Confederations Cup 2013

Thiago Silva was the best player at the tournament for me. A defender who is simply great at defending (unlike Ramos and Pique who seem more like midfielders trapped in defenders roles), he pretty much coped with everything he faced and him and Julio Cesar were a great spine for the team. People often associate great Brazilian players with forwards or attacking midfielders, but Thiago Silva continues a line of great defensive Brazilian players (Lucio, Aldair) and the whole of Brazil must hope he doesn't get any injury as he is irreplaceable for them.
 
I'm still bitter and sad about him moving from Milan. But players like Maldini and Nesta always say Thiago Silva is the best defender they've ever seen/played with - I think this says a lot about his abilities.

I also think he's close to the best CB I've seen in my life time. Never really seen anyone close, apart from Nesta.
 
Godotelli said:
I wouldn't get too carried away. Spain looked knackered
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I dont think it's just tiredness, Italy played Uruguay earlier. They had less rest than the Spanish, were playing in a hotter city and at a much much hotter time of day and they didn't look that spent. I know the Italians changed their team a little from the semis to the 3rd/4th match but dont forget they had much harder matches in the group games than Spain.

As Spain had won against Uruguay, they could then afford to select a (nominally) weaker team against Tahiti, and then having won 2 matches already they could go into the last match (vs Nigeria) knowing that they were already into the knockouts. Italy had everything to play for in every game. They had to beat Mexico and Japan - a defeat or even a draw in either game could have put them under pressure from the 3rd team. Then they had to try and beat Brazil to get a slighty easier semi final (Uruguay as opposed to Spain).

I think Spain were soundly beaten in terms of tactics rather than fatigue. They didn't create anything, Scolari had his team pressure the Spanish right from kick off. The whole Brazilian team (including attacking midfielders and strikers) closed down the Spanish, the Brazilian full backs also were not afraid to mix up their passing styles. Sometimes they would go short and narrow, hitting passes along the ground, but frequently players like David Luiz would hit a long ball over the top. Sometimes it wouldn't work and would go way off for a throw in, but if Luiz, Marcello or Alvez found space often the pace of Neymar, Oscar (and for the first half of the game Hulk) would mean the Spanish defenders (who seemed to hold a high line) wouldnt be able to catch them.
 
Still wouldn't get too excited , US beat A strong Spain side in the last Confed tounery. Spain won the WC in hot Africa, what Godtelli might be aiming at.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
I dont think it's just tiredness, Italy played Uruguay earlier. They had less rest than the Spanish, were playing in a hotter city and at a much much hotter time of day and they didn't look that spent. I know the Italians changed their team a little from the semis to the 3rd/4th match but dont forget they had much harder matches in the group games than Spain.

As Spain had won against Uruguay, they could then afford to select a (nominally) weaker team against Tahiti, and then having won 2 matches already they could go into the last match (vs Nigeria) knowing that they were already into the knockouts. Italy had everything to play for in every game. They had to beat Mexico and Japan - a defeat or even a draw in either game could have put them under pressure from the 3rd team. Then they had to try and beat Brazil to get a slighty easier semi final (Uruguay as opposed to Spain).

I think Spain were soundly beaten in terms of tactics rather than fatigue. They didn't create anything, Scolari had his team pressure the Spanish right from kick off. The whole Brazilian team (including attacking midfielders and strikers) closed down the Spanish, the Brazilian full backs also were not afraid to mix up their passing styles. Sometimes they would go short and narrow, hitting passes along the ground, but frequently players like David Luiz would hit a long ball over the top. Sometimes it wouldn't work and would go way off for a throw in, but if Luiz, Marcello or Alvez found space often the pace of Neymar, Oscar (and for the first half of the game Hulk) would mean the Spanish defenders (who seemed to hold a high line) wouldnt be able to catch them.
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The problem of Spain was acumulated fatigue, not short term. Think that Busquets is carrying an injury from january, xavi and iniesta were already out of gas against Bayern, the same as Pique and Alba. Most of the Barcelona players have had an incredible first half of the season and a quite mediocre second half, specially in the physical department, due to an abysmal planning from the fitness staff here at Barcelona.

So yes, Spain was absolutely knackered and I think Del Bosque was wrong putting so many Barcelona players. Javi Martinez, Soldado, Monreal and Azpilicueta should have had more playing time in the ConfeCup.

Still, that doesn't change the fact that Thiago Silva could have coped with them on form anyway, because he's one of the best CBs of the last decade. Hats off to him.
 
cfdh_edmundo said:
I dont think it's just tiredness, Italy played Uruguay earlier. They had less rest than the Spanish, were playing in a hotter city and at a much much hotter time of day and they didn't look that spent. I know the Italians changed their team a little from the semis to the 3rd/4th match but dont forget they had much harder matches in the group games than Spain.
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yeah but our "form trend" was specular to spain's (we started the competition in a terrible form and slowly found better condition, whereas spain seemed to take the opposite route).

i must say i didn't watch the final yet (i recorded it and still didn't had time to watch it), so i can't very well comment on that, but the spain team i saw against italy was an exhausted team (even more so than the azzurri, who weren't exactly in top form either), and i can't honestly imagine how could they have found a better form in just 3 days... especially after such a energy-consuming semifinal.
 
that, and also the fact (which seems like no one is considering)that Brazil cut every Spain chance by committing petty fouls
 
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