen above. He has chosen to use his talents to make yachtloads of money dominating the French league on behalf of the country of Qatar, but he makes a formidable defensive bastion for Brazil anyway. He made GravityDaemon cry when he left Milan.  Sideshow Bob, Centre Back  (Chelsea, ENG)Sideshow Bob will soon be the most expensive defender in the history of football once his 40-50 million pound transfer to PSG goes through. He does not deserve that. He's great on the ball but a bit of a mentalist defensively. Gary Neville called him a "Playstation player", which is accurate as long as the person holding the playstation is me, because I am poo poo at defending on FIFA and David Luiz is poo poo at defending in real life. He is still Scolari's first choice partner for Thiago Silva.       Marcelo, Left Back (Real Madrid, SPA) Marcelo is a really good left back, like a left sided Dani Alves. He recently helped Real Madrid win their tenth European Cup by changing the game when he replaced Fabio Coentrao. He's seriously good going forward, and solid defensively as well. Like Alves on the right, the Brazil team relies a lot on him overlapping down the left, so expect to see him attack a lot. He also doesn't know how water bottles work.  Dante, Centre Back (Bayern Munich, GER) Dante is a very good centre back who played a pretty big role in Bayern's unreal season last year and their knockoff imitation unreal season this year. He's way better than David Luiz at defending but will probably not play anywhere near as much as he should.  Maxwell, Left Back (PSG, FRA) Maxwell is a good enough left back but he's never been Brazil's first choice. He used to play for Barcelona and wasn't really their first choice either. He probably won't play at all unless something happens to Marcelo.  Maicon, Right Back (Roma, ITA) Maicon used to be the best right back in the world until Gareth Bale murdered him and he spent a bizarre season at Manchester City when Roberto Mancini had completely lost the plot. He's still okay, I guess, but the question of whether he or Alves is better has pretty much been settled. Don't expect him to start except maybe in the third group match if Brazil have already qualified.  Henrique, Centre Back (Napoli, ITA) Henrique is kind of a surprise inclusion as I understand it, and I don't know much about him because I don't follow Serie A much. Don't expect him to play much, though.  Fernandinho, Midfielder (Manchester City, ENG) Fernandinho is quite a tidy player who was completely overlooked for Brazil for a long time because he played in Ukraine. As soon as he moved to a club in a big league he got noticed and appreciated for his patient holding work in midfield and started getting called up. In club football he's played next to Yaya Toure as a defensive presence. He may not start for Brazil but he will probably be one of their first choice replacements in one of the two holding midfield positions.  Ramires, Midfielder (Chelsea, ENG) Ramires runs and runs and runs. He'll run all day, and then run some more. He's a very versatile player, because it turns out that running and running and running can fit in well at almost any position on the pitch. Could crop up anywhere but will probably be mostly played in central midfield because the two wide forward positions are filled by the team's stars.  Hernanes, Midfielder (Internazionale, ITA) I don't know much about Hernanes, to be honest, but he's always getting linked to big money clubs like Manchester City so he's probably doing something right. Someone who follows Italian football closer than I do could probably tell you more.  Oscar, Midfielder (Chelsea, ENG) Oscar is really quite a good attacking midfielder, who's been responsible for a lot of Chelsea's good play over the last couple of years. He's currently in the "falling out" stage with his club manager, Jose Mourinho, who will steadily isolate him for playing with flair rather than tracking back to tackle opposition wingers at his own corner flag, but expect him to be a big part of Brazil's attack in the World Cup.  Willian, Winger (Chelsea, ENG) Willian is a pretty good winger who, much like Fernandinho, was ignored for a long time because he played in Ukraine and then Russia. He's a good dribbler, he's quick, he's got good movement, and he's willing to track back, but his finishing could use some work. He won't start for Brazil, they have better options on the wings.  Luiz Gustavo, Midfielder (Wolfsburg, GER) Luiz Gustavo is a good defensive midfielder who was very solid for Bayern, including during their crazy good season last year. Then they sold him because Pep Guardiola hates nonwhites, and a bunch of English posters moaned about how he would be perfect for their clubs but he decided to stay in an actually cool and good country instead.  Paulinho, Midfielder (Tottenham, ENG) Paulinho could have signed for a big club when he left Brazil last summer, but he signed for Spurs instead and they were poo poo, and we all laughed. Still, Paulinho was one of the bright spots in their extraordinary waste of money last summer, and he makes quite a good holding midfielder. He may well start for Brazil at the World Cup and then move to a proper club, but Brazil have so many candidates for their two central midfield spots that it's definitely not guaranteed.  