Brazil Analysis

When Neymar inevitably returns to Brazil's lineup, it will be on Tite's terms. Though what he loses in personal glory he may make up for in international trophies. Read more »

Brazil's efficiency in defending and counter attacking makes you forget they don't even have Neymar, but they do have Gabriel Jesus. Read more »

In 2019, the Copa America is defined as much by what it isn’t in the modern soccer age, as much as what it strives to represent. Read more »

What's wrong with Neymar? He dives too much, with too much panache. That and a bunch of other stuff that's harder to explain. Read more »

Each of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay and Peru may look vastly different from a managerial standpoint at the 2019 Copa America in Brazil. But whether a new manager implements a possession or counter attacking style, teams must be compact and balanced to win in South America, and even more so to win in the World Cup. Read more »

Roberto Martinez credited tactics, but one would add individual quality as well, through Lukaku's hold up play, Hazard's turns, de Bruyne's perfectly placed strike and Courtois' last minute save. Read more »

Neymar created a beautiful goal taking on multiple defenders, laying it off to Willian and then continuing his run to receive the ball back for the tap-in. Read more »

The struggles of the traditional soccer powers gave an opportunity for bubbling sides like Belgium and Croatia to stamp their mark in Russia. Read more »

The CONMEBOL table reflects a larger changing of the guard at play in analyzing the rise of Colombia and Peru, and the struggles of Argentina and Chile. Read more »

Maybe a grassroots overhaul wasn't necessary for Brazil after all. Combining the steadiness of Miranda and Casemiro with the dynamism of Neymar and Jesus, Tite put together an effective blueprint heading into the next two years of World Cup qualifiers. Read more »

The individual brilliance of the early matches was eventually neutralized by countries with better all-around squads and this was a World Cup that became reasonably predictable once we escaped the group stage. But every single minute was thrilling and worth it. Read more »

Brazil, Germany, Argentina and the Netherlands are the final four countries standing in World Cup 2014. Circumstances favor the European teams, but will they prevail in what will be home matches for both South American sides? Read more »

Lionel Messi has been magic, while Colombia is now the sentimental favorite, but let's take a step back so we avoid dismissing Brazil and the completeness of France and Germany. Read more »

The deluge of goals from Messi, Neymar, Müller, Robben and Van Persie, impressive play from Costa Rica and Colombia, and the bite seen round the world all overshadowed the changing of the era. Read more »

In an era of specialized role, fullbacks became the modern box to box playmaker. Teams with adventurous fullbacks are modern, pressing and attack with fearlessness and speed, and have had impressive success already in World Cup 2014. Read more »

Group A appears to be Brazil and everyone else, but the other three have a diverse range of styles. Croatia’s midfield is the most creative, Cameroon’s the best at pressing. Mexico’s midfield relies most on possession, and Brazil has a little bit of everything depending on who plays Read more »

The best attacker in this 2014 World Cup will be a country’s press. Of course, games are won by brilliant moments from individual players. Genius does still exist. But the modern game is less Steve Jobs than it is Wikipedia. Read more »