Euro 2020 and Copa America Football Tournaments.

Neymar shown a yellow. Should be subbed out now. This will end ugly. It's more important to preserve him for later phases than to win this game.

 

Neymar arguably could have collected a second yellow just now but the ref didn't have the guts to show him one.

Take Neymar out of there, Tite! Damn!

 

Brazil 2-1 and that's well deserved! Yes! Neymar's assist, Casemiro heads it in. Gorgeous.

 

Colombian player hits Neymar outrageously. Got a yellow, should have been a straight red. What a horrible ref, so weak! Full Time, Brazil wins 2-1. Neymar does get home in one piece, after Colombia players fouled him violently twice in the last couple of minutes, frustrated that he is so much better than they are.

There is a lot of bad blood between these two teams and Colombia always tries to disable Neymar violently. But Brazil's clearly superior quality prevails, and they beat Colombia again, 2-1; they won no fewer than 20 of the last 21 games between Brazil and Colombia.

 

Brazil has clinched first place in Group B, as expected. Their last group phase game against Ecuador on Sunday counts for nothing (as far as Brazil goes; Ecuador on the other hand does need the win). So potentially Tite could rest players, and/or try some different formation.

Brazil will play the quarterfinal against the 4th placed team in group A, on Friday July 2nd at 6PM.

 

Here is the situation for the two Copa America groups:

Group A, Argentina and Chile have advanced. Nobody has clinched first place. The last two spots will be decided between Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia, with Bolivia being the most likely team that won't make it. All three have played only 2 games so far. Paraguay stands at 3 points and +1 goal, Uruguay has 1 point and -1 goal, and Bolivia has zero points and -3 goals.

So Group A will have less drama; it's very likely that Bolivia will miss out, and the other ones will just fight for position (trying to avoid being 4th placed and having to face Brazil in the quarterfinal).

Group B, Brazil has secured first place and Colombia has advanced. The last two spots will be decided between Peru, Ecuador, and Venezuela, with Peru having the advantage over the other two (Peru, 4 points, -3 goals, Ecuador 2 points and -1 goal, Venezuela 2 points and -3 goals). Venezuela would look like the one that will miss out, except that they play their last game against Peru while Ecuador plays against Brazil, so if Ecuador loses to Brazil as expected (unless Tite decides to field a Team B), Venezuela and Peru would both go through with a draw, which would likely make them both not so interested in winning. Conceivably, there would be an interest in being 2nd rather than 3rd or 4th, to avoid quarterfinals against Argentina and Chile, who are clearly better than Paraguay and Uruguay.

 

Last night's game reaffirmed my view that South American footballers are brawlers. It seemed that every time Neymar touched the ball he got dumped on the ground, and how that late foul you mentioned didn't draw a Red is beyond me. The ref let that game get out of control, especially after Brazil scored the controversial equalizer. In a way I'm glad Brazil got the second goal so as to disabuse the notion they could have lost that game.

I will say, however, that Columbia illustrated how to beat Brazil last night, even though they weren't up to the task themselves. Control possession, play physical and score when the opportunity presents itself. There are a few teams in Europe who are capable of doing that and their coaches would do well to study last night's game before the next World Cup.

It's going to be interesting to see how these tough South American teams fare in next year's WC. Their style of play is going to give a lot of teams outside their region problems.

 

Here's your Euro bracket:



My two cents: I hate the imbalance in this bracket. All the best times are on the left side which means that their semi will be better than the championship game. Booooo, UEFA. However, the Dutch must be loving how things set up for them - I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see them playing in the final.

I'm not thrilled that Belgium and Italy will be playing each other so early because that will be a title caliber game right there. Again, boooo UEFA.

Anyhoo, there are some good games ahead of us, so I'm going to end on that bright note.

 

Well, regarding the Booooo UEFA, they couldn't have predicted how things would fall in place. For one thing, Italy wasn't considered to be one of the big favorites, before the tournament started. All the positions in the bracket were set in advance in the Rules Book (I've consulted it) far before the tournament was played on the field.

