Global Football Today » Europe https://globalfootballtoday.com Sat, 06 Dec 2014 04:19:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1 2014-15 Serie A Week 12 Review: Derby Della Madonnina Stalemate https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-12-review-derby-della-madonnina-stalemate/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-12-review-derby-della-madonnina-stalemate/#comments Tue, 25 Nov 2014 21:16:13 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=8402 https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-12-review-derby-della-madonnina-stalemate/feed/ 0 2014-15 Serie A Week 8 Review: Napoli hit six to paper over the cracks https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-8-review-napoli-hit-six-to-paper-over-the-cracks/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-8-review-napoli-hit-six-to-paper-over-the-cracks/#comments Mon, 27 Oct 2014 18:44:54 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=8351 https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-8-review-napoli-hit-six-to-paper-over-the-cracks/feed/ 0 2014-15 Serie A Week 6 Review: A Rocchi horror show https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-6-review-a-rocchi-horror-show/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-6-review-a-rocchi-horror-show/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2014 21:35:50 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=8306 https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-6-review-a-rocchi-horror-show/feed/ 0 2014-15 Serie A Week 5 Review: Zemanlandia strikes at the San Siro https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-5-review-zemanlandia-strikes-at-the-san-siro/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-5-review-zemanlandia-strikes-at-the-san-siro/#comments Tue, 30 Sep 2014 17:56:24 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=8304 https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-5-review-zemanlandia-strikes-at-the-san-siro/feed/ 0 2014-15 Serie A Week 3 Review: Roma and Juventus with 100 % starts https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-3-review-roma-and-juventus-with-100-starts/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-3-review-roma-and-juventus-with-100-starts/#comments Mon, 22 Sep 2014 18:55:12 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=8263 https://globalfootballtoday.com/2014-15-serie-a-week-3-review-roma-and-juventus-with-100-starts/feed/ 0 Serie A Week 2 Review https://globalfootballtoday.com/serie-a-week-2-review/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/serie-a-week-2-review/#comments Tue, 16 Sep 2014 16:43:45 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=8261 https://globalfootballtoday.com/serie-a-week-2-review/feed/ 0 Serie A 2014-15 Week 1 Preview https://globalfootballtoday.com/serie-a-2014-15-week-1-preview/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/serie-a-2014-15-week-1-preview/#comments Thu, 28 Aug 2014 19:08:20 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=8232 https://globalfootballtoday.com/serie-a-2014-15-week-1-preview/feed/ 0 Manchester United Defeat Inter Milan 5-3 on Penalties in International Champions Cup https://globalfootballtoday.com/manchester-united-defeat-inter-milan-5-3-on-penalties-in-international-champions-cup/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/manchester-united-defeat-inter-milan-5-3-on-penalties-in-international-champions-cup/#comments Thu, 31 Jul 2014 17:01:25 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=8102 https://globalfootballtoday.com/manchester-united-defeat-inter-milan-5-3-on-penalties-in-international-champions-cup/feed/ 0 Brazil is not Brasil Anymore https://globalfootballtoday.com/brazil-is-not-brasil-anymore/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/brazil-is-not-brasil-anymore/#comments Wed, 09 Jul 2014 11:16:27 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?guid=cb0699c728dd14e16b9b7f752e38b777 Former Brazil coach Dunga hated the Brasil 1982 squad. "A flair team that didn’t win anything", he said. Socrates, Zico, Falcao, Cerezo, and others; they flattered the eye but left the Brasilian name in tatters. Instead he held that the 1994 squad that he captained, led up front by Bebeto and Romario, as the pinnacle of the sort of side that this version of the selecao should aspire to: Italian tactics married to a controlled helping of Brasilian joga bonito. That may have been the intent of the ex-holding midfielder, but what we’ve seen with current coach Luis Felipe Scolari has been even worse.

This is the World Cup that Brasil has been waiting for since 1950; the chance to erase the Maracanazo that Uruguay shot at the bow of the canarinha on home soil, and yet this is one of the worst squads we have ever seen in the carioca shirt. The corpse of Fred has been dredged up from the French or Brazilian league or wherever he’s been forced to stud to lead a solid but unremarkable attack. Neymar is pure quality, the best Brasilian player of his generation, but with the unremarkable Hulk on the other side the field tilts towards him and so does the opponent's defense. Thiago Silva has grown into his position and looks to be one of the top 3 central defenders for the next decade it seems, but David Luiz is a liability next to him and as usual in the fullbacks (Marcelo and Dani Alvez) provide no cover, and the midfield while solid just doesn't have enough attacking flair to unlock a defense if Plan A: lump it into Fred and give it to Neymar in space, or Plan B: win free kicks near the area and rely on your aerial game.

And yet, in trying to escape history Brazil they've made an even worse debacle: The Mineirazo. Losing 0-7 to Germany on home soil, a team that they've only played once competitively. The scoreline flatters the Germans a bit more than it should, there were places where Brazil could have imposed their will on the game, fouling tactically and trying to remove Germany from their rhythm, but that was not going to happen really. The speed by which Germany passed the ball, and the efficiency in Muller and Klose's runs, were too much for the Brazilian defense. It wouldn't have mattered if captain Thiago Silva were there, and all the talk of Neymar's absence speaks to the same problem.

There’s no doubt that Brazil were naive in the past, expecting skill and technical ability alone to take them further than Johan Cruyff’s Holland or Der Bomber’s Germany, but a generational change that they made after the 1982 World Cup, to forsake that which made their game great to compete with more tactically advanced sides, was a mistake. This Brazil squad are the legacy of that change; a Ferrari driven by a series of blind men, a side of athletic plodders surrounded by an ever decreasing helping of the old flair.

