A Road Map

photo by thejourney1972 (South America "addicted")	via PhotoRee

Scott sounds off:

Beating Spain 3-0 is one thing. But doing it by completely off-balancing them for large portions of the game (including most of the opening 20 min), by harassing and pressuring high up the pitch and throughout midfield, is really something. Sure, Brazil had some luck - David Luiz' goal-saving slide (how did the ball manage to go over the bar?) and Segio Ramos' missed penalty. Not to mention a first goal that was the antithesis of Joga Bonito. But it takes a little luck to go all the way. After all, Spain was only in the final due to one missed penalty by Italy in the semi-final.

While Spain was beaten convincingly, that is not to say that they were dominated, despite the cacophonous Selecao fans. La Roja was able to take the reins from time to time and create opportunities. They were just less able to do so than normal, due to Brazil's gameplan, and it made all the difference. I'm not sure many teams can pull off what Brazil did but they certainly laid out a roadmap for victory over the defending world champions. And with all due respect to the Bossman, with similar effort and fan support, I think they can do it again in 2014, Confederations Cup Curse notwithstanding.

While I think it is still too early to be sure of Neymar's immediate impact at Barca (fitting into the system, Messi, etc.) there is no denying he has the chops to be the real deal. His goal in the Final was textbook field-awareness, skill and power - shuffling back onside, deft first touch and powerful left-footed strike to the only place that would have beaten Iker Casillas from that angle. I just might have to watch more La Liga next year.

Tumbling out of My Head

photo by Crystl	via PhotoRee

 

 

Because sometimes it's difficult to keep it all inside....

o Congratulations are due to Brazil for their resounding 3-0 victory over the world champs to take home the Confederations Cup -- but let's not get carried away by the selecao's triumph.  Putting aside the fact that no team which has won the warm up prize has ever gone one to win the big one, we just don't think the Brazilians are all that good. Having seen them play a number of times this past year, we believe that the team rode the home crowd support and got an excellent tourney from their big gun, Neymar Junior. Put the wear and tear of 11 months in La Liga on the kid, though, and we believe Brazil will be exposed next summer for what they are: a decent team, perhaps even a top 10 -- but a team that can look downright pedestrian at times, as well. We won't rule out a wave of popular support taking the team as far as the quarter or semi-finals next summer, we just don't think they have what it takes to go all the way. 

o And speaking of superstars, we fervently hope that the play acting we saw from Neymar will be gone by the time he returns home to play in the Cup, although we sincerely doubt it -- especially since his destination is Barcelona, home of the world famous divers and play acting superstars. The Brazilian's faking is so good as to make it  an integral part of his game. Grabbing his face when there hasn't been any contact within a half foot of it is something that threatens to overshadow his supposedly legendary talent. We hope he learns to rein it in...

o Cristiano Ronaldo returning to Manchester United?  Yes, please. Sir Alex'a departure probably threw a kink in the Real Madrid superstar's thinking, but we won't rule out his return to Manchester at aome point during the next 12-15 months. Sometimes it takes moving away to realize the grass is not always greener, and Ronaldo may not be enjoying his homecoming as much as he once envisioned. 

o In the meantime, we'll take Thiago Alcantara....  It would be nice to finally see someone leaving Spain to come to England to play football. Although his likely reasoning is to gain a better chance at playing for his country in Brazil next summer, David Moyes likely won't be too concerned at the young Spanish prodigy's motivations, as long as he's there pulling the strings alongside Michael Carrick this season. 

Brazil 4 - USA 1: Trading Body Blows With the Big Boys

photo by odegaard	via PhotoRee

Summary: This one will go down as a loss, but it sure felt different than other losses to the Brazilians, and the 4-1 scoreline was extremely harsh on the home side. This was not the US retreating into a defensive shell, and hoping for a brilliant defensive performance combined with a stray goal against the run of play. This was the Yanks trading body blows with the big boys. As Ian Darke correctly called it, the game could easily have been 4-4 or 4-1 -- but at least we were playing the Brazilians at their own game. And I'll take that kind of effort any day of the week.

Some other brief thoughts on the US' 4-1 loss to Brazil last night, in no particular order:

o I like the new US jerseys, especially with the darker numbers they wore in the game's first half. Kudos to whoever came up with the design.

o I hated Neymar's showboating run up on the penalty kick that opened the scoring. First, the penalty on Onyewu was dubious at best.  Second, just get on with your business, son, there's no need to use such a dandy-ish run up en route to the spot. Third, you might want to head to the nearest barber shop. Someone on my Twtter timeline referred to you as My Little Pony, which I thought sounded just about right.

o Oguchi Onyewu didn't inspire a ton of condfidence in his return to central defense. Granted this was Brazil and not Scotland the US was facing, but Gooch gave away the first penalty, and the second goal for the visitors came from an unmarked header off a corner kick.  Tim Howard may be good, but despite sharing the pitch with Hercules and Hulk, Howard proved he's no super hero without a strong central defense in front of him.

o Although the US was bossed off the pitch for much of the first half, the goal from Herculez Gomez right before the interval was deserved, and Klinsi's boys were somewhat unlucky to be down 2-1.  It was Michael Bradley once again with the seeing eye pass setup -- what are they feeding that boy in Italy...?! -- and Fabian Johnson's cross was sublime -- this kid could be a real find at left back.

o Clint Dempsey finally joined Landon Donovan on the pitch for the first time since Klinsmann took the reins of the US squad, but the reunion came about 10 minutes too late for the US' chances.