El Profesor

I agree. Tite is still the best brazilian coach and yet he looked completely out of depth in 2 World Cups. The level of coaching in Brazil leaves a lot to be desired. I would love to see Venezuela qualifying for the World Cup just to see Soteldo playing at the highest level. He's very underrated due to his height, but he's such a fun player to watch.

Yep. The Diniz experiment has been a huge failure. He simply doesn't have enough experience and expertise at this point of his career to coach Brazil, even if it's on a temporary basis. The worst part of it is that Ancelotti is close to extending his contract with Real Madrid. There are not good options in Brazil and the squad is simply not that good. I think CBF should give Mourinho a call.

Endrick should be on the pitch. He's much more of a thread than Raphinha at RW.

It is stupidity not malice. The Libertadores final was a mess well. I don't think this game will end well. The players are nervous.

Definitely. Especially the Rio police, they shoot first and then ask questions. And they have a long history with the argentinian barras. I still can't believe CBF thought it was a good decision to mix argentinian and brazilian fans. Anyone with a brain knew it was a bad idea. Those idiots think we are in Europe.

A fight broke out between argentinian and brazilian fans in Maracanã. Really stupid decision not to assign a sector of the stadium for the visiting fans. This is South America.

Yes. I would say it's the most probable result.

Brazil and Argentina tomorrow. Brazil coming from two defeats versus Uruguay and Colombia. I am really pessimistic, especially with Diniz sticking with a formation with only two midfielders. Hopefully, Endrick gets some playing time. That's all I am hoping for.

I understand the anger of the argentinian people. Fernandez completely destroyed the economy. At the same time, Milei seems more of the same. Argentina already tried liberalism with Menem in the 90s. Dollarization and privatization has already been done in Argentina and it didn't end well the first time. The relationship with Brazil is one to watch here. Milei said he wouldn't trade with Brazil and China, since both countries are governed by leftists, but Brazil and China are their most important trade partners. He will need to back down, if only out of pure pragmatism. Having said that, Lula was extremely unwise to use his weight so the Development Bank of Latin America loaned 1 billion dollars to Argentina during the elections. Brazilian government clearly tried to influence the result of the argentinian election.

Bellingham is unreal. So good.

Bruno Guimarães with the assist. He didn't start the season at his usual level, but now he's playing very well again. I guess it should have been expected as it naturally takes some time to get used to Tonali in the midfield.

I think the two Bayern matches are crucial for ten Hag, considering Bayern's recent past of absolutely crushing opposition in Europe.

Hopefully João Felix can find again his best form. He was so good at Benfica. On Raphinha, I agree. That was actually a weird signing. The numbers could prove it otherwise, but the eye-test says he's not a good fit for a team coached by Xavi. Tje way I see, his passing is a bit erratic for a team like Barça, that puts so much emphasis on ball possession.

Glass Half Full: there are lots of questions around 777 Partners, but there are also some reasons for optimism for evertonians. From what I've seen at Vasco, 777 at least is willing to put significant ammounts of money to strenghten their teams. Their lack of success here in Brazil, so far, is not a fruit of insuficient investiment. Their budget at the start of the season was over 20 million dollars, which is a considerable ammount for brazilian football. They also spent a lot more recently, before the transfer window closed, in order to save Vasco from relegation, including the signings of Dimitri Payet and Gary Medel. The problem seems that they hired the wrong personnel to be put in charge of the club. Probably due to inexperience in how to manage a football club. At least now they have a really good coach in Ramon Diaz and, like I've mentioned earlier, signed better players. One could point that they are learning from their mistakes. Everton fans should expect a significant ammount of reinforcements for Everton in the winter transfer window. IMO part of their lack of success is certainly due to the inexperience but also due to the fact that almost all clubs they bought were in a tough position to begin with. Vasco despite being one the biggest football teams in Brazil had already 4 relegations behind them in the last 2 decades. Lastly, Everton is clearly the most valuable asset from their football portfolio. They have every reason to try to make it work. Milan in a super tight spot when another american group, Elliot, took over and look where they are now.

After the match against Peru, Richarlison told the press he is going to seek psychological help when he returns to England. Hopefully he can get it together. His case reminds me of Harry Maguire, once you become the target of banter in social media, it can be really tough to perform. At the same time, I don't think his lack of performance is only due mental reasons. Everton fans probably know better, but it seems to me that Richarlison's best position is as a winger who works his socks off without the ball and produces a decent ammount of chances. I don't really think he finishes well enough to be a striker.