WC 2018: Day 4: Day of Shockers ●

All matches today resulted against any cat, pig or expert’s predictions. It’s a fine day for football when the team that persevered got to keep the fame. And in all three matches, it was the underdog that shined against the stronger but poor opponent.

Germany 0 - Mexico 1

A stunning match giving this World Cup’s first stunner. It had the highest number of shots on the goal by both teams (Germany of course more than Mexico). And highest number of stupid one-on-one misses by the Mexicans. Mexico gets more score coz of their tactical gameplay. They applied the same counterattacking strategy that the Germans used 4 years back. Mexico lacked individual skills in & around the penalty box. And hence failed to convert all those straightforward one-on-ones. Still, they stood their ground against the German blitzkrieg.

Brazil 1 - Switzerland 1

One could not have missed the Swiss brilliance in this high stakes game. Whether it’s fouling Neymar or testing Brazilian defence. While in the previous game teams played in someone’s penalty boxes. They hovered around midfield for this game. Brazil, after last time’s debacle, has changed their coach & their usual gameplay. As they try to mimic the Europeans. They dragged up the midfield, lost control of the ball with measured short passes. And had a weird defensive attitude. All that was completely opposite to their natural samba way of dancing around the field. Also, it’s high time people stop idolizing Neymar. And start pointing out the frailty both in his game & in his presence on the field. Along with working on his free-kicks Neymar should spend some time in gym. So that he does not behave like stack of boxes crumbling down with a hint of air around. As a devout fan, I am still not convinced that Brazil is ready to wash off last times’ wounds and that hurts.