Tried to put £5 on Brazil to win in first couple mins then they scored - Put it on Neymar 2nd goal instead so loving this Who doesn't love seeing boring, boring Spain get murdered?
Haha yeah, I fancied Brazil to give them a good game. I was tempted to put some money on Spain at half time though, the Beeb pundits all thought Spain would win comfortably before the game and at half time were saying the same about Brazil which surely meant a similar reverse result. Spain look like they've all but given up now.
They wont get much credit compared to Neymar / Fred etc but Paulinho and Luiz Gustavo have been excellent. Completely shut down Spain.
Yeah, agree. I also think that tiredness played a big factor for Spain and also playing Torres is a serious disability. Most would say they went down to 10 men on 68 minutes but I'd say they started with 10. It's a brilliant set up for the World Cup next season.
Better lock Paulinho in a cupboard and say we won't let him out until his contract with us is official, then...
Player of the Tournament awards: please log in to view this image Gold for Neymar, Silver for Iniesta and Bronze for Paulinho.
Lawro hasn't got a clue has he? What was it he called Paulinho, "average"? Then again Hansen called Fred overrated before the final and then had to back track with the aid of his colleagues after the match. It'd be funny if they weren't get paid so much for their nonsense opinions.
Loved it last night,Brazil played Spain at their own game,pressing high up the field,and Spain could'nt handle it!!
One of my favourite bits was Torres and Iniesta's faces and plastic half smiles picking up their individual awards amongst loads of grinning Brazilians.
I haven't seen Spain bottle it like that since Euro 2004. Maybe this might give Del Bosque a kick up the backside - namely not to pick Torres until he's any good, telling the defence to stop expecting the midfielders to make their job easy, and maybe consider utilising the talent the squad clearly have (which worked in 2008-10) rather than the passive agressive tactics they've been using ever since.
The Spanish are citing tiredness after a long season ...didn't effect Oscar, Luiz etc! Mata who plays in the same team was just shocking and had no answer to Paulinho and co.!
They also had their semi final a day later which went to penalties. I know you don't like people making tiredness an issue but it looked like it yesterday. The early goal was the gut punch that really made things difficult and made it difficult for them to assert any kind of control on the game, which was further hampered by Brazil's excellent pressing in the centre. Tiredness was still evident amongst the reasons that they struggled, even if it wasn't the main reason. Still, I'd rather a coach that rattled off an excuse after an embarrassing loss than one that said the players need to accept the fault for mistakes whilst conveniently glossing over their own mistakes, like Pearce did.
I don't think that Spain can cite tiredness, just because of the ridiculous depth of their squad, YV. If they had a few tired legs, then we didn't they mix it up a bit? Their bench was this: Valdes, Reina, Albiol, Azpilicueta, Monreal, Martinez, Fabregas, Cazorla, Silva, Navas, Villa, Soldado. They could field that side, only having to leave out a keeper, and they'd still beat most teams comfortably.
It doesn't really matter who they had on their bench if they didn't play them. I was just saying that they did look tired and more tired than their Brazilian opposition.
They shouldn't have been, though. They had a free game against Tahiti and an easier group overall, so the Italy game shouldn't have drained them so badly. They looked lacklustre in that game too, so I think it was down to a slightly off team selection and good tactical choices by their opposition, personally. They missed Alonso and the likes of Torres, Arbeloa and Pedro were massively ineffective.
Of course there were other factors and more significant ones at that but they played like the more fatigued team in the final, that's all I'm saying.
Demoralised by a better side has a habit of making players look 'tired', they were gone mentally, Del Bosque can pull the wool over the eyes of anyone wanting to accept it, not mine.
Right, sorry for digging this thread up again(last time, I promise) but our academy player Miloš Veljković will be playing in the under 19 Euros final tonight It's on Eurosport at 7.30(ko 7.45, I think) and they take on France, who's under 20 side won the U20 World Cup this summer. Also Nabil Bentaleb is in France's squad also but it doesn't look like he'll play. Should be worth a watch
