Dion

I couldn't have said it better. Brazilian referees really piss me off. Brazilian coaches are the only thing that can overcome brazilian referees in that regard, they're AWFULLY bad. No kidding, I think I would be a better coach than many I've seen in top brazilian teams.

You didn't say, but some ppl could imply that it was getting close to 90's level. Henrique just clarified that out - despite improving, still far from its best times.

I see where you are coming from, but the truth is - he's not dominating the league (Ze Roberto). And despite being in the first place of the league, Fluminense isn't displaying a good football as of lately. So that's not such a feat as it may sound. I would put Ze Roberto maybe #9th or #10th best midfielder of the league. Good, but certainly not dominating. Paulinho is what people like to call in Brazil a modern dm, he doens't lack the defensive skills his position requires but he is technical and talented enough to be a threat when he comes from deep surprising the opposing defenders. And he's still 24. So he may develop more before reaching his peak. Glad to hear you don't think it's weak. But I disagree about being top5, I don't think it's quite there yet. I'd say top10 to be fair, somewhere like 7th or 8th.

But following some people's logic he should have sucked hard at Porto, taking into account he didn't manage anything extraodinary at River Plate, playing in a much weaker league. What I'm trying to say is - looking solely on that aspect is misleading. There are players who even change from water to wine just by taking the switch between two strong leagues. Saying brazilian league is weak because a 38 year old made his way to MOTM is a stupid argument. On topic: I think Paulinho is a great player, but we should go after a player to replace Torres. And Corinthians won't let Paulinho leave easily, especially not before the world club cup.

That kind of example adds nothing. Ronaldinho was a starter for Milan not too long ago and he sucked last year at Flamengo. Seedorf was an important Milan player aswell, and, although he's doing fine in Botafogo, he's not ripping any team apart. He's probably not even the best midfielder in brazilian league. In fact, Botafogo holds the 11th position. There are examples of players that were nothing short of extraodinary playing in weaker leagues that surplisingly turned out to be awesome players in other (even stronger) leagues. You could even fit Radamel Falcao there. He wasn't that good playing in the weak argentinian league not too long ago.

I think Milan and Inter are still slightly better than the top brazilian teams, even though they're looking bad nowadays. However, the difference isn't as big as it once was.

Paulinho is one of the best dm playing in brazilian league right now. He's one of the best Corinthians (the team we'll be facing at fifa club world cup) players, if not the best. Romulo is a great player aswell. And he's younger than Paulinho.

What about something like: Neymar(Hazard) Mata Hazard (Neymar) Mikel Oscar Neymar and Hazard would have to help man marking, no doubt.

They will, when Chelsea and Mata start to kick some spanish ass in UCL.

Hahaha. They play that funny music everytime Brazil scores. I actually like it. There's another famous one here which plays whenever a brazilian F1 driver wins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goutQ-7ujGQ). Another great game for Oscar. It was only Iraq though.

I support Sao Paolo in Brazil and that is true. Or at least that's what Sao Paolo said back then. It was similar to what Santos did with Neymar. And yes, you can only sign if you're 16 but you must be emancipated (I have no clue if that's the word you use in english, to summarize, you must be able to practice civil acts by yourself as if you were 18/21 [it varies from country to country, I believe]) aswell. And that was one of the arguments Oscar used to try to void his contract with the team and sign with Internacional. He said Sao Paulo "forced" him to get emancipated. But that is another story.

Found this, Oscar vs. Nordsjaelland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSVHR0XrLw8 Some really good passes in that game.

Statistics are always nice to see. Even though they help, you can't just take the numbers alone. Even if you take into account the data provided almost excludes influence from the defensive system, you have saves and saves. You can't just have a look and say X better than Y because 10 saves vs. 8 saves, for instance. It doesn't show how hard was each save, nor the circunstances of the goals conceded. That being said, really impressed with Cech numbers. Awesome season so far.

I used to think like that aswell. But Hart has improved a lot in the last seasons. For the time being, I'd stick with Cech. He's more experienced, proven and world class. But Hart has been pure class in the last games I've seen, he's done several WONDERFUL saves, it can't be denied. He's quite young too. If he can keep himself close to that level for a couple more seasons he'll definitely be one of the best goalkeepers in the world. A place where Cech already belongs.

I'd say Hart is in a better form right now and is younger, I'd have him ahead too. Buffon is a tough choice, I'd say they're about even, however, Buffon is getting old. And last but not least, Cech is clearly better than Neuer to me.

