Well let’s see, some of the Moroccan midfielders are partial to a trick or two, There’s Musiala, was Lennart Karl in Die Mannschaft? The biggest disappointment for me in this regard is Brazil. They all play like they’ve been trained in academy football and told off not to try tricks. Not going to count Messi as he’s a legacy player. Pedri, and definitely Yamal can do that flashy and effective stuff.
Yeah struggling here. Players like that have effectively been coached out of the game.
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Hurrah ! We get out players back…demoralised.
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It’s either that or physically shagged until Christmas.This world cup is longer than ever and it’s being played at horrible temperatures
Could they be any more demoralised than playing under Arne?
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No, absolutely not !
But I am thinking that it is generally not ideal for a team to have players get home early with broken dreams. It’s the stage everyone dreams to be on and do well. I don’t think it would hurt our team at all if we had players go on deep runs here.
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I was thinking a deep run in many ways is worse. You have a sense of so close yet so far. You question your choices more, what-ifs. And to top it of you’re knackered physically. If you’re not going to win it, it’s best to exit earlier.
Plus penalties are a crapshoot so dignity is intact. And for Germany they have a hard-luck story with Tah’s disallowed goal (ridiculous decision).
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Our three Dutch players and Wirtz will probably have 3 weeks off now, before returning to what remains of pre season training. Let’s hope that’s enough time to rest and then prepare for another long season.
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At least none of them were involved in a missed penalty and the additional baggage that comes with.
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"Cody, Cody Gakpooo,
Cody, Cody Gakpooo…"
Gakpo is also returning home, to deal with a recent tragic loss for him and his family.
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Lennart Karl was nominated but suffered an unfortunate injury before our first group match.
Maybe, but they don’t seem to be household names. Agree on Messi, he could almost be the last of that ilk.
You look back and the list of players that really stood out was considerable and across numerous nations. Now it’s a smattering of semi familiar names and players I haven’t heard of. That’s on me, but no one has stepped forward and really grabbed my attention as a player worth watching. Not one player with the vision to play a striker through or dominate a game by simply controlling it.
Tell a lie, Vitinha has been one that’s stood out to me. That’s one player out of 48 teams. And when Brazil turn up with Casemiro as their main midfielder, alarm bells should be ringing.
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Brazil have not played a competitive match without someone doing the clean up and protection work that he does for 30 years though. They played 4 of them in the same side in 94 (really only 3, but didnt give zinho that much licence to actually do much that was constructive).
The issue with Brazil is less that he, or a player of his type is playing, its that they dont have the effective complimentary options to fill out the rest of the midfield that Real did for all of those years. It probably illustrative of something for a country that has had an 40 year uninterrupted production line of top quality DMs that they went into this tournament with Casa and Fabs as their best options. But the question of why there was so little game dictating technical quality around him is a question people have been asking of Brazil for 30 years. They obviously still produce a lot of attacking talent, but they seem to have a Mourinho like attitude to it that if it exists it must be limited to attackers the final third. It means all the midfielders they produce to partner these top quality DMs are more likely to be athletes like Elliot Anderson that the textbook Brazilian playmaker like Socrates.
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Koeman is not a very sympathetic character or even a likeable guy, but that sort of stuff is not cool.
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I think that’s the “Dutch directness” that’s been mentioned here quite a few times.
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Coming back to the Algeria - Austria game: had Algeria won the game with that extra-time goal from Mahrez, they would have played against Spain. By conceding that extra-late goal, they play the Swiss now, and helped Austria to qualify, as expected before the 2-2. Hmmmm… 
Also, here is what Riad Mahrez said after the game:
“It was a bit awkward to be honest,” Mahrez, 35, said after the game.
“We were playing wide and they were sitting.
“But at the last minute someone plays a ball inside and he turns, I have to make the run.
“I have to respect football and the ball arrive in front of the keeper, I have to score. I have to try to score.
“Like they try to score, they were in front. They were winning 2-1.
“I know it’s an awkward situation but it’s football – I have to respect it.
“But … a good thing for them is they score and they qualify. We both qualify and it’s the most important thing today.”
Hmmmmm…
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Also for me his club teammate Fabian Ruiz
We were very close to seeing Brazil go out too, would have been three favourites in four games (although the Dutch were only marginally favoured over Morocco). I think the ‘paper-scissors-rock’ aspect of the tactical game is in a bit of a rut. The Spanish tiki-taka of ~15 years ago has been somewhat neutralized, but now I think teams have figured out how to stop the dynamic style that Germany had in 2014. The game is waiting for the next idea, so to speak.
In the club game, the big teams impose themselves with sheer talent, but right now it looks like maybe only France can do that in the international game.
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