robsblubot

I can agree with that. On the other hand, he was already struggling before the injury. and I’m going to make a speculative comment, fully aware of it, but his physique, or lack thereof, makes him more injury prone. I think the same of Neymar for ex. The way he plays and his physique make him injury prone as well: holds to the ball, is small and frail, and not pacey enough to avoid contact.

Actually, tbh I've never really considered Eden to be a player who could "carry" a team, like control the game and pull strings. That's what KDB does and few players in the world can do (not counting Lionel, Modric being another). I've always seen Eden as a more individualist performer; he was once good enough that a team could (and did) play to his strengths as we heard from many players that Eden was given a free role (esp regarding to defensive tasks). He was a fantastic dribbler and one who perhaps held to the ball a bit too long at times. Who never really delivered strong performances in CL for example. The current Belgium team isn't a contender and it's not entirely down to Eden or KDB, but both disarray and the number of absolute passengers in the team these days. Even Lukaku is already clearly less of the player he used to be (esp physically...he was pacy once). I have to say that Eden's current form does not surprise me once bit (wrote so that he'd have trouble in Madrid) as I never thought he was that good. His dedication was severely lacking esp in the final seasons at Chelsea (showing up fat from vacation is not cool). He was just missing certain things that make the very top footballers what they are. IMO, Eden lacked ambition, the killer instinct, dedication (on and off the pitch), and aggression, which limited both his impact (in CL for ex) and his longevity.

I disagree… Morocco won’t be able to handle portugal playing like they did today. yes, Morocco may be able to make it difficult for portugal, but I know where my money is going.

Gotta give Morocco a chance! 😉

No surprise there, but Portugal look better without CR7. 🙂 Pressing high with more movement, and fewer spaces between lines. Pretty one-sided thus far.

That's right both Jesus and Telles hurt their knees and are out. Still Jesus never had any effect for Brazil: had several games in the WC and not a single goal to show for it.

S. Korea has no business at this level... they don't know how to defend at all: they swarm the ball and leave folks open behind them. Another wonder goal by Richarlyson -- what a beauty! While Jesus vanishes when playing for Brazil Richarlyson is at his best.

Pretty obvious dive... VAR is shit. Still fairly easy match for Brazil so far. S. Korea look completely lost.

Lol fair point. So here the issue though: only 2 cbs play and Thiago and Marquinhos are just so similar and both aren’t that strong in the air (don’t have the height for it either), which does make Brazil vulnerable in set pieces esp. Marquinhos having to cover LB may fix that eh, but he’s vulnerable to pace. yeah the fb situation was baffling and o a lot of ppl. Alves is really a joke one of those manager things. The CAM is really paqueta and that’s it. Hardly a world beater. No KDB type in the selection. Neymar can roam there but Rodrygo is more of an attacker and also too young.

oh wow! He's not even the second best English player for me (Kane and Foden are well ahead of him). He's definitely promising, but he's still young and that's risky at this level. Wouldn't surprise me if he had another no show (like against USA) against stronger opposition and because he's now known. Speaking of which, England faced pretty shitty opposition thus far (Iran, USA, wales, and senegal that's the bottom of the barrel right there), so it's hard to compare performances esp in midfield when teams face completely different levels of opposition. Aside from Maguire, I think that despite Bellingham, the midfield is also a weakness. While I've been holding a very unpopular opinion around here that Henderson was underrated, I also think he is not at the level of what france and other contenders have at their disposal. Rice, for me, is the midfielder version of maguire: slow and pendantic on the ball (he will get slower as he ages -- CB might suit him better long term). Regarding France, they are better everywhere. It's more even in attack, but Mbappe is the best player in the world atm, and he's extremely hard to contain. Still, England has teeth, so it's certainly doable. They've been putting themselves in this position (to contend), and that's to be commended. The rest is up to the players, their will, strategy, prep, and lady luck. Just to be perfectly clear, I think France is the best team in this world cup and the one to beat. While strong, Brazil is more hype than actual quality on the pitch. While they have a lot of quality sitting on the bench, they also have glaring weaknesses in their starting XI (FB for sure but also AM, and CBs).

Yeah the cbs are really bad and get an European manager already! Team is already young and naive does not need a guy learning on the job eh. frankly I do not see evolution in the US team. Nothing like what we see from Japan for ex. Granted Japan began investing in the sport much earlier, but we should be seeing some improvement already. Yeah they will need to play better against the Netherlands to go through. They are missing lo Celso but nothing can be done about it. Lautaro looks completely out of shape what was that sitter he missed?! Lol I’d not read too much into it this match tho. Australia is the typical team who can make you look bad with athleticism plenty. They won’t have the quality to beat you, but they will make it look hard won. I think this is the last round where physique will compensate for lack of quality -- at least to the degree that it's been happening until now.

Good result for Brazil to silence some folks. There is a reason the starters start the matches. People keep asking for fucking Pedro who plays for Flamengo against jokers of defenders.... hehe Liked Martinelli and that's about it today. Antony had ups and downs, but Raphinha was a huge improvement when he came on. Daniel Alves must be a joke -- guy is not even playing professional football anymore. Disappointment were Jesus (quiet) as well as both Fred (as usual) and Bruno Guimaraes (surprising) when he replaced Fred. Both wasteful in possession and in front of the goal (esp Bruno). Pool's Fabinho was a huge downgrade from Casemiro eh.

kinda pissed that Arsenal found Martinelli 😕 only 21!

☝️another way of looking at it is poor Pulisic! Guy has little to no support.