But yes, it sucks. If we continue to advance, we'll play the other two best teams (Belgium and France) in the quarterfinal and the semifinal. Anyway, like my son says, if you want to be the champs you have to beat them all, so, I guess, whatever happens, happens.

I'm really afraid of Lukaku. It will be disheartening if he thwarts my Italy, just like he thwarts my Milan when playing for Inter. It will be really disappointing, if after building up this much expectation, Italy loses in the quarterfinal to Belgium, an outcome that is quite possible (provided that we beat Austria which on paper seems easy, and Belgium beats Portugal which should also happen but won't be as easy for them). One can hope that Italy will cruise to victory over Austria while Belgium will have a bruising battle against Portugal, so that we get a little bit of an upper leg when we face them.

I'll certainly be rooting for Portugal like crazy in their R16 game. If they pull off an upset, it will be a lot easier for our talented offense to score on their porous defense, and while Cristiano Ronaldo is formidable, I prefer to face him than to face Lukaku.

 

I'm loving it.
If we can get past Germany we have a good opportunity to get to the final. Nearly as easy as our route to the world cup final was last time.

 

Interesting take but sorry, I can't agree. First, Colombia did not control possession. Brazil had a lot more possession than Colombia - a whooping 69% versus 31%.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/match/_/gameId/560504

Also, I think that the bad blood between these two teams is what affected Brazil. They get angry and nervous when the play against Colombia, because they know that Colombia will be playing dirty and trying to disable Neymar using violence rather than skills. Did you notice how the Brazilians celebrated their winning goal? It would seem like they had just won the championship. This was a game that was unimportant for them from a bracket standpoint; they'd still win the group even if they lost to Colombia, simply by beating weak Ecuador next. But they celebrated like crazy because it's Colombia, the bastards who took Neymar out of the game with a broken vertebra, resulting in such a psychological blow that an otherwise good team lost 1-7 to Germany, a very atypical result that likely wouldn't have happened without Colombia's despicable move. So the Brazilians can't forgive Colombia for that, and every game between them is tense like that.

I'm not saying that Germany didn't deserve that World Cup. But see, Brazil and Argentina were at an equivalent level of quality, and Germany had enormous trouble beating Argentina 1-0 in the final (it could have been the other way around, with Di Maria almost scoring). Germany might still win that semifinal against Brazil, but definitely not by 7-1, if Brazil still had Neymar, and the Brazilians still felt confident and bold. The mood in the country after Neymar was disabled by Colombia was "we are doomed" (I know because I was there; I attended that World Cup in person, and I speak fluent Portuguese so I could interact extensively with the locals). Imagine if Neymar had scored an early goal for Brazil, that day. The story would have been entirely different.

So, Brazil's top-2 biggest disappointments ever (the first one being the Maracanazo in 1950) is seen by their fans and their players as unfairly inflicted upon them by Colombia, not by Germany. That's powerful stuff. The Brazilians don't hate Germany for that (the Germans were extremely sympathetic in that tournament, down to visiting disadvantaged Brazilian children, and were respected as skillful and fair-playing champs - when their winning delegation left their hotel to go to the airport, the streets were lined up with Brazilians applauding them; as a soccer-loving culture, they respect and appreciate a good team) - they hate Colombia for that.

With the heightened tension and anger, comes some disorganization that decreases Brazil's offensive power. Look at how Neymar played: he tried to do too much, tried to dribble Colombia's entire team in certain parts (finally losing the ball, by trying to dribble one more opponent instead of passing the ball). It's because Neymar wants to humiliate the Colombian players. He was a lot less of a ball hog in the first two games, and therefore was a lot more efficient for the team in those games.

So, I'm not sure if the Europeans would count on the same factors, against Brazil. Most European teams have more fair play and won't play like dirty bastards, and while they might try to mimic the strategy, they won't be able to mimic the bad blood. There isn't the bad blood between them and Brazil, to distract the Brazilians. Even when they play against their #1 rivals Argentina, they are not as angry as when they play against Colombia. The Argentines try to beat Brazil using skills, not violence; Brazil respects that, and while the games between them are always difficult and tense, it's a tension that comes from a standpoint of "may the best one prevail" rather than "these bastards will try to hurt our best player."

