Ricey Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 Should be a classic, from a neutral point of view let's hope Croatia don't make this game too ugly.
Tommeh Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 went for 4-1 Brazil in prediction league, this is the game apart from England that i've been waiting for
MC Prussian Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 Hmmm... Undecided. I somehow can't bring up any energy or joy for this matchup. I might end up creating my own "La Ola" wave in case Croatia should be able to put one behind Dida. What a Kaka that'd be for Brazil...
shen Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 Brazil a little lucky to be 1 up at halftime. Croatia have shown they are by no mean pushovers, and I wouldn't be too surprised to see them equalise. However, Brazil just have so much skill that they could easily score a few more without too much effort...
davieG Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 Once you got beyond all the Brazilian sycophancy I found the 45 minutes quite boring. In fact i nearly fell asleep. Although it was a pretty good goal I also didn’t think it deserved all the ‘only the Brazilian's can score goals like that’ toadying
The People's Hero Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 Didn't think either side were particularly impressive. Brazil looked special in patches but often lost their way in the final third. As the summarisers keep saying, Ronaldo looks out of sorts/uninterested and the Croatians are defending in numbers and have been very organised. Might open up if and when the Croatians have a go for an equaliser. As soon as more space appears, I'd expect Brazil to come in to their own.
Ricey Posted 13 June 2006 Author Posted 13 June 2006 Didn't think either side were particularly impressive. Brazil looked special in patches but often lost their way in the final third. As the summarisers keep saying, Ronaldo looks out of sorts/uninterested and the Croatians are defending in numbers and have been very organised. Might open up if and when the Croatians have a go for an equaliser. As soon as more space appears, I'd expect Brazil to come in to their own. Brazil only need to play for 30 mins, the rest of the time they will just wander around keeping the ball...but those collective 30 mins are normally something special.
Daggers Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 yer 30 mins of pure class I'm dead bored of listening to people eulogise about the 'wonderful Brazil'. It's not that I don't think they're talented, it's just that everyone keeps going on about them. I'm delighted to see that they are boring and Ronaldo is a boring fatty. Cracking stike for the goal mind you, cracking!
MC Prussian Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 Croatia had its chances, unlucky. And yes, Ronaldo's become a fatty. Who's that bald right defender for Brazil? Cafu?
Daggers Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 Who's that bald right defender for Brazil? Cafu? Yup. HA! Radio 5 listener has just likened Ronaldo to Micky Quinn - only Quinn was more mobile!
davieG Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 Well the only thing I can say is there's good company in the boring games stakes. England Paraguay France Switzerland Brazil Croatia Class obviously doesn't always = entertainment.
MC Prussian Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 Well the only thing I can say is there's good company in the boring games stakes. England Paraguay France Switzerland Brazil Croatia Class obviously doesn't always = entertainment. Exactly. But they're supposed to. Just shows how much under pressure some of those higly-praised teams with all their superstars really are. England = Crap France = Crap Brazil = Crap Netherlands = Crap for most part And I hope the hype surrounding the States, South Korea and Japan will fade after this WC. This tournament is clearly showing everybody watching it that those countries don't deserve the FIFA ranking they're at.
Mark Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 Very disappointed with Brazil tonight. Ronaldo will be rightly critised for his performance but Adriano was no better. They seemed to be lacking the pace to make things happen like they used to in the final third. Hopefully this is just teams settling into the first game and we will start to see an improvement, and more goals. That Emerson looked about 50.
Suffolk_fox Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 On that performance, I would gladly see Brazil in a knockout round - I'd be more fearful of Croatia! They looked dangerous.
shen Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 The expectations are pretty unrealistic when it comes to Brazil. People expect them to play fantastic flowing football and win every game comfortably. Like just about any tournament favourite bar maybe Italy and Argentina, they showed some rustiness here and there. Adriano, Ronaldo, Emerson and Lucio seemed a bit off pace on several occasions, especially the former two. But unlike the two other games mentioned in this thread, I didn't find this one boring as Croatia clearly gave Brazil a good game and that kept the game poised. Both of them should make it through to the next round without too much fuss.
Ultra Posted 13 June 2006 Posted 13 June 2006 Early days yet. We shouldn't rush to make snap judgements on Brazil or any of the other teams. But Ronaldo is in shocking shape. Is he playing on Nike's say-so, like he was in Paris?
Ric Flair Posted 14 June 2006 Posted 14 June 2006 Brazil can often play very similar to the way England do in games that aren't massively important. You just don't know what gear Brazil are playing in. Are they on full throttle but just having a bad game? Or are they barely out of 2nd gear and coasting through to a professional victory?. England have been notorious for that and as you'll see when the tournament progresses Brazil will step it up a notch when they have to. I still think that Kaka is probably the best central midfielder in the world at international level. People say Gerrard is the complete midfielder and at domestic level he is, but Kaka for Brazil really excels himself. Their most dangerous player over the past season, far more so than Ronaldinho who I think plays too deep at international level.
Daggers Posted 14 June 2006 Posted 14 June 2006 On that performance, I would gladly see Brazil in a knockout round - I'd be more fearful of Croatia! They looked dangerous. Croatia couldn't be dangerous if you sent them all out in burning Robin Reliants, on thin ice populated by ice skating primary school children. They were 'stock in trade' Croatia - any team worth their salt would dispatch them. They were made to look better by a lazy Brazil performance I reckon.
Thracian Posted 14 June 2006 Posted 14 June 2006 Brazil can often play very similar to the way England do in games that aren't massively important. You just don't know what gear Brazil are playing in. Are they on full throttle but just having a bad game? Or are they barely out of 2nd gear and coasting through to a professional victory?. England have been notorious for that and as you'll see when the tournament progresses Brazil will step it up a notch when they have to. I still think that Kaka is probably the best central midfielder in the world at international level. People say Gerrard is the complete midfielder and at domestic level he is, but Kaka for Brazil really excels himself. Their most dangerous player over the past season, far more so than Ronaldinho who I think plays too deep at international level. Kaka's truly impressive though I do wonder if he would cope any better if he had two and three men around him every time he gets the ball like Ronaldinho.
Ric Flair Posted 14 June 2006 Posted 14 June 2006 Kaka's truly impressive though I do wonder if he would cope any better if he had two and three men around him every time he gets the ball like Ronaldinho. I suppose that effects every player, even Ronaldinho. But Kaka seems to be very graceful in how he plays and very intelligent which seems to make him awesome in any situation. Never gives the ball away.
Durnerz Posted 14 June 2006 Posted 14 June 2006 Kaka is awesome and found a lot of space last night, to me it looked like him and Ronaldinho were the only Brazillians interested last night. It annoyed me how far up their arses John Motson was last night, I'm not a fan of Mark Lawrenson at all but at least last night he noticed the Croatians were actually playing better than the Brazillians for the most part, Motson couldn't see past his Yellow and Blue tinted specs!
shen Posted 15 June 2006 Posted 15 June 2006 Kaka is awesome and found a lot of space last night, to me it looked like him and Ronaldinho were the only Brazillians interested last night. It annoyed me how far up their arses John Motson was last night, I'm not a fan of Mark Lawrenson at all but at least last night he noticed the Croatians were actually playing better than the Brazillians for the most part, Motson couldn't see past his Yellow and Blue tinted specs! That's a bit harsh! I thought Juan had a blinder in defense, and Robinho was running all the time. Ze Roberto did pretty well defensively and Cafu supplied a few of his trademark crosses and did ok otherwise.
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