Brazil 1 Croatia 0
Watched the second half of the match last night after the first half the prior night. Oh, and TiVo decided to tape it on Univision rather than ESPN - I have no idea why.
Everything that has been said about Ronaldo is true - he's got a spare tire. I mean, did he do anything more than jog more than twice the entire time he was in there? That said, I didn't see much out of Adriano either - although he at least tried to do a little running. And Robinho wasn't too into it either after he came on for Ronaldo. Basically, the Brazil attack consisted of Ronaldinho and Kaka - and Ronaldinho wasn't all THAT great, although better than in the CL final. (Isn't Kaka a left midielder for AC Milan? He moved to the right to accomodate Ronaldinho - so Beasley quitcherbitchin.) BTW - not having seen enough of Brazil, are Emerson and Ze Roberto supposed to be only holding midfielders? I recall seeing them in the Mexico match in the Confederations cup last year and wasn't impressed. Perhaps they need to stay back to cover for Cafu's and Roberto Carlos's runs.
In fact, I found this match to be quite similar to to the Mexico match from last year - Brazil kind of sleepwalked. For all of their supposedly great attackers, when I've seen them, they haven't played all that great as a whole. Maybe I just haven't seen them enough, who knows. I wonder, though, if they might be like this year's Pistons - just thinking that they can turn it on any time they want. Of course, in the Confederations Cup they DID turn it on at the end, and absolutely killed Argentina in the final. So maybe Brazil won't suffer the Pistons' fate.
Croatia played well - at least evenly with Brazil save that the one error that led to the goal (which was bad - there were two defenders on Kaka when he received the ball, and it looked like they both thought the other would mark him). There were a number of chances that the Croatian attackers had that they could have done better with - open shots that either missed the target or were right at the keeper. Also, it was unfortunate that Croatia's captain, Niko Kovac, had to go off after he was pulled down by Adriano. I couldn't tell from the spanish announcers what happened - hurt his ribs? Anyway, Croatia - Australia should be a fun match to watch.
Everything that has been said about Ronaldo is true - he's got a spare tire. I mean, did he do anything more than jog more than twice the entire time he was in there? That said, I didn't see much out of Adriano either - although he at least tried to do a little running. And Robinho wasn't too into it either after he came on for Ronaldo. Basically, the Brazil attack consisted of Ronaldinho and Kaka - and Ronaldinho wasn't all THAT great, although better than in the CL final. (Isn't Kaka a left midielder for AC Milan? He moved to the right to accomodate Ronaldinho - so Beasley quitcherbitchin.) BTW - not having seen enough of Brazil, are Emerson and Ze Roberto supposed to be only holding midfielders? I recall seeing them in the Mexico match in the Confederations cup last year and wasn't impressed. Perhaps they need to stay back to cover for Cafu's and Roberto Carlos's runs.
In fact, I found this match to be quite similar to to the Mexico match from last year - Brazil kind of sleepwalked. For all of their supposedly great attackers, when I've seen them, they haven't played all that great as a whole. Maybe I just haven't seen them enough, who knows. I wonder, though, if they might be like this year's Pistons - just thinking that they can turn it on any time they want. Of course, in the Confederations Cup they DID turn it on at the end, and absolutely killed Argentina in the final. So maybe Brazil won't suffer the Pistons' fate.
Croatia played well - at least evenly with Brazil save that the one error that led to the goal (which was bad - there were two defenders on Kaka when he received the ball, and it looked like they both thought the other would mark him). There were a number of chances that the Croatian attackers had that they could have done better with - open shots that either missed the target or were right at the keeper. Also, it was unfortunate that Croatia's captain, Niko Kovac, had to go off after he was pulled down by Adriano. I couldn't tell from the spanish announcers what happened - hurt his ribs? Anyway, Croatia - Australia should be a fun match to watch.
posted by Al at 1:46 PM
3 Comments:
I think Brazil is playing a sort of 2-2-2-2 formation with Cafu and Roberto Carlos on the outside - sort of how they played in the 98 cup. I am also not terribly impressed by Emersona and Ze Roberto (indeed, I wondered why Marcos Senna couldn't get into the Brazil squad ahead of either and so chose to become Spanish.
actually, i'm not sure that it really makes sense to talk about a brazil "formation" at all: when your best player, ronaldinho, is all around the field, the idea of "formation" in the normative sense is a little off.
that said, since roberto carlos is nominally a fullback (who spends an enormous amount of time on the offensive end), someone has to stay back!
yes, Al, i think it was ribs.
I still like the Brazillians. Sometimes playing too much for keeps is bad and suffocating in a sort of American football or basketball (or even Italian soccer) way where formation and specialization dictate everything.
Ronaldinho is a great player precisely because he can play any position.
Also, I think its not entirely their fault that everyone heaps the expectation on them.
S&M repeated their performance of Euro 2000 when they melted before the Dutch (in a 4-0 pile on, if I remember correctly) and the Dutch went on to lose to no one (well, Italy, but they were a disgrace). Lets see if S&M build teams up, but in the process jinx them up as well.
Post a Comment
<< Home