World Cup 2018 | 2nd July | R16: Brazil vs Mexico, KO 15:00 (BST)

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

Paulinho is neither attack minded nor defence minded... watching him play, I am not entirely sure he has a mind.

Fernandinho is a true box-to-box CM, who can play both side very well and has above average vision and passing ability to boot. He should be in every match this World Cup; and that is not me wearing blue-tinted specs, many of my Brazilian mates say the same thing. Most of them do not like Paulinho.

Fair enough. International managers do seem to make some odd decisions sometimes. Perhaps Dinho is not fully fit

 

[SebastianBlue]

Very true.

Probably single-handedly get them through now.

He could only hope.

Even though, even if he does, it’ll likely be mostly down to the work Gabby and Coutinho did in creating huge swathes of open pitch for him to work in.

 

[domalino]

Still no Fernandinho, who significantly improves the side when he plays instead of one of Casemiro or Paulinho, especially when playing against a side sitting back and looking to counter.

Fine by me to be honest, the less he plays this summer the better for us.

 

[SebastianBlue]

Dippers not happy Firmino not starting

That statement would be generally accurate even if you had stopped half way through. ;-)

 

[SebastianBlue]

Fine by me to be honest, the less he plays this summer the better for us.

Generally my sentiments, as well, hence my comments on the Blues at the WC thread.

It just annoys me he does not get the international recognition he deserves and is made to look not quite as good as a player that would struggle in my community league.

 

[CTID1977]

Two major upsets today please.

 

[mccity]

I think that a lot of Liverpool fans forget that for Brazil, Firmino is even less effective than he was after Salah's injury in the CL final

 

[SebastianBlue]

I think that a lot of Liverpool fans forget that for Brazil, Firmino is even less effective than he was after Salah's injury in the CL final

Funny how Firmino is not very good without Salah, isn’t it?

 

[Magicpole]

I have Brazil in a sweep, so, I want them to win. It’s time they put all that wasted rolling energy into playing.

Only seen flashes so far.

After watching France on Saturday I still think they could deprive me of my potential winnings.

Brazil to win this. Hopefully a great advert for our game, after yesterday’s shit show.

 

[mccity]

Funny how Firmino is not very good without Salah, isn’t it?

I find it ironic that they've spent all season saying he's propped Salah up when it's been the other way around the whole time