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| Ticos seal the real deal |
As I said in the preview the other day, Costa Rica is a country whose football gets mocked because of the smallness of the nation. Anyone who watches CONCACAF closely knows there is some very good talent there. This wasn’t one of those upsets where a team sneaks a goal and then parks the bus in front of the goal. The Ticos were quicker and more athletic at every position on the pitch and took full advantage, which leads me to my next point …
2. Speed kills
Uruguay lacked pace. They were already something of a donut, with no midfield to speak of, but as soon as the Ticos fully seized the initiative, Uruguay looked like they were slogging through the mud. Their failings mirrored Spain’s from the day before. The Greeks were in super slo-mo while Colombia were flying all over the place. The Elephants started to push the pace and went from 0-1 to 2-1 in short order (with the help of some typically dubious Japanese goalkeeping). Quick tempo is the order of the day so far in Brazil. The game is more athletic than ever, and teams that feel they have the athleticism advantage are using it to the fullest.
3. Offense is the new black
It used to be that the World Cup’s first couple of days featured a token mismatch, a 0-0 draw, a 1-1 draw, and maybe a 1-0 game with a marginal penalty. Zzzzz … in 2014 so far, we’ve got 28 goals in 8 games and teams are attacking and going up and down the field. Being somewhat tight and cautious in the first game is something of a natural impulse, of course, but it’s never made sense to take a cautious tactical position. The general way teams often go about it is play not to lose the first game, play to win the second, then figure out what you need to do in the third – but 3 pts. for the win helps you far more than 0 pts. for the loss hurts you. It’s about time some teams started doing the math and taking some risks earlier in the tournament. Perhaps even more encouraging, from a quality of play standpoint, is the way the stars are making all the plays. These are all-star teams essentially, where there is bound to be some lack of cohesion since guys haven’t played much together. The best thing to do in that circumstance is get the ball to your best guys and let them make stuff up.
4. More coffee please
Damn, the Colombians looked awesome. I want to see more of that for sure. The Cafeteros game with Côte d’Ivoire could be spectacular.
