Thread to discuss the football itself.
This is not a thread to discuss the hosting of the competition in Quatar.
You can discuss the hosting in the relevant thread.
Other than a chance that fell to Pulisic in the first ten minutes, the Dutch were totally unbothered by the USA. They schooled them.
I think the Brazil celebrations are annoying and OTT but if they can put their money where their mouth is and keep winning then they can be as arrogant as they want, however if they do get knocked out at some point I want to see whatever team beats them going 110% with every celebration.
People hate Neymar, he’s the most or close to the most entertainingly skillful player to watch in the world.
people were glad Belgium were knocked out, they have been the best team to watch over the last couple of tournaments as they were committed to attacking more than anyone else.
people now hate this Brazil team after putting on a glorious exhibition of flair football.
There are other examples
Deep down I don’t think people want to be entertained
Nobody hates Neymar because of what he can do with a football.
People hate Neymar because of every single thing he does without possession of the ball, on and off the pitch.
its part of the story but a lot of people think Neymar is a useless show pony.
what do you mean by what he does off the pitch? Endorsing bolsanaro but what else because endorsing bolsanaro is recent while the hate is a decade old
I just can’t believe the level of discussion around it! I didn’t even really notice they’re celebrations that much apart from with Tite but I thought that was a bit of craic. I certainly don’t see how it’s disrespectful to the opposition, planned celebrations have been part of football for decades and haven’t been reserved for tournament winning goals either.
Think Tite has done a superb job building this Brazil team generally and you can see the camaraderie throughout the whole squad. As much as I dislike Neymar I really like this Brazil team compared to recent others because it really feels like it’s not just about him anymore.
In what world exactly have Belgium been one of the best teams to watch
At international tournaments, 2018 they came from 2-0 down to beat Japan 3-2. They knocked out Brazil in a superb performance of attacking football.
schooled them? I mean that’s just clearly untrue, they were the better side and deserved to win but a quick look at the stats tells you America had more shots, shots on target, possession etc.
So, yes they won deservedly but a schooling is a stretch.
Stupid things like being "injured" at the same time every single year to celebrate his sister's birthday back in Brazil (which is also a bit weird IMO), his primadonna attitude and general behaviour outside of football...
Do you really need more? As for the "endorsing Bolsonaro but what else?" comment; there doesn't even need to be anything else, that's pretty bad form in its own right given the political climate of Brazil and the financial incentives he's given for it.
yes but his public support for bolsanaro is only couple of months old? And frankly the hate goes on a lot longer. I think his support for bolsanaro has very little to do with the hate he gets to be honest.
I think he missed two champions leagues campaigns in the second halves of seasons due to injury. If people believe it was an eloborate ruse every time to attend his sisters birthdays i think they have vivid imaginations. And what difference does it make to people if he does take his sisters birthday off anyway? Unless they support PSG or Barca I don’t see why a load of man utd, Celtic etc fans should give a damn.
i think Neymar gets hate because he’s a man child like an awful lot of other footballers but maybe because he’s so good there’s a good portion of jealousy thrown in.
the first hater of Neymar around our part of the world was Joey Barton and I think the reason he hates him is the reason most do; jealousy
I think bolsanaro or sisters birthdays are just convenient reasons haters tell themselves to avoid the true behind their hate
He is making a lot of stuff up to prove his narrative.
There’s just a continuous string of things with Neymar… the sister thing, the Bolsonaro thing (which is a big deal), the continuous string of sexual assault allegations including the one on a Nike employee that saw them dump his contract, the giant covid parties, the self importance, the rubbish like his weird funeral procession in 2014 (this was I think the first inklings of many people’s raised eyebrows), and then of course the extent of the diving and theatrical rolling around. Like, lots of players do those things, but he took it to such an obnoxious extreme that gets hard to overlook - a few ‘big stage’ examples in the 2018 WC especially. And even just the greed inherent in his style (like yesterday, ignoring a simple through ball to set Vinicius clean through in favour of taking on everyone and just running into trouble and out of play)… imo ’youre all just jealous’ is a fairly lazy catch-all retort to wave away a fairly impressive list of dislikable traits on and off the pitch that, for many, will outweigh the impressive things he does while upright on a pitch.
For me at least though, it’s the more off-pitch stuff of the last 4 years that turned it from ‘I find him a bit frustrating to watch’, to ‘ok, this doesn’t seem like a very good person’.
Fair answer, he broke his back in 2014 and the surgeon said he was a small measure of never walking again. So thats the context of the “funeral”. I don’t think he asked for that funeral, it’s just Brazil follows football as a religion and this was a home World Cup and he was in a strikeforce with Fred, Bernard and…maybe Willian….which is deeply average without him so the country as a whole lost it.
i wouldn’t say greed is his style, his assist stats are huge. I’d call that out as nonsense. He should have played Vinicius in yesterday but it’s not normal for him to not play that pass.
A continuous string of sexual assault allegations? There is a troubling one with Nike. There is one where he was accused of rape, had hidden camera footage of the interaction and it was the opposite of rape. Why he had a hidden camera at all is questionable but it proved a wise decision. Not aware of anything else?
people have been strongly criticizing him a lot since very early, before these things came out so that is why it’s smells like jealousy to me.
According to Souness, Zico of Brazil was the best player he ever competed against.
" I could never get near him", he said.
Lucky Zico !!
I think Morocco could win this.
Comfortable Spanish win I reckon
Its the preplanned nature of these celebrations that bores the ars off me. Give me SuperPippo or Marco Tardelli just screaming with pure joy any day over this tedious crap.
Best celebration so far was the Ghana lad doing Ronaldo's stupid publicity stunt 🤣
Not liking that Spanish away strip.
A bit too Man City/Dublin.
Uruguay too from a distance.
After goals just before half-time for the Netherlands, Argentina, France and England, hoping that Spain don't sneak one here so we can have a good second half!
I'd rather Spain score so Morocco come out a bit, at least we might get a bit of excitement then
Boufal is destroying llorente out there. Pedri is playing great again, Spain need to bring on Morata, at least he has a go at goal.
Are you watching Stephen Kenny? Possession for possession sake Ist half. One shot on target by Spain.
Jayus if Morocco score Spain are fecked. Morocco will just sit and watch them.
Ah here! 😮
Strange change by Enrique taking off Gavi, he was playing well I thought
This ref has gone 5, 10, 5, 8, 2+1R, 5,8,0 and 11 (Swi vs Serb) in his yellow cards.
The only 0 featured Morocco!
Dunno what rules he's following here - must need a leg break I'd say.
Don't think this match will be going down in history as one of the more exciting last 16 matches.
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