World Cup 2018 | 6th July | QF: Brazil vs Belgium, KO 19:00 (BST)

[stonerblue]

Great to see The Prince coming to the fore now. Won it for em in the last game and then a beauty last night.

 

[quiet_riot]

 

[Metalartin]

Brilliant result for Belgium, KDB, Hazard and Lukaku were very effective.

Sorry to be that guy though because I do think the early own goal allowed them to play to their strengths for the majority of the match and even then Jesus should have a had a penalty, they scored one and Belgium were well under the cosh for the majority of the second half. Still this is Brazil we are talking about so all credit to Belgium for holding on.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Bloke on Talksport just saying that in Brazil all the flack is going to Fernandhino for his own goal and his performance. Not fair. Obviously. He was pretty much isolated in the middle. Ignored a lot of problems elsewhere

Neymar should get the blame. When he can be bothered to pass to teammates in better positions, they score. But no he prefers to try and do it himself most of the time. Pep would do his fruit if he had a striker like that - he would literally go ballistic.

 

[mosssideblue]

They actually did all the stuff they do at the swamp; running down blind alleys, losing the ball, random fouling etc, the difference being that a Premier League team would pull their pants down for it, as would their own fans, wheras international teams are just a bunch of blokes chucked together.

Consequently, when Lukaku, with Belgium winning, got the ball at the halfway line, set off trying to outpace the defender & ran straight off the end of the pitch, it was described as 'fantastic' (or similar) by the commentator, wheras Utd fans in a typical Prem game at 0-0 would be calling him a fucking useless, brainless, lump.

Barring the Brazillian bloke tackling him & therefore passing to KDB, I'm not sure what else he actually achieved. He certainly didn't 'hold the ball up' 2nd half.

He's fairly quick & strong but put any world class striker in that Belgium team & we'd be talking about who comes 2nd.

That is a blue tinted view I feel, so we will just have to disagree

 

[CityInWashingtonState]

Neymar should get the blame. When he can be bothered to pass to teammates in better positions, they score. But no he prefers to try and do it himself most of the time. Pep would do his fruit if he had a striker like that - he would literally go ballistic.

Brazil created numerous scoring opportunities in the 2nd half - it's a miracle that one or more of them did not go in.

To blame? Brazil's exceptionally poor finishing.

Also to blame - Martinez - for trying to hold on to the 2-0 lead instead of continuing to play aggressive attacking football in the 2nd half, repeating the formula that worked so well in the first. Belgium gave up playing from the back, trying to attack, and just bunkered in with the very occasional counter, putting themselves under constant pressure. It's a miracle that they went through.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Brazil created numerous scoring opportunities in the 2nd half - it's a miracle that one or more of them did not go in.

A good few of them missed by Neymar when other Brazilian players were in better positions. My point stands - he's too greedy. Pep would do his his fruit with a player like that in his squad, he really would.

There is no Neymar in TEAM.

 

[BlueAnorak]

While we're on the subject of missed chances, Belgium missed 3 gilt edged chances themselves. From memory 1 by Lump and 2 by Hazard. So Brazil were not unlucky (except possibly for the Jesus penalty).
The better TEAM won.

 

[CityInWashingtonState]

A good few of them missed by Neymar when other Brazilian players were in better positions. My point stands - he's too greedy. Pep would do his his fruit with a player like that in his squad, he really would.

There is no Neymar in team!

Neymar is one of the players I despise the most - diving, petulant, arrogant, selfish, disruptive - the antithesis of an ideal teammate.

That said, I thought that Neymar mostly played OK v. Belgium. Brazil gives Neymar a free role to break down opponents and create. In one of their early group stage matches (was it Brazil's first match?), Neymar hogged the ball, simply dribbling, dribbling, dribbling - not passing. I think that Tite told him to stop playing this way (denied unconvincingly by the manager) after which Neymar played much better.

Maybe Neymar would have been better off passing than shooting or passing than dribbling v. Belgium on some occasions - but he did about as well as I'd expect and to me wasn't overly selfish yesterday.

 

[CityInWashingtonState]

:-)

Unfortunately, Mbappe too displays this behavior (maybe copying his teammate at PSG).