Notes from the End of Group Stage
Brazil 4 Japan 1
Brazil played like... Brazil! Hooray! Japan played a very attractive game, but you can see what happens when you try to play attractively agains Brazil - you get blitzed. To me, the result of this game vindicates the style played by Croatia and Australia. You've got to pack it in, and play very defensively against Brazil. You can't play a nice offensive style, because Brazil will take that ball from you and then take you apart. It's like playing the Phoenix Suns - you can't run with them, so you've got to play the opposite style.
How many shots did Brazil have, anyway? 20-something, to be sure. They must have had three or four good chances for each of their goals. I'm surprised it wasn't 6 or 8 to 1. Ronaldo of course looked good. Still wasn't running much, but the touch was there, the ability to turn on a dime and get the shot off was there. Ronaldinho also looked pretty good - not great again, but good, in that he created some nice plays. I like Robinho in that he really runs nicely and so quick. It was interesting that they rested so many players - the outside backs and holding midfielders, too. Makes sense to me.
England 2 Sweden 2
England looked better, I thought. However, Owen's injury kills them. I can't see them going too far with a lack of strikers. I love Joe Cole - he has really improved this year at Chelsea and for the English national team - but can he carry a team's scoring burden? No.
France 2 Togo 0
France looked a lot better, but you've got to wonder whether it was the competition. I thought Viera was washed up, but he played really well.
Portugal 2 Mexico 1
Portugal didn't start Christiano Ronaldo, Pauleta, or 3 others, and yet they STILL dominted the Mexicans. Mexico only played better in the second half when the Portugese were done.
Argentina 0 Holland 0
It really SUCKED that this match meant virtually nothing. It should have been the best match of Group Stage. It wasn't. Argentina conttrolled the play, and had a few chances. The Dutch defense was better than I thought they'd be, but Arg was better.
Brazil played like... Brazil! Hooray! Japan played a very attractive game, but you can see what happens when you try to play attractively agains Brazil - you get blitzed. To me, the result of this game vindicates the style played by Croatia and Australia. You've got to pack it in, and play very defensively against Brazil. You can't play a nice offensive style, because Brazil will take that ball from you and then take you apart. It's like playing the Phoenix Suns - you can't run with them, so you've got to play the opposite style.
How many shots did Brazil have, anyway? 20-something, to be sure. They must have had three or four good chances for each of their goals. I'm surprised it wasn't 6 or 8 to 1. Ronaldo of course looked good. Still wasn't running much, but the touch was there, the ability to turn on a dime and get the shot off was there. Ronaldinho also looked pretty good - not great again, but good, in that he created some nice plays. I like Robinho in that he really runs nicely and so quick. It was interesting that they rested so many players - the outside backs and holding midfielders, too. Makes sense to me.
England 2 Sweden 2
England looked better, I thought. However, Owen's injury kills them. I can't see them going too far with a lack of strikers. I love Joe Cole - he has really improved this year at Chelsea and for the English national team - but can he carry a team's scoring burden? No.
France 2 Togo 0
France looked a lot better, but you've got to wonder whether it was the competition. I thought Viera was washed up, but he played really well.
Portugal 2 Mexico 1
Portugal didn't start Christiano Ronaldo, Pauleta, or 3 others, and yet they STILL dominted the Mexicans. Mexico only played better in the second half when the Portugese were done.
Argentina 0 Holland 0
It really SUCKED that this match meant virtually nothing. It should have been the best match of Group Stage. It wasn't. Argentina conttrolled the play, and had a few chances. The Dutch defense was better than I thought they'd be, but Arg was better.
posted by Al at 8:35 AM
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