Bernard, Midfielder (Shakhtar Donetsk, UKR) Bernard is really young, only 21, and is breaking the mold by being called up for Brazil even while playing in Ukraine. This is extra special because he's playing in the part of Ukraine that really doesn't want to be part of Ukraine at the moment, and the airport he probably flew out of to get to Brazil for the World Cup was recently the location of an actual gunfight in which 30 people died. Anyway, Bernard is good I guess? I dunno, he's too young and only left Brazil for Ukraine last year so I don't know a ton about him. I wouldn't expect to see him play a lot given how many other good midfielders Brazil has.  Fred, Striker (Fluminense, BRA) Fred scored the fastest goal in professional football history, apparently, while playing in Brazil as a youngster, scoring against Vila Nova after 3.17 seconds. He was also a good player at Lyon in France while they won like five league titles in a row, but other than that he's never played outside Brazil. Regardless of that fact, he's the first choice striker for Brazil at the moment, and tends to perform well for the national team. Really, though, his job isn't to score goals, it's just to take up space and occupy defenders so that the better players around him can find gaps in the opposition defence.  Jo, Striker (Atletico Mineiro, BRA) Jo has played all over the loving place but he was really, really bad for a couple of years in England so that's what most people know him for. I guess he's been okay since going back to Brazil, but really the fact that they called up loving Jo shows you that striker is not Brazil's strongest position. They hosed up by not calling up Diego Costa before he decided Spain was a cooler place and also that he loved doping.  Hulk, Striker/Wide Forward (Zenit St. Petersburg, RUS) Hulk is one of the team's two stars and literally one of my favourite players in the whole wide world. He makes shitloads of money playing in Russia. Previously he played for Porto and was really loving good there. He's really loving good at football and can hit the ball like a cannon. Seriously, look at this loving goal. This guy is awesome.  Neymar, Striker/Wide Forward (Barcelona, SPA) Unfortunately we don't get to end on a high because this fucker came along. The undisputed #1 star of the team, Neymar is Brazil's next great hope. He scores some good goals but also showboats and dives a lot. Expect a lot of confused, angry Americans to get upset when they see him rewarded for diving, and cry about him ruining the beautiful game or whatever, and being the reason why Americans will never be into football, for which we thank him. Scolari likes playing him and Hulk on the wings, where they move into space created by Fred and have the fullbacks overlap past them on the outside. It's a pretty good system that's built to get the best out of Neymar and Hulk. It remains to be seen how well it works against proper defences in competitive fixtures, but it should be fun to watch.  As the hosts of the tournament, Brazil are in Group A and will kick off the tournament against Croatia. If they don't make it out of the group, expect someone to literally murder Scolari and possibly Neymar. If they don't make it to the semifinals, expect Scolari to get sacked in the tunnel. If they don't win it, expect him to still get sacked, only not in the tunnel.  Brazil have cool and good fans and every stadium will be full of them because the World Cup is in Brazil, but they will cheer their hardest for Brazil's own team, which they might also call Le Selecao only you shouldn't call them that because that's the World Cup equivalent of putting the little curly thing on the C and writing Barca all the time, so gently caress you if you think that's cool. Anyway Brazil will be a team that should go far and you should expect to see them in the later stages of the tournament. It will be a real shock and upset if they're knocked out by anyone other than one of the other favourite teams. vyelkin fucked around with this message at 20:10 on May 27, 2014 |
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May 27, 2014 19:01
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Mean Bean Machine posted:They don't have computers or the internet in Brazil yet, that's why they needed a f*cking Canadian to make their thread. I guess you should have been better colonial overlords then.
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May 27, 2014 19:17
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Some poor Brazilians have organized an alternative World Cup, contested by teams made up of people evicted from the favelas for the World Cup. http://www.aljazeera.com/sport/brazil2014/features/2014/05/brazil-poor-stage-an-alternative-world-cup-2014530124916700539.html
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Jun 3, 2014 09:57
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pik_d posted:It was pretty good to be fair That's a very good free kick against a pretty weak wall.
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Jun 3, 2014 20:43
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Hegay posted:Looks like Brazil is fielding their best XI? Yep that's generally Scolari's first choice lineup. Interesting to see if they can even beat Serbia.
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Jun 6, 2014 22:09
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If I were Scolari I'd seriously consider putting one of Hulk or Neymar up front and Willian or one of the other midfielders on the wing. Fred is just so bad compared to the rest of the team, he drags the whole offence down, and it's not like Jo is a better option.
