Its Over!

[markysimmo]

This season is going to be awesome, no burden of expectation.

We are free to enjoy each matchday, win lose or draw.

and hopefully the return of the feelgood factor at WHL for the fans and players once again

 

[NWND]

you bought the hype that is Brazil not me.

History aside.. assuming both teams are fit and fully functional that Germany 11 beats that Brazil 11 7 days a week, any stadium any country any tournament

I think you're missing the point

 

[braineclipse]

you bought the hype that is Brazil not me.

History aside.. assuming both teams are fit and fully functional that Germany 11 beats that Brazil 11 7 days a week, any stadium any country any tournament

No way football at this level is so deterministic.

If you are right and you're capable of making predictions like this somewhat regularly you should be able to make a fortune betting on football (not saying that you should try).

Germany are better no doubt but did Algeria lose 7-1 to Germany or get utterly humiliated?

You're telling me that Brazil just lost to a better team in that match? Rubbish! They didn't even turn up! They were frozen as soon as Germany scored! They didn't just lose they're responsible for the worst world cup display of any team I can remember given the players available to them.

If Brazil gave it a real go and got edged by Germany's better play so be it. 7-1? No way that's just losing to a better team

Agreed.

Brazil's attitude wasn't good. Carrying a Neymar shirt around before the game, having Thiago Silva lead the warm-up, the almost crying at the national anthem. No way that's the right attitude going into a football match. I agree with "as soon as Germany scored" fully. If Brazil could have kept a clean sheet into the second half they would have been in with a shout, but as soon as they went behind their attitude made them collapse I think. They just weren't prepared to the possibility it seemed and they reacted with a complete lack of professionalism.

 

[jimmyb]

No mate...not at all. Brazil are simply not better than Germany hence they lost a game of football to them. Expectation had zero to do with that result, absolutely zero! One look at their starting 11 and anybody with half a brain knew they were no match for Germany.

Nonsense.

Expectation had a huge amount to do with how the game panned out.

Brazil were all emotion. No head. And it all stemmed from their being in front of their home fans in a World Cup semi final. They didn't just desperately want to win. They wanted to win well. They wanted to be................well, Brazil.

Are Germany the better team? Yes. But six goals better (and let's face it - it could easily have been more)? No way. Not a chance. Did Germany thump Ghana; or U.S.A; or Algeria; or France? No. Not one of them. The only team they thumped prior to Brazil was ten man Portugal. This might be a very poor Brazil team by their standards but it is not worse than all those other teams. Germany only beat Kazakhstan and the Faroe Islands (twice) 3-0 during qualifying, for crying out loud! Are Brazil worse than them too?

Something else happened that night. And it was all to do with the weight of expectation. Had Brazil kept their heads and accepted their limitations rather than playing to the emotion of the crowd, they could have won. It would have been very ugly. Very un-Brazil like. But it was their best, and perhaps only, chance. They had to keep the game tight; deny Germany space and counterattacking opportunities; rein in attacking ambition. But they couldn't bring themselves to do it. Not at home. Not with that expectant crowd behind them. So they hurled themselves instead into a death or glory mission akin to the Charge of the Light phalanx. And they died. Slaughtered.

Because once they went behind, the expectation weighed even more heavily on them. And since emotion, not thought, was their fuel, their play became ever more erratic and confused the further they went behind. All the while, you could see the burden of their responsibility weighing ever heavier. What they wanted to give to their fans. What they were utterly incapable of giving. It was desperate stuff.

Weight of expectation played a huge, huge part in their dismantling.

 

[braineclipse]

Nonsense.

Expectation had a huge amount to do with how the game panned out.

Brazil were all emotion. No head. And it all stemmed from their being in front of their home fans in a World Cup semi final. They didn't just desperately want to win. They wanted to win well. They wanted to be................well, Brazil.

Are Germany the better team? Yes. But six goals better (and let's face it - it could easily have been more)? No way. Not a chance. Did Germany thump Ghana; or U.S.A; or Algeria; or France? No. Not one of them. The only team they thumped prior to Brazil was ten man Portugal. This might be a very poor Brazil team by their standards but it is not worse than all those other teams. Germany only beat Kazakhstan and the Faroe Islands (twice) 3-0 during qualifying, for crying out loud! Are Brazil worse than them too?

Something else happened that night. And it was all to do with the weight of expectation. Had Brazil kept their heads and accepted their limitations rather than playing to the emotion of the crowd, they could have won. It would have been very ugly. Very un-Brazil like. But it was their best, and perhaps only, chance. They had to keep the game tight; deny Germany space and counterattacking opportunities; rein in attacking ambition. But they couldn't bring themselves to do it. Not at home. Not with that expectant crowd behind them. So they hurled themselves instead into a death or glory mission akin to the Charge of the Light phalanx. And they died. Slaughtered.

Well put, I disagree slightly though.

They were clearly prepared to win ugly. Committing the most fouls in a game since records started (or something similar), having one of their midfielders commit 10 fouls in consecutive games, having supremely talented ball playing defenders boot the ball 50-60 yards when passes were on in situations where even Allardyce would have thought it was overly safe minded and having the fans cheer those clearances. They were ready for it.

What they weren't ready for in my mind was the setback. They had bought into the talk of destiny and legend, they had bought into the belief that if only they wanted it enough, if only their hearts would beat green and yellow blood through their bodies in tune to the national anthem, if only their emotions and desire was high enough they would get their reward. And the desire was there, the heart was there, the emotions were there, and partly because of luck and coincidence, partly because of talent and ability (particularly Neymar), partly because of what I think were biased referees, they got quite far without ever having to look failure dead in the eyes. They almost stumbled against Chile, they almost stumbled against Colombia, but they got through and even then they never really went behind. When they went behind and had to realize that desire, heart and emotions just wasn't enough, that destiny is just a word they collapsed as their motivation was built almost exclusively on that belief.

 

[milo]

I'm locking this thread because it has turned into a World Cup discussion and we have another forum for that.