Brazil's conundrum

Here's an excellent post on the World Cup Blog regarding Brazil's performances so far. I agree with the author that the commercial hype surrounding the team has raised expectations to unrealistic levels, and the last two games have shown that Brazil aren't a country mile ahead of the opposition. There is, however, a feeling that the team is not playing to its full potential, and hasn't even reached the level of the 2002 side. But Brazil have time. They have safely negotiated the group phase without too many scares. Sure, their attack hasn't clicked and we haven't seen the beautiful play that the Selecao are famous for, but they have been solid in the centre of the park, and that is where football matches are won and lost. It doesn't matter if you play one up front or four - if you don't have good central midfielders, you don't stand a chance at this level. Brazil are blessed to have both Emerson and Juninho Pernambucano, although the latter spends most of his time on the bench, due to the excellent form of converted left-winger Ze Roberto. As the World Cup goes on, Brazil's strength in depth in midfield and attack will start to play a more decisive role in games, and they should be there or thereabouts come the final stages of the tournament. It won't be an easy task, though. They will have to overcome Ghana and probably Spain along the way, and are likely to face Portugal or the Netherlands in the semi-finals, should they make it that far.

Spain have been very impressive, and their midfield is perhaps the best of the tournament. Barring the playmaker's role, they are probably better than Argentina. It would be nice to see them play with wingers though. Four central midfielders is overdoing it. That said, the ploy has been working well, and Spain are one of only two or three teams at the World Cup that have shown the ability to consistently create goalscoring chances through the middle of the park. With the centre of midfield being as congested as it is in modern football, teams have resorted to much wider play, choosing to cross the ball and hoping to find a man rather than playing around with it in front of the area. When done well, it can produce some dazzling play from wingers, but when done poorly, you get England. Still, there's nothing better than watching teams being ripped apart through the middle with a series of short passes. Argentina's second goal against Serbia and Montenegro was sublime, as was Fernando Torres' second goal versus Ukraine. Long story short, the hypothetical Spain versus Brazil quarter-final is a mouth-watering prospect.

For my money, Argentina have the best squad at the finals. No other team can boast of having two class players for almost every position. That doesn't mean they are certain to win it either. Their path to the final will most likely include Germany and Italy, so there are no guarantees there. The World Cup has been tremendously entertaining so far, and I hope it continues like this all the way till July 9.