The one European team that can get into Brazil's head and make them nervous is France. The French seem to have Brazil's number, and they often prevail against Brazil in epic World Cup games, so that's the European team the Brazilians are nervous about. But still, not angry, just nervous.

I think that there is no doubt that this current Brazil, which has won all of the last nine competitive matches they played against the tricky, violent brawlers in South America (6 WC Qualifiers, and 3 Copa America rounds), will be a huge problem for European teams in the World Cup. Sure, anything can happen and there is no guarantee that they will reach the final and win it in Qatar, but there will be no easy recipe to beat them.

------------

Yes, that ref not showing a straight red to Cuellar is one of the most disgraceful refereeing decisions I've seen, ever. 19 out of 20 refs would have expelled that guy on the spot. What he did was criminal. He was subbed in and had the clear mission (like "enforcers" in ice hockey) of disabling Neymar, just out of sheer spite and revenge, like they did in the 2014 World Cup. And he gets just a yellow for that? Preposterous.

And the ref let the Colombian players dissent for 7 freaking minutes, refusing to restart the game, without showing a single yellow for dissent? Preposterous too. He should have said "You have all of 5 seconds to restart before I show you yellow cards followed by red cards if you persist, countdown starting now: 5, 4, 3, 2... " The Colombians would have stopped their whining. Instead he spent 7 minutes begging them to restart, with the Colombians yelling at his face. What a weak coward!

 

Don't underestimate the Dutch. They are dark horses. They are playing quite well and got all 9 points in the group phase. Sure, the competition was weak, but you can just beat the teams that are scheduled to face you, and they did that. If bad Germany shows up and you get past them, don't expect an easy game against the Dutch (who should be able to handle the Czech). And yes, I do realize your sarcasm. But I'm just saying, people are not paying enough attention to the Netherlands. They are a very good team.

 

I'm not going to underestimate anyone.
England are capable of losing to any of the sides in our half.

 

Brazil vs. Colombia stats:
Possession: 69% to 31%
Corner kicks: 8 to 1
Shots: 15 to 3
Clearly Brazil was the much better team and the game was only close on the scoreboard because of the violence used by the Colombians.

 

It's not like it's the World Cup, so, who really cares if England wins the Euro Cup?

 

That Bra game was a as crappy as it goes. The Rev handed Bra the victory

 

England has jet to show anything. All its games lacked any spirit. If they want to do well in the next rounds they really have to step it up, big time.
Germany needs to bring Musaila for 90 or 45 minutes. Leave Sane on the bench, he makes to many mistakes.

The kid set up the second goal, with his ability to dripple through the tight defense. With Munich he has show his ability to score, too.

 

1. The ref decision was actually correct. The ball hitting him didn't change possession and didn't grant an undue advantage to Brazil. Stopping play when the ball hits a ref is left to the discretion of the ref and it's perfectly legal to assess that the ref wasn't a factor in that play. Remember, the play was extensively reviewed by VAR and the VAR decision was to confirm the ref's assessment. Good goal. So I fail to see how the ref handed Brazil the victory, as there was no other controversial decision in favor of Brazil in that game. There was another controversial decision: showing just a yellow to Cuellar instead of a straight red. But that went against Brazil. So, no, I don't see the ref as a factor in the final result of the game.

2. Brazil had enormous superiority. Colombia scored an early (and beautiful) goal, period. They didn't do anything else. Look at the game stats:

Brazil vs. Colombia stats:
Possession: 69% to 31%
Corner kicks: 8 to 1
Shots: 15 to 3

How can you say that a team that showed this much dominance only won because the ref granted them the victory??? I know that stats don't tell the whole story but in this case, the much superior stats were also confirmed by much superior play throughout the entire game. Brazil surrounded Colombia's box almost the whole time, and Colombia only had a couple of counters that were no threat to Brazil's goal, except for their extraordinary score which in terms of what happened in the whole 90 minutes, was kind of a fluke.

No, what really happened is that Colombia was lucky in scoring in their ONLY first half attempt, then they played dirty and violently, trying to secure the advantage. It partially helped because the Brazilians got frustrated and irritated which dropped their efficiency, but finally, their MUCH superior form prevailed, and they came from behind to achieve a well-deserved 2-1 victory.