I thought Portugal path was easy before... not anymore. @NikkiCFC yeah and reminder Brazil did not do too well against that same Argentina in copa am. Their "in your face" approach caused a lot of problems for this Brazil team. I don't buy the, "ah Poland had a bad game." Argentina made them have a bad game. It's akin to what Italians did in the past.

They are learning from American football: officials are never wrong... always protect the product you sell, and refs are part of it.

That’s in theory, but some think that the mere fact VAR called may generate an automatic bias in the refs mind. Like if VAR saw something then it must be true.

Mostly agree except bolded part. It's best to forget group stages from now on. I think Argentina will be tough opposition for anyone... reminder that this Brazil squad lost (soundly) to Argentina in the Copa America final playing at home in Brazil. You could see Argentina winning that match from start to finish. France will be a tough one for England too... It's like their strengths match England's weaknesses to the dot. Portugal and Germany (likely) will be tough as well - no easy games anymore hehe. Of course it's a "good" time to play Germany in theory, but they did look strong against Spain... plus loads of depth in the squad, which means they can make adjustments along the way and become stronger. That's another factor from now on: which teams can lose players to injury or even fatigue and remain just as strong?

😆 so true. Speaking of penalties, I wrote earlier about that VAR Portugal penally... was the worse I've in a while. I couldn't agree more with Joe Cole (dangerous precedent too may remove moves from the game): "Portugal were awarded a controversial penalty as they beat Uruguay at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The ball hit the hand of Uruguay defender Jose Gimenez in the box but he was trying to break his fall to the ground. Still, the referee pointed to the spot and Bruno Fernandes scored." https://www.eurosport.com/football/world-cup/2022/joe-cole-says-no-way-portugal-should-have-been-awarded-handball-penalty-against-uruguay-at-2022-worl_sto9249361/story.shtml

Argentina is toying with Poland. Top-shelf performance by them... they will be a nightmare to face in the single-elim.

Suppose you may be right in numbers, but perhaps irrelevant to the discussion. Also, if I only had a dollar for every time a NT head coach is criticized.... 😉 If they are too young, then they are only promising and not ready. My 2 points being discussed: 1. Portugal is not a contender. 2. From Chelsea's PoV, while some players may be promising, I pointed out that they'd be a gamble at the moment and that I don't think any Portuguese player would *significantly* improve Chesea atm--no one remotely close to CR7 (who is visibly past his prime) esp in attack. We were talking highly of William Carvalho and Neves not long ago... wouldn't want either even for the bench. As a Brazilian, Portugal usually has my support (Germany too bc mother side), which may make me a bit more critical of them to be fair. Still, I have to call it the way I see it. I agree with he notion: I prefer the stronger teams to go through. Upsets are bound to upset my eyes later on as we are forced to watch the bad team once again, and they usually don't repeat the initial feat (reason an upset is called that). So, yeah Argentina has players we'd like to watch again (Otamendi aside lol). And they will be tough to beat in the single-elimination stage. heh Mexico has to be the most overrated NT. They are considered a strong footballing nation by decree. And this particular crop of players is no better -- I wouldn't mind not having to watch that team play for a while... they are so bad.

Good game against Iran, but still too many naive decisions and weak links in the US team. Don't think they can go far esp due to their inability to score, esp when Pulisic is out. Weah isn't good enough at this level. Happy for Brazil and USA, but only have hopes for Brazil, and I don't see Brazil that strong tbh. Think my money would be on France to win it once again (despite the absences). Wales was the absolute worst team I've seen play this World Cup -- granted I haven't watch Qatar play (why would it?). I just couldn't see England not going through given the difference in overall quality in that group. England will be vulnerable in center CBs esp if they are chasing a result. Midfield is also weak compared to the top teams... good players there, but no world class like before.

Stand corrected with Dias, never caught my attention. Caveat that city plays in a very specific system, which demands players with very specific characteristics. Yeah, agree to disagree: the grass is always greener esp when comparing different leagues and standards. Even players already in the PL often struggle when joining an elite side, much more if players are coming from lesser leagues. It's very hard to get really good players to be a sub for a sure starter. What if Reese finally has a long injury-free spell for ex? TBF, Portugal is lucky and its side of the bracket will get either Serbia or Switzerland right? That's totally fair game for them.

The question is whether the players would significantly improve our team, and IMO (of course): Rubens Dias good player, but we have the best RB when he's not injured. Same applies to our starting LB. Ruben Neves I very much dislike this player. Youths are gamble so it can go either way Vitinha maybe... have to see more. PSG is tough to judge given the torrid league. Nuno Mendes (very young and same caveat regarding league) Bernardo Silva good player, and completely exchangeable with a number of other wingers/AMs. My fav winger at City atm is Foden (don't understand why he does not get more minutes w/ England). Rafael Leao is tall Goncalo Ramos also very young player in a lower tier league -- need keep an eye on. Regarding Portugal as a team, they are not clicking. The lines aren't compact enough and it takes them too long to transition (both attack and defense). Pepe is a huge weakness and will be exploited. They lack strength in depth at this level. Single elimination phase is where fitness levels drop a bit, and strength in depth starts playing a bigger part. Needless to say, CR7 is no longer the player he once was, and tbh he does not even look like a top player anymore.

Disagreeing is absolute fine, of course. I wouldn't like a single one of their players atm, but that can change in the future. Just that what you wrote implied a causation, where there was none here. Brackets are way too unbalanced, which is common at the group stages. Portugal is in one of the easier groups... perhaps the easiest. Uruguay has been struggling in SA with their aging squad. BTW, what I said about Otamendi applies just as much to Pepe. 😉