This World Cup has given us all we had asked for—more even.
But we didn’t really need a match that produced a result that might be the most shocking in the history of the tournament?
Some thoughts on Day 22…
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• I feel a little vindicated, to be honest, having taken some Twitter stick earlier in the day for suggesting Brazil might actually miss Thiago Silva more than Neymar. I think that as much as this was a complete team collapse, it is fairly obvious that Silva was missed more.
• Allow me to clarify my Silva thought. It doesn’t take a “Jose Mourinho protege” to realize that the opening goal was a dreadful miscue in the heart of defence, and soon one defensive calamity followed another. Therefore it does stand to reason that having the best centre-back in the world on the field, and the team’s clear leader, might have been just a tad helpful, and might have prevented that capitulation.
• “Quit” is a dreadful word to accuse a team of doing en masse, but how else can you describe what happened? Whether it was due to the immense pressure finally breaking Brazil’s resolve, or whether the loss of their two best players was too big a burden to bear, the fact is Brazil quit on Tuesday.
• We have seen some bad defensive performances at this World Cup, and sadly this one will over shadow what was a brilliant Germany performance. It may have been boys against men out there, but Germany still had to bury its chances, and you’ll be hard pressed to find a more ruthless display. It is a shame that Brazil were so bad that we are left wondering whether we did actually just witness a truly great performance.
• Spain can breathe a huge sigh of relief. That 5-1 smashing at the hands of the Netherlands suddenly fades into the collective memory, completely and utterly smashed to smithereens by today’s 7-1 loss.
• Is it just me, or does 7-1 actually sound worse than 7-0? Much like 8-1 sounds worse than 8-0. Ahem.
• Netherlands vs. Argentina… over to you, but please, at least give us a game.
• Don’t forget where you were today though, it was one of those games. This World Cup!