Roja's Defense = Swiss Cheese

[lefty]

Pathetic defense

[SAtown]

But swiss cheese is good...

[boston.balla]

the spanish defense is not a problem per se, it's a problem cause they try too much to open the game and they get exposed .. i repeat ... if brasil (who are the measuring stick for any team time and time again) came with a defensive/mental strong/intensity approach (no re inho/fat adriano/fat ronaldo all mental and intensity snubs) this means it is a recognition of the game's developement in what were bottom feeders 8-12 years ago. Best examples is new zeeland/ north korea. They defended hard and that gave them a chance no matter how many chances the other team had.

And some of you people might say "but they got puyol/ramos/etc/etc". Sure they do, but the approach to the game is not there. They thought they would smoke swiss and they got burnt .. happened countless time throughout history.

Don't get me wrong ANY great team has this tendency, but truly great teams have a systematic approach to the game. That's why i've said already like 5-6 times spain is not a great team but a collection of great players in a system that is not suited for the cutthroat game wc has become for some time.

Look at brasil 2006 ... that was maybe the most star stacked team i ever saw (been watching since 1990) ronaldinho, robinho, ronaldo, adriano, kaka, lucio, dida, carlos, cafu (the old man still hod something left in the tank back then .. loved him as a player) .. they qualified losing only two games in south america (where there are a load of games) just like spain waltzed through the qualifiers against lesser opposition (let's face it you don't play argentina uru paraguay ecuador and chile 2 times if you're european, you get 1-2 adversaries at most not 4-5).

And they were cause of "we stacked let's play relaxed". Old man zidane showed them how is done.



World cup is ALL ABOUT defense and team play and mental strength/intensity. That's why germany and italy have so many cups while not being comparable in quality with brasil (don't get me wrong GER and ITA had alot of great players but brasil could probably put 3 teams in each tornament with the amount of talent they have/had) ... it's much like the nba really as in to win with decent but not great d/team play you need to have a supra stacked team .. like brasil in 70 ... else it's a dogfight - usually won by the most resilient.

[boston.balla]

just checked brasil 2006 and they also had ze roberto baptista( he was playing really well back then) edmilson, juninho and renato plus a ricardo oliveira who at that time was scoring alot in spanish league if i remember exactly (or else he wouldn't have made the team i reason)

they were absolutely stacked, more than the spain of today, not as balanced as a roster, but more stacked.

[lefty]

just checked brasil 2006 and they also had ze roberto baptista( he was playing really well back then) edmilson, juninho and renato plus a ricardo oliveira who at that time was scoring alot in spanish league if i remember exactly (or else he wouldn't have made the team i reason)

they were absolutely stacked, more than the spain of today, not as balanced as a roster, but more stacked.

Good point, good point