They had a chance after the 2010 World Cup when they fired Dunga and hired Mano Menezes. The talk was that the country needed to bring a more expansive approach, that they needed a return to what made Brasil special. They weren't going to need to qualify so they could afford to cast the net wider than usual for talent, change their formation and maybe use another formation. His tenure started off well with wins in four friendlies against the United States, Barcelona B, Iran and Ukraine but losing to the old nemesis Argentina started the process all over again. Mano was fired after losing the 2012 Olympics and we were right back where we started. The conservatives in the Federation panicked and hired Scolari, a clear return to the status quo pre-World Cup 2010, an over-reliance on an athletic counter-attacking, set-piece reliant philosophy that had entrenched itself in Brazilian futebol.

After this there's no way back. There will be changes. Many of the players will never see the yellow shirt again and there will be a renewal, Brazil is too large of a country not to bounce back from this, but they won't soon forget the Mineirazo and the people responsible for it. This time I believe that we'll see real change in Brazilian football. We'll never see a return to the heady days of joga bonito and the World Cup 82 side, but Brazil will grow from this. Brazil may not be Brasil anymore, but maybe they never were in the first place. Maybe that's a good thing
]]> Former Brazil coach Dunga hated the Brasil 1982 squad. "A flair team that didn’t win anything", he said. Socrates, Zico, Falcao, Cerezo, and others; they flattered the eye but left the Brasilian name in tatters. Instead he held that the 1994 squad that he captained, led up front by Bebeto and Romario, as the pinnacle of the sort of side that this version of the selecao should aspire to: Italian tactics married to a controlled helping of Brasilian joga bonito. That may have been the intent of the ex-holding midfielder, but what we’ve seen with current coach Luis Felipe Scolari has been even worse.

This is the World Cup that Brasil has been waiting for since 1950; the chance to erase the Maracanazo that Uruguay shot at the bow of the canarinha on home soil, and yet this is one of the worst squads we have ever seen in the carioca shirt. The corpse of Fred has been dredged up from the French or Brazilian league or wherever he’s been forced to stud to lead a solid but unremarkable attack. Neymar is pure quality, the best Brasilian player of his generation, but with the unremarkable Hulk on the other side the field tilts towards him and so does the opponent's defense. Thiago Silva has grown into his position and looks to be one of the top 3 central defenders for the next decade it seems, but David Luiz is a liability next to him and as usual in the fullbacks (Marcelo and Dani Alvez) provide no cover, and the midfield while solid just doesn't have enough attacking flair to unlock a defense if Plan A: lump it into Fred and give it to Neymar in space, or Plan B: win free kicks near the area and rely on your aerial game.

And yet, in trying to escape history Brazil they've made an even worse debacle: The Mineirazo. Losing 0-7 to Germany on home soil, a team that they've only played once competitively. The scoreline flatters the Germans a bit more than it should, there were places where Brazil could have imposed their will on the game, fouling tactically and trying to remove Germany from their rhythm, but that was not going to happen really. The speed by which Germany passed the ball, and the efficiency in Muller and Klose's runs, were too much for the Brazilian defense. It wouldn't have mattered if captain Thiago Silva were there, and all the talk of Neymar's absence speaks to the same problem.

There’s no doubt that Brazil were naive in the past, expecting skill and technical ability alone to take them further than Johan Cruyff’s Holland or Der Bomber’s Germany, but a generational change that they made after the 1982 World Cup, to forsake that which made their game great to compete with more tactically advanced sides, was a mistake. This Brazil squad are the legacy of that change; a Ferrari driven by a series of blind men, a side of athletic plodders surrounded by an ever decreasing helping of the old flair.

They had a chance after the 2010 World Cup when they fired Dunga and hired Mano Menezes. The talk was that the country needed to bring a more expansive approach, that they needed a return to what made Brasil special. They weren't going to need to qualify so they could afford to cast the net wider than usual for talent, change their formation and maybe use another formation. His tenure started off well with wins in four friendlies against the United States, Barcelona B, Iran and Ukraine but losing to the old nemesis Argentina started the process all over again. Mano was fired after losing the 2012 Olympics and we were right back where we started. The conservatives in the Federation panicked and hired Scolari, a clear return to the status quo pre-World Cup 2010, an over-reliance on an athletic counter-attacking, set-piece reliant philosophy that had entrenched itself in Brazilian futebol.

After this there's no way back. There will be changes. Many of the players will never see the yellow shirt again and there will be a renewal, Brazil is too large of a country not to bounce back from this, but they won't soon forget the Mineirazo and the people responsible for it. This time I believe that we'll see real change in Brazilian football. We'll never see a return to the heady days of joga bonito and the World Cup 82 side, but Brazil will grow from this. Brazil may not be Brasil anymore, but maybe they never were in the first place. Maybe that's a good thing
]]> https://globalfootballtoday.com/brazil-is-not-brasil-anymore/feed/ 0 FIFA World Cup Semifinal Podcast https://globalfootballtoday.com/fifa-world-cup-semifinal-podcast/ https://globalfootballtoday.com/fifa-world-cup-semifinal-podcast/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2014 12:37:06 +0000 https://globalfootballtoday.com/?p=7992 https://globalfootballtoday.com/fifa-world-cup-semifinal-podcast/feed/ 0