The teams we expected to navigate the knock out round and get into the quarters in this world cup have all made it safely (expect Argentina and Belgium to qualify tonight) albeit with serious questions being asked about them when they played the underdogs ie (1)The Brazilians are tame and are relying too much on referees home crowd and a below par Neymar who had a disappointing season with his club side Barca. (2).Colombia was lucky to play an Uruguayan side shorn off its key star Suarez.(3). The Dutch are an average team over-relying on the excellent Robben to carry them to the finals. (4). Costa Rica is another underdog just as is Colombia and wont make it to the semis.(5).France are pants with Benzema a shadow of Thierry Henry and Pogba a pale imitation of Vieira. It is also a team seriously lacking the genius of Zidane(Ribbery despite his name being bandied around next to Messi and Ronaldo has never won me over. My view is that Robben is twice the player that Ribbery is). (6).Germany has an excellent side, however it is s vulnerable to technical fast counter attacking teams like Algeria was last night. Without Hummel at the back, goalkeeper Neur is forced to play as a sweeper as Per Mertersaker is too slow for Germany high defensive line. (7).Argentina?, too many world class forwards who step on each others toes and a suspect backline(admittedly, this Argentinian back line is an improvement of the previous world cups which had the likes of Heinze).. and finally (8).Belgium, an exciting attacking young side for future tournaments. Nevertheless , shortcomings and weaknesses in national sides is a anticipated as national teams dont have the advantage of hand picking and buying world class stars for each position like the European champions league clubs, neither do they have the luxury of staying long with their players so that they can gel in a match, and so from the semis onwards, what will determine the winner will be luck (however, the 2010 Spanish side was on the level of European club sides as it used mostly Barcelona players. So was the 1998-2002 Brazil team). Which teams are likely to land in the semis from whence luck will play a role?;. BRAZIL, HOLLAND, GERMANY and ARGENTINA.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 09:57:39 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015