An expllanation for an ignorant Yank (with a surprising grasp of football).
Colombia and Holland play proper attacking football. They are beautiful and fallible.
Germany could grind the joy out of a blue sky, and frequently do.
France is not, and never will be, a football nation, but was still unbearably smug when they won in 98. Never again, please.
And Brazil are really really shit. For a huge, football-mad nation, surely they should have better players. And that''s before I get into the cheesy sentimentalising of Brand Brasil.
My opinion on all of these teams, trying to stay away from stereotypes and broad generalizations:
Colombia: Haven't watched nearly enough of their games, but incredibly talented and exciting, doing it all without Falcao. Have great young attacking talents that no one's heard of in Cuadrado and Ramirez. Would definitely have no problem seeing them win it all.
The rest of the four are very similar, imo. Sad to say, but the only truly unique team in World football over the last few years was Spain. Their set-up this year betrayed that uniqueness in favor of a "safer" more conventional approach and they rightly payed for it. I can't really understand such strong opinions for these other teams, unless we're relying on stereotypes and history to color our opinions, which for me misses out on the story that's actually unfolding on the pitch.
Holland: Vastly overrated in the "beauty" or free flowing nature of their attack. This is a team that is dyed in the wool pragmatic in their approach. Just need to watch the 2010 World Cup Final again to see it in action. They'll resort to it again against a team like Brazil or Germany if they need to. Even this most recent comeback against Mexico came down to Dirk Kuyt working his ass off both down the right flank or fighting for every header around the box, not some "beautiful attacking play".
Germany: Trying to become the new possession kings. Not quite there yet. I would say I'm surprised at such a negative opinion of a team with such classy, and skilled attacking talents such as Ozil and Goetze and the temerity to play them both together, but I remember now I'm talking to Brits.
France: This is the team that I love, and its both the 98 World Cup that you so abhor as well as Zidane's masterclass of 06 that converted me fully to Le Coq (
). This team has the raw talent and proper balance of technicians and grafters to go all the way even if their recent performances have left something to be desired. Allez les Bleus!
Brazil: This isn't the 1982 Brazil side by any extent when it comes to complex interplay or silky skills. Then again, this side might actually win.
Not much for me to say about this team. Brazil has needed to adapt to the trends in modern football in order to remain competitive after the golden talents they produced in the early part of this century. This current side is an attempt to do just that, and its been quite successful so far. Having the home field certainly hasn't hurt them. Neymar is playing very well, and after watching him at Barcelona this actually came as a minor surprise.
Topic: World Cup 2014 - Brazil