Group E Matchday 2 - 22 June - Brazil 2-0 Costa Rica, Serbia 1-2 Switzerland

[Stan]

Friday 22nd June
Brazil vs Costa Rica, 13.00
Serbia vs Switzerland, 19.00

[Azeem]

Ahmed Raza- 15 year old son of Shabbir Ahmed a Pakistani football maker whose family has been hand stitching football for the FIFA World Cup for three generations will conduct the coin toss at tomorrow's match between Brazil and Costa Rica.

 

 

 

[Guest]

Costa Rica have been a disappointment to me so far, I expected more from an experienced squad with good individuals and I can see them going out. Brazil will be too much for them I suspect.

[The Käiser]

Is Neymar fit to start?

[Dr. Gonzo]

Tite's going to persist with Jesus instead of Bobby isn't he?

[El Profesor]

21 minutes ago, The Käiser said:

Is Neymar fit to start?

Yes, he will start. I´m afraid Neymar will not play this World Cup at his best. A bit like Cristiano Ronaldo in 2014. 

Our 3rd match, against Serbia, match really scares me. It´s a very physical team and a lot of players don´t seem to be at their best shape. The midfield setup is not working and the options to replace Paulinho, both Renato Augusto and Fred both are not totally fit. 

 

16 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Tite's going to persist with Jesus instead of Bobby isn't he?

Yes. He´s sticking with Gabriel. Still on the Neymar topic, I think Firmino not only is in a better moment than Gabriel Jesus, but also his work rate would give Neymar a bit of a breather. 

 

Danilo is injured, Fágner will start in his place. Not ideal. But here we go: 

Alisson;  Fágner, Miranda, T. Silva, Marcelo;  Casemiro, Paulinho, Coutinho;  Willian, Neymar, Gabriel Jesus.   

[Mel81x+]

6 hours ago, El Profesor said:

Yes. He´s sticking with Gabriel. Still on the Neymar topic, I think Firmino not only is in a better moment than Gabriel Jesus, but also his work rate would give Neymar a bit of a breather. 

I'd imagine its because of who they are playing that has this as the option. In the Switzerland game which was ultra-defensive you need someone faster to move up into slots to score goals but this game is going to be a lot more open and against opposition they know and play against more regularly than the Swiss. Still, I'd like to see Bobby get some more game time in here just because hes more helpful in allowing the midfield to move up more with his holdup play which is miles ahead of Gabriel's.

[Paulh_85]

Brazil looked terrific for the first 20/25 minutes against the swiss and i thought they would go on to win comfortably, but then Switzerland did what they always seem to do. I expect that draw to wake them up and get a straight forward win today though.

 

Switzerland V Serbia has drab 0-0 written all over it, neither team plays open attacking football, and this really could be the first 0-0 of the World Cup, i just have a feeling that one team will nick it 1-0 mind, and could go either way but im backing Serbia

 

Brazil 3-0 Costa Rica
Switzerland 0-1 Serbia

[Stan]

Serbia have better quality than Switzerland and I expect that to show ultimately. 

Expect Brazil to stroll past Costa Rica though. You'd think Brazil would learn their lesson not to take their foot off the gas following the draw against Switzerland as it looked like they'd run out comfortable winners as the first goal went in. 

If the results go that way, it's a shot at finishing top for Serbia and I don't think anyone expected that. It would also mean that if you finish first in this group you could face Germany should they finish runner-up, or vice versa.

[Eco]

 

 

[Eco]

18 hours ago, Devon Von Devon said:

Ahmed Raza- 15 year old son of Shabbir Ahmed a Pakistani football maker whose family has been hand stitching football for the FIFA World Cup for three generations will conduct the coin toss at tomorrow's match between Brazil and Costa Rica.

 

I wonder why they chose this game? Kind of an odd choice

[Eco]

I'm not a fan of these Brazil's jerseys. 

[Honey Honey]

4 minutes ago, Eco said:

I wonder why they chose this game? Kind of an odd choice

I've heard that in that part of the world you are brought up to either support Brazil or Argentina at the world cup

[Azeem]

6 minutes ago, Harvsky said:

I've heard that in that part of the world you are brought up to either support Brazil or Argentina at the world cup

This. 

[Azeem]

This doesn't look like a 3-0 for Brazil

[Harry]

Think they need Firmino on the pitch...

[Stan]

Neymar gets crunched every time he gets the ball. Wouldn't surprise me if he retaliates and gets some punishment himself.

[Rick]

18 hours ago, Devon Von Devon said:

Ahmed Raza- 15 year old son of Shabbir Ahmed a Pakistani football maker whose family has been hand stitching football for the FIFA World Cup for three generations will conduct the coin toss at tomorrow's match between Brazil and Costa Rica.

 

 

 

Who gives a fuck? 

[Azeem]

How many times Neymar has been fouled so far in WC

[Azeem]

1 minute ago, Mantis Toboggan M.D. said:

Who gives a fuck? 

The boy.

[Rick]

1 minute ago, Devon Von Devon said:

The boy.

Fair point. 

[Eco]

7 minutes ago, Stan said:

Neymar gets crunched every time he gets the ball. Wouldn't surprise me if he retaliates and gets some punishment himself.

No kidding - It's awful for the game. Every player nowadays that has flair is just getting held and crunched constantly.

 

On a side note: Is this the worst start to a World Cup for South America? 

Brazil - 1/3
Uruguay - 6/6 but boring against inferior opponents
Argentina - 1/6
Columbia - 0/3
Peru - 0/6
 

[Azeem]

I i were to do the toss i would have choosen Spain's match and during the toss when everybody would have looked up i would have kicked Ramos in the nuts and run way.

[Rick]

That was nearly a class goal. The touch taken from Neymar was great while on the run.  

 

[Stan]

5 minutes ago, Eco said:

No kidding - It's awful for the game. Every player nowadays that has flair is just getting held and crunched constantly.

 

On a side note: Is this the worst start to a World Cup for South America? 

Brazil - 1/3
Uruguay - 6/6 but boring against inferior opponents
Argentina - 1/6
Columbia - 0/3
Peru - 0/6
 

i think it's harsh to add that caveat to Uruguay when Brazil have faced equally boring opponents and Peru have faced teams like France and Denmark, who are markedly better than the likes of Egypt & Saudi Arabia.