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Jun 18, 2014 07:23
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Badger of Basra posted:Is Hulk's injury long term or just a one match thing? He probably was fit enough that he could have played against Mexico, but I guess Scolari didn't want to risk him. I'll be very surprised if he doesn't start against Cameroon.
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Jun 18, 2014 07:37
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Brazil beat Cameroon 4-1. Fernandinho, Fred, and Neymar (2) scored, but it became even clearer that Brazil's offence is really reliant on Neymar having a good day. Hulk and Fred were both really bad, Fred bundling in an offside tap-in really doesn't excuse the rest of his poo poo play dragging down the team all game. Paulinho was also really bad in the centre of midfield, and Brazil's defence was exposed once again, this time by Marcelo completely switching off at the back post. One big positive is that Fernandinho looked really good when he replaced Paulinho at half time, and joined Gustavo who had an incredible game. If Scolari wasn't asleep for the second half (I know I was for most of it) he should start Fernandinho and Gustavo next game and that would improve Brazil's play a lot. But Brazil, shockingly for a country blessed with so much talent, look like a one-man team this year. If any team in the knockouts can shut down Neymar, I expect Brazil will go out.
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Jun 26, 2014 06:58
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I think it will be easier for Brazil to score against Colombia, they have old and not very mobile centre backs but they still like to play attacking football so could leave space open for Neymar. The problem is that everyone now knows that if you shut down Neymar you shut down most of Brazil's attacking threat. Oscar, Jo, Hulk, and Fred really didn't show enough last match to worry 90% of the teams left in this tournament. That being said, with Brazil's defensive frailties and tendency for one of Luiz, Alves, or Marcelo to switch off at the back I would be concerned about playing Rodriguez and Cuadrado. I think Brazil will still win it, but I think it will be much more difficult than they would like.
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Jun 29, 2014 07:27
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If anything, this Brazil defence shows just how good Barcelona and Real Madrid are at compensating defensively for Alves and Marcelo bombing forward. Things like putting a defensive player in the other fullback slot, dropping a defensive midfielder back into the centre of defence and pushing the centre backs out wide, playing a defensive winger who drops back when they overlap, stuff like that. Because Marcelo and Alves don't look like defensive liabilities for their club sides. But put them in a Brazil team where they both bomb forward and leave Luis, Silva, and Gustavo alone at the back, and suddenly the whole defence falls apart. I don't see where the criticism of Thiago Silva is coming from, to be honest. If it's of his leadership as captain then fine. But he's been by far their most solid defender, and if you were playing a David Luiz clone instead of him (and throw in a Paulinho clone for Gustavo while you're at it) Brazil would concede five goals every game.
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Jul 1, 2014 12:15
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2010 had Luis Fabiano, Robinho, and Nilmar as their stirkers. This year has Fred and Jo. For some reason all the good strikers Brazil have produced recently want to play as wide forwards instead.joepinetree posted:Brazilian media is on full "anything goes" speculation mode. I've read people saying that Scolari will take out Fred and use a 4 man midfield with Fernandinho, Paulinho, Oscar and Hernanes with Hulk and Neymar upfront. Or that it will be the same team as against Chile, only with David Luiz as a DM and Dante in his place in the back. Or that it will be Paulinho in L Gustavo's place, but Hernanes would come in for Hulk. Bottom line being no one has a clue. What I would expect is Paulinho and Fernandinho to start in midfield, everything else unchanged. Scolari has seemed completely unwilling to rock the boat so far this tournament, as shown by his actual commitment to playing Pub League Fred up top no matter how badly he does every match. Brazil's squad selection for this tournament was weird as all hell. They only really brought one defensive midfielder despite him being absolutely essential to their team. Imagine if Brazil could be starting Lucas Leiva instead of Gustavo while he's injured, and putting Lucas Moura in for Hulk on the wing, and moving Hulk up front to replace Fred.
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Jul 4, 2014 10:27
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Gigi Galli posted:Paulinho and Fernandinho looked better than Luis Gustavo imo. You guys think it'll be Dante or Henrique vs Germany in place of Thiago Silva? Probably Dante if Scolari has any brains. Dante is their second best defender after Thiago Silva. Without Neymar's Brazil's attack is going to be so toothless though, not even funny. Then again if they can just keep scoring from set plays that might not matter so much.
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Jul 5, 2014 17:53
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Football's Greatest are pretty great short documentaries on amazing players and of course they've done one on Pele. I haven't seen this one in particular, but it's probably good.
