Brazil lost to a very good Belgium side and we must remember the positives from the tournament as well as the negativesIt took time for Brazil’s defeat against Belgium to sink in. I felt sadness, there is no doubt about that, but defeats are part of sport. Having played in many important tournaments for my clubs and my country I know that we do not live just through wins, we have to live through defeats as well.Brazil were beaten by a team with a very good strategy and they were helped by the fact Brazil’s players were not able to finish off their chances. It was not a disaster and, even though the expectations placed on the team were huge,...
Brazil are one of the favourites who have got off to a bad start at the World Cup. That is partly because the so-called smaller nations have belief but also because of Neymar’s strugglesThe most striking aspect of the opening week of this World Cup has surely been the difficulty many of the tournament favourites have had to win their games. Something has changed. And the key words here are “intensity” and “belief”.Smaller nations now believe in their capacity to cause problems and to challenge the traditional powers of world football. I was struck, for example, by the terrible disappointment of the Tunisians after losing to England. These so-called smaller nations really have the belief they can do something against...
Lyon top the table after Ligue 1’s first match day after a 4-0 win over Strasbourg – an emphatic validation for their reconfigured attackBy Adam White and Eric Devin for Get French Football NewsIt seemed too familiar for Lyon in the early going, even if the faces were different. Nabil Fékir is flagged offside, Mariano Díaz finds himself in a good position but shoots straight into the hands of the Strasbourg goalkeeper Bingourou Kamara, and Memphis Depay, hugging the touchline, foolishly concedes a throw-in. Fékir and Lyon’s three other attackers, Depay, Díaz and Bertrand Traoré, looked set to dazzle without any end product, their skill on the ball for nought as they struggled to break down a side who looked...
Neymar’s move to PSG from Barcelona will make him the first player in 85 years to more than double the previous transfer record. An already inflated environment will feel the consequencesBernabé Ferreyra, according to his River Plate team-mate José Manuel ‘El Charro’ Moreno, never used to let his status as the world’s most expensive player bother him. “Bernabé earned as much money as he wanted but he was not concerned with keeping it,” he said. “He gave other people a lot of money, without asking for anything in return. When he shook your hand, you could be sure that you had a friend for the rest of your life.”But 85 years since the Argentinian striker moved from Club Atlético Tigre...
Barcelona inserted the Brazilian’s €222m buyout clause last year as a Not For Sale sign but playing second fiddle to Messi and the benefits of a world-record transfer have seemingly turned his headAt the end of Barcelona’s comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in March, their hero leapt on to the advertising boards at the north end of the Camp Nou, fans surging forward at his feet, still barely able to believe what they had just seen.At first he swayed a little but they held him steady and so he stood above them, fist raised, taking it in. From below, a match photographer, Santiago Garcés, pointed his camera. Within two days, 70 million people had seen the picture of the night, which...