In reply to: The Swiss are tough opponents. posted by skip encarnacion
Every time he's touched, he writhing on the ground like he'd been gut shot.
He possesses incredible skill, but his refusal to pass in certain situations has to be maddening for his teammates. I think he slowed down Brasil on breaks yesterday because he wanted to be the guy. Also, there are probably 2 other guys on that team (i.e. Coutinho) who should be taking free kicks.
Re: team selection from Brasil, maybe I have my LFC blinders on, but Jesus isn't nearly the player Firmino is (at least at this stage).
Starting Firmino instead and let the 3 of Jesus, Coutinho and Firmino weave in and out of the rest of that group.
Neymar is brilliant but as you say, selfish would be one of the first 3 descriptors of his play in game 1.
He looked like a whiny one with a Naomi Nagata haircut out there.
Should have been a couple more yellows handed out.
There was one foul called late in the game where he was shielding a defender or two, did a nifty turn and kicked it by them, and ran into them and fell down like he got shot. The defenders didn't move the entire time - I appreciate his talent level, but the defenders have the right to their space as well, and just because he falls down after running into them doesn't make it a foul or card worthy.