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Jul 5, 2014 20:35
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El Hefe posted:Everyone knew Brazil was going to lose but not like this It's literally their biggest loss ever. If they ever come close to this again, the commentators on that match will be saying "a few more goals and this could rival their biggest ever loss, a 7-1 defeat against Germany in the semifinals of the 2014 World Cup."
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Jul 8, 2014 23:09
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joepinetree posted:Ricardo Rocha is literally saying that the players are the least to blame and shouldn't be booed. Who's to blame then, Scolari? What do they say he should have done differently?
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Jul 8, 2014 23:16
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So has Scolari resigned/been sacked yet?
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Jul 9, 2014 07:05
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Some advanced stats for yall:
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Jul 9, 2014 09:57
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Skinty McEdger posted:Sandro had a column in the Sun yesterday in which he pretty much sounded the everything is fine alarm. The result was a freak, and how could anyone be critical of Brazil when the same group of players dominated last year. Also David Luiz was the best player in the tournament and Germany don't play great football. Well, it makes sense for Sandro to say that, to be honest. if he publishes a scathing critique of CBF and their performance, it's likely he'll never play for the national team again. Retired guys like Zico have way more freedom to be honest, because they have nothing to lose.
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Jul 11, 2014 09:34
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emanresu tnuocca posted:It's cool that Brazil shipped off 10 goals in their last two matches, I doubt any other semi finalist ever went out of the world cup in such a humiliating fashion, and they are the hosts to boot. Really incredible, and to think that ahead of this world cup most people thought Brazil had one of the best defenses in the world. No one who knew anything about football thought a defence containing Marcelo, David Luiz, and Dani Alves would be one of the best in the world at preventing goals.
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Jul 13, 2014 07:30
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emanresu tnuocca posted:Marcelo had a really good year at Madrid, mostly offensively but he wasn't a defensive liability at any point, Alves hasn't had a good year but he was considered the best fullback in the world for like half a decade, people expected him to step up. And Luiz? well, yeah anyone who's seen him play knows he's a huge joker but he played in the best defense in the premier league this past season, and many people think he's some sort of prodigy. Alves and Marcelo are good defensively when they're in teams that compensate for their tendency to go pretend they're wingers. They have good defensive skills in that they can make tackles or interceptions when they have to, but their positioning and mentality has always been suspect because they are so attack-minded. They can be very effective players at the club level, when they have managers who surround them with good defensive players and adjust the team's strategy around the fact that Alves or Marcelo will be bombing forward at every opportunity. Scolari didn't do that. Instead he just let them both go attack all the time and didn't really bother drilling the team on how to defend when they're the ones under pressure. And Luiz is a garbageman. He was in the best defence in the premier league this season because Mourinho managed his club and dropped Luiz to play Cahill and Terry instead (Luiz only played 19 times in the Premier League last season), and then sold Luiz the instant he found a team willing to pay for his reputation rather than his actual ability. Thiago Silva is probably the best central defender in the world, but even he can't make up for three out of three defenders in the line alongside him being complete liabilities.
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Jul 13, 2014 08:46
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emanresu tnuocca posted:Not a single player in their defensive lineup plays in a club that plays 3-5-2 or any formation with wingbacks yet they're all great performers for their clubs (asides from Luiz). In fact, none of them actually play for a team that plays more than two defensive midfielders either. So... you're wrong? You're really missing the point of what I and others are saying. In their club sides, Alves, Marcelo, and Luiz get systems built around their tendencies to get forward, by surrounding them with other players who stay back and play more defensively. At Barcelona, for example, Alves and Alba both bomb forward so Busquets drops back in between the two centre backs and they push out wide to cover the space. Their club sides have one, at most two defenders who get forward that much. At Barcelona, even when they have two (both fullbacks) getting forward, they have a midfielder drop back to make sure there's still adequate defensive cover. Absolutely none of their club sides have three out of four defender bombing forward on the attack. None of them. What you're essentially saying is "These three players do well for their clubs in systems where one or two defenders get forward, therefore you're wrong and no one could predict that they would do poorly in a system where three defenders get forward." Clit Avoider has it absolutely right. All three playing the way they do with their club sides, either not told to be defensively disciplined by Scolari or ignoring him if they were told that, left one defender and one midfielder to play defence. Against Germany this was painfully exposed when Dante and Gustavo were unable to fill four or five defensive spots all on their own when Brazil were caught in possession with three out of four defenders up the pitch, and Germany had huge overlaps and attacking players in acres of space.
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Jul 13, 2014 14:17
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 05:48 |
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Brony Car posted:Was Dunga forced to resign or was he just eager to move on to something else? I thought he did pretty well. He was sacked.
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Jul 18, 2014 19:50
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