Best team of the group stage is Holland by far. 3 different kinds of games, 3 wins, 1 demolition of Spain and Robben/RvP are on fire. Knock outs is totally different though.
maybe. spain did lose to chile as well though so the 3-2 v australia raises some questions around the spain game. however..... we will see. holland will play mexico in last 16 so should be favorites to progress to QF where they may come across costa rica so all in all holland have to be in with a shout of being one of the two european sides to make the semis. germany will play algeria or russia probably so are also my favorites for QF. they would then meet either france or nigeria So I do back germany as the other shout and for this reason don't back france. belgium will play potentially usa so that should be interesting. belgium are nothing like a dynamic side so far. i'm thinking functional like england should have been actually! Usa have a chance and after thsi they have argentina i think so... I can actually see that as being a shock but at this point argentina should be playing fully. Brazil look to have a bad route.. they play chile so are not assured at all of QF IMO. they could meet uraguay in the Qf. I still back Uruguay to beat italy. in any event.. we'll see some shocks i'm sure favorites v actual winners of matches are two different things. Holland should really progress if they keep it up and focus on not conceeding as well.
Heard a stat about Mexico last night. Something like seven world cups in a row they have progressed from the group stage to then be knocked out in the first knockout game.
yeah that sounds about right. they seem to have a level. as do... england seriously though I feel mexico reach a point there they are out muscled and out organised and they seem traditionally to be smaller more technical players and don't translate often to europe as a result. funnily enough at their home world cup in 86 they reach QF and lost to germany, a classic physical side. it seems since 1994 they have always qualified, always finished 2nd in group bar 2002 where they ended u getting USA and again getting beat. Holland v mexico.. if ever a match was one for a accumulator surely this is one to bank on.
has anyone tried to mark robben out of the game yet? he seems to be what makes them tick, so cut off the supply and see how they do then. it was always spain and holland the under acheivers a while ago in main tournaments up until spain started ticking, holland are running out of time with what they have as arent a lot of them near or the wrong side of 30?
not sure. he's not like pirlo i that he's got pace so it'd be interesting to see the dutch side in this case. the dutch team is not that old but robben sneijder and rvp are all 30 the rest are all a good age, lot of young lads in early 20s and not so many mid to late 20s like de jong and guzman. I think the real class as it were are the 3 30 year olds mind.
it'd have to be on of midfield 3 assigned to follow. it'd be a task, i think pirlo would be easier as robben is a quick f'r who'd wear you out trying. it is always possible to drill to have the players in the area he's in close the f down like mad, have 2 guys immediately close every time he gets it. then the Dutch need smart one touch to get someone away. however... its not like basket ball, you can't set up a defence and have all eyes follwo the man or ball you gotta do what you gotta do as well.
Teams still have a sweeper. the only thing that's changed is the players that plays the role #sweeperkeeper
Pretty much agree with this. It would require a 4231 type system where the three are more box-to-box than AM leaving the two to watch the space Robben operates in along with the FBs. Still wouldn't be a man-marking job but then, I guess that wasn't the original question.
the ideal would be be to force him to drop deeper with a high pressing game cutting off some supply and when he's deeper you can close him down with more bodies. if he gets it wide with full backs you cannot commit but in the end two back of 4 then should stop the risk. probably mexico s best hope is to have more of the ball as that cuts supply best of all.
I think he's more dangerous running from a deeper position, usually means there is a bit of space to run into too. I'd say stay narrow and make him go wide is the best was of keeping him quiet. You just have to make sure your CBs a keeper are able to deal with the high balls too.
so you kick him onto his ass as he receives the ball.. instant close down before he gets running. for 90 mins that's a tall order.
So now Woy plays a 4-3-3. The man is clueless. The previous games were crying out for more in midfield in order to combat Italy, who are all midfield and Uruguay who are an obstinate team. Instead he picked a formation in order to shoe horn certain players in. Gerrard was never going to be able to play in a 2 man centre, hasn't got the legs and hasn't for a few years. Left us far too frail in defence. The man has no tactical sense and now its all too late