I can see where people are coming from with Robinho. But Neymar is an excellent professional. For Santos, at least. I don't know what kind of trouble he would have brought. For example, he played a friendly for Brazil against Sweden on a wednesday and soon after that got on a plane to play an important match for Santos that would happen in the next day. He's hardly the player you would expect problems for missing training sessions because of parties or so. But agreed about being no hard worker, if by that you mean man-marking all over the pitch.

I'm impressed with Oscar's defensive prowess. I'd say he's doing great for a player who's not used to play as defensively as he's been doing lately. Not for Brazil nor for any other teams or games I can remember of. I can only think RDM is improving his defensive skills and bulking him up bit by bit so Oscar can become an awesome deep-lying playmaker in the near future.

Actually it's not like that. I've seen a lot of Mata's games even before he went to Chelsea. I've seen a few Hazard games for Lille too. But I really doubt any non-brazilian in the forum watched a single game of Oscar in the brazilian league.

I'm brazilian and I don't think Oscar is better than Mata. Although I guess he'll be in a few years. What some people may fail to realize is that most ppl here know Oscar from a few recent games. Opposed to some brazilians, like myself, who have been watching Oscar's games regularly since he debuted for Sao Paolo in 2008. So, yeah, we may be a bit biased towards Oscar, but chances are that we have better knowledge about those 3 players to begin with. If I had to point one out, Mata would be my choice right now. Oscar will be the best of the bunch soon. Hazard is very good but I just don't like his playstyle. It reminds me of Neymar, but being like a bit worse than Neymar.

That may be true, but if you start following his games you'll notice it works about between 1/2 to 1/3 of the times he tries at best (and I guess that would be substantially lower in EPL). Other than that, he'll often try to open space to shoot by himself, when passing would be the best choice. So, yeah, he'll make some magical goals but he'll waste a lot of good opportunities too. If he learns to rise his head and find other players in better positions he'll be a far better player. He used to be a more creative/passing-kind player, but he began being highlighted since he started to make those runs and some wonder goals. It grew on him and now that is pretty much the only thing he tries to do. I believe a good coach could make him a much better player, he has talent for sure. But between him and Oscar, I would choose Oscar everytime, no doubt. Lucas M. was regarded as the second best youth talent, Oscar being the first. Piazon held great promise too, but he was a bit younger than the former, so ppl were still uncertain about him. Edit: about Mata vs. Hazard vs. Oscar, I wouldn't risk pointing the best one at the moment. But if I had to guess, I'd say Mata or Oscar, Hazard is a very good player, but I don't believe he's gonna be as important as those two to the team.

I think Oscar indeed seems better than Kaka overall. Oscar feels comfortable to play in many roles, has awesome balance, pass and his reading of the game is just top notch for a player of his age. If he feels the team is lacking transition from defense, he'll drop deep to get the ball going. If not, he'll be making deadly passes to the strikers and wingers. Oscar is very well suited for a ball possession style of play. He often chooses the most conservative pass, he isn't the kind of player who will try to create something out of nothing, which ensures the team won't be losing ball possession often by his feet. However, if he notices an opportunity to score or to make a deadly pass, he'll seize it. Oscar can also perform the defensive role to some degree, as shown against Pirlo. Kaka is a different story. I feel Kaka can suit the playmaker role somewhat, but his passing and game reading skills, although good, are not enough to assure him a place among the top players if not accompanied by his pace and physical strength, both diminished since the many injuries he suffered. I'd say Oscar's peak will last longer than Kaka's and he'll be a better player overall.

By the way, it's nice to see Oscar succeeding in Europe. I knew he was special since his debut for São Paulo (Sao Paolo). I hadn't seen a skilled youngster like that since Kaka in 2001. No wonder everyone regarded him as the new Kaka back then. Surely not for his playstyle but rather for his tremendous raw talent. Too bad we couldn't hold him longer. Yet, nice to see him and Piazon together again, both from Sao Paolo's youth team. edit - Oddly enough, I've just noticed both Kaka and Oscar debuted with Sao Paolo's number 30 shirt I'll keep an eye for the next 30.

Turning the volume all way up, yeah. It seems like he whispers "just say anything..." and he gets interrupted by the second question. But it seems he intended to say something else after that.

I've searched it all along and still haven't seen it. It surely isn't in the 1:07 interview vid. Have you noticed they're translating it live? You can't translate everything, there's simply not enough time for speech or even thought, they do it in a way you can understand it without losing the essential. When you have plenty of time it would be best to bring it as close as possible to the original - no more, no less.

And when was it? What he said was "fala que foi". There was no "fala qualquer coisa". And yes, I need to translate everything, otherwise I'll be changing his speech. And when he says he was happy it is safe to assume it was about the goal, you can notice by the way he sounds and the question. The topic was about his goal.