Round of 16, Day 3
Precisely no one is surprised that Brazil beat Mexico, 2-0. But the Belgian defeat of Japan, 3-2, in the 94th minute was heartbreaking for Japan, given that they led 2-0 at the 55th minute. But, as Didier Drogba presciently observed during the group stage, Asian teams tend to overwhelm their opponents with their extreme effort for the first 60 minutes, then flag a bit, which allows the game to open up. This game was an almost textbook example of that.
Labels: sports
24 Comments:
Too bad I am in the office today. If I was on the job sites today, I would be saying in Spanish, "No se puede".
Happened to catch the second half. Wish soccer were always that exciting. I felt kind of sad for those Japanese fans though.
I did happen to catch the last 20 minutes of Belgium-Japan, and you could clearly see a tired Japan. Too bad.
I've liked Belgium from the beginning of this World Cup. Hazard and De Bruyne are among the top ten players in the World, Curtois is a tremendous keeper, and Lukaku has oodles of talent -- being only 25 he is just beginning to learn how to play center forward. His role on the winning goal showed incredible maturity -- arcing to the middle of the field to draw the wide defender in, and then dummying the ball to allow Chadli the easy tap in.
That said, Brazil shocked me with their speed agains Mexico. Belgium's back line was under pressure from Japan's quickness. Martinez has to sort that out if they are going to have a chance against the Selecao.
Belgian players were stronger, faster , taller and jumped higher than the Japanese ones. They risked losing the game, notwithstanding. They did not show the mental focus necessary to beat Brazil in the next round.
But their third goal was beautiful,a very fast counter attack.
It's not shocking to see Brazil still playing. Vastly different team from 4 years ago.
Brazil is solid
Defense is very important in soccer tournaments under this format, where you are eliminated after one defeat.
Uruguay, France, Brazil and Belgium all have strong defenses.
So do Sweden and Switzerland.
England, I don´t know.
Colombia and Russia,apparently are the weakest remaining teams.
Russia Russia Russia!!!
Neymar a bitch tho
Well I do have to admit I am impressed it was relatively easy to beat the Mexicans.
The Samurais are getting better. They deserved that victory, buuuuut Destiny has set their boats in another path. All it took was the Belgiums take the game half serious.
Bring it Belgiums U___U! Even if we lose, we will have an Oscar! For Neymar's awesome simulations.
Btw, Belgium defense is horrible XD. I actually think that Brazil may have an easy time scoring a goal against the Belgium team, what worries me is the Height Gap.
"Asian teams tend to overwhelm their opponents with their extreme effort for the first 60 minutes, then flag a bit, which allows the game to open up."
If so, this disaster is on Japan's coach (I don't know the name for the equivalent in WCFootball, so, forgive me this). He should know his own people - on a genomic level and, more so, on a personal level. He should have observed the most-exhausted team members and swapped them out.
Thank God for sports.
I am drafting a audio transcript of the latest Dstream - Luke Ford must be vetted, he has talked with Spencer.
Excellent DarkS presentation at youtube, it loaded/appeared quickly. Never a sound issue, its always well done from day one.
This is very important listening everyone.
"Belgian players were stronger, faster , taller and jumped higher than the Japanese ones."
Being taller is an advantage in goal, but mostly what you want in a football team is faster.
I'd say also that strength needs to be married to smarts and accuracy (INT and DEX for the roleplayers out there) or else you're just booting the ball really far to the wrong guy. But I concede that Belgium does have a good STR / INT / DEX balance.
Being taller is an advantage in goal, but mostly what you want in a football team is faster.
It is also an advantage with crosses into the box. See Belgium's second goal.
Neymar a bitch tho
tru dat, but the beaner stepped on his leg on purpose.
Be that as it may, people that are actually injured do not flop around. They are too overwhelmed by pain and the instinct is not to make it worse by flailing.
I caught the last 30 mins, it was exciting, my son said Japan was up 2-0 at one point. 3-2, relatively high scoring for fifa soccer isnt it?
"Asian teams tend to overwhelm their opponents with their extreme effort for the first 60 minutes, then flag a bit"
Substitute "Japan" for Asia and "6 months" for 60 minutes and does that not describe the Pacific War?
All I know is African is going to win this year.
The entire team may commit seppuku, harakiri. They couldn't defend when it mattered. Not worthy.
Feel bad for the Japanese and their fantastic fans who put so many other countries' fans to shame with the way they clean up their trash at the end of the game.
Is it just me or did the Japanese goalie totally blow it on that first goal?
I'm not a big soccer guy so maybe I'm underestimating the difficulty of that save, but it just looked like such a stoppable ball that he totally misplayed. Why try to make the play over your shoulder instead of going up straight to meet the ball?
And that killed his confidence and their momentum. I think they win if he makes that save.
Russia Russia Russia!!!
I heard this morning that the Japanese team left their changing room spotless after the loss, and left a Thank You note in Russian.
Pure class from a pure race.
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