Take out Colombia's violence inflicted upon Brazil with the ref's complicity, and you'd have had a 4-1 victory for Brazil. Hell, even with the violence they faced, they had two additional scoring opportunities in which the ball didn't go in by a hair - Neymar's post hit after dribbling the Colombian goalie, and the long pass into the box that he missed by a fraction of a second, getting there a tiny bit late. With just a touch of better luck, those two plays could have resulted in a 4-1 victory.

 

Whaaaat??? You don't think the Euros are important??? They are the second freaking most important tournament after the World Cup - together with Copa America, but Copa America has basically two world class teams, Brazil and Argentina (or 3 if we include Chile), and 7 or 8 more teams in a more (or less) decent state (sometimes Colombia and Uruguay are world class, at other times they aren't), while the Euros have numerous (kind of 10) world class teams and some 14 more teams in a more (or less) decent state, so arguably the Euros are better than the Copa America, thus being the second most important tournament in the world.

Yes, a lot of people care about the Euros... as seen in the wild celebrations the TV shows sometimes, with cameras directed at the crowds watching the game in plazas on large screens.

I've been to Europe during the Euros... it gets pretty crazy. Yes, people care.

 

Predictions:
In the most intriguing quarterfinal, I'm thinking defenses... England is yet to concede, while Germany had 5 goals against them, in the group phase.
Maybe that QF will be England 1-0 Germany.

The others:
Italy 3-0 Austria.
Netherlands 2-1 Czech Republic.
Wales 1-2 Denmark
Belgium 3-1 Portugal
Croatia 0-2 Spain
France 4-0 Switzerland (I think that's when the favorite French will show up)
Sweden 2-2 Ukraine, Sweden survives on penalty kicks tie-breaker.

 

It was an observation made during the first half by one of FS1's announcers and I thought it was a valid one provided that Brazil's opponent maintains possession, which Columbia was unable to do. Nevertheless, I think the playbook was written, so to speak.

There's definitely some bad blood there and when teams get emotional they don't think as clearly as they otherwise would. Columbia, despite it's dirty play last night, is a good team, too, so that's a factor. They were definitely a step up from the other competition Brazil has faced, and may be a tougher out than Argentina, who has still failed to impressed me in this tournament.

Another thing I noticed was that Neymar was out on the wing a lot, which I found somewhat curious, and I think that effected his and Brazil's play. I think he's a lot more effective playing in and up the middle, but that's my personal opinion.

Certainly, the bad blood won't be there, but as you know teams can play physical without playing dirty like Columbia did last night (I honestly thought there was going to be a brawl after the game). Furthermore, in the case of the European teams, I think some of them can play the ball control game and force Brazil to chase and play defense instead of offense/attack. Right now, watching the Euro tournament, I think the team that can do both are your boys in Italy, and I don't need to tell you they're talented to boot.

Right now I think Brazil has more to worry about with Italy and perhaps Belgium (if they can get and stay healthy) than France. I like France and Kylian Mbappé is probably my favorite player in the world outside the U.S., but they haven't been sharp. Maybe it's because they've been on cruise control through group play, but as I mentioned earlier in this thread they're not playing up to my expectations. That could change Monday, but we'll see.

I agree. They're playing great right now, and they could win the Cup next year.

I know I would have...

That was freakin' awful. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it and he shouldn't be considered for any work in the WC next year, imo. He totally lost control of the game.

 

I agree - England's side of the bracket is wide open. I think the Dutch are going to be more of a problem than Germany, though.

On the other side, again, who knows? Italy, Belgium and France are all capable of making it to the final. For neutrals, that heavyweight half of the bracket is going to be the one to watch.

 

At this moment, I think Lukaku and Neymar are playing the best soccer on the planet. I wouldn't want to face either one of them and their teams right now.

 

England are going to be hard to score against but some of the star goal scorers are going to have to perform.
It will be 1-0 nail bitters all the way.
Germany isn't a bad first round opponent. It could have been worse.
It was France at one point yesterday.

 

And he handed Brazil the victory.
Without Neymar, they are just a average team