If anyone told me Brazil would

[Lazie]

beat Spain by 3 clear goals I would laugh them to scorn. Let me take this moment to extend my apologies to Neymar. I thought he was overrated but damn!!!!

[Stonigut]

Yeah, that goal was ridiculous, that was a hercules type goal, just raw in your face power, beat the goal keeper right in him face staring right at it and could not respond, awesome!

[Paul Marin]

beat Spain by 3 clear goals I would laugh them to scorn. Let me take this moment to extend my apologies to Neymar. I thought he was overrated but damn!!!!

Neymar certainly silenced his critics...but had Luiz not made that save, it could have been a very different game...very different. The real question asked now is whether Spain will be able to use this to their advantage to build a stronger world cup squad. They need better options than Villa and Torres up front and need to bolster their defense for next year. Great result for my (other, original) team though...Neymar (and the entire Brazilian team) put out a tremendous work rate.

[Tilla]

Paul, goals win matches, not what could have been. Spain were just taken out of their game yesterday and could not find an answer to the relentless Brazil side. For every miss you can count for Spain, I can point to a corresponding miss for Brazil. Remember, Brazil did not benefit with a goal when Neymar was brought down by Pique. Also Oscar had a close miss as well as Fred had a miss which he should have scored.

So let's talk about what happened and not what could have happened, as we will get nowhere with such discussion.

Brazil surprised me. There is obviously a chink in Spain's armor and I think this has been exposed by Brazil's tactics yesterday. Watch other teams try and emulate this approach.

[Lazie]

Paul, goals win matches, not what could have been. Spain were just taken out of their game yesterday and could not find an answer to the relentless Brazil side. For every miss you can count for Spain, I can point to a corresponding miss for Brazil. Remember, Brazil did not benefit with a goal when Neamar was brought down by Pique. Also Oscar had a close miss as well as Fred had a miss which he should have scored.

So let's talk about what happened and not what could have happened, as we will get nowhere with such discussion.

Brazil surprised me. There is obviously a chink in Spain's armor and I think this has been exposed by Brazil's tactics yesterday. Watch other teams try and emulate this approach.

A friend of mine who is a Spain fan is adamant this won't happen again. I had to remind him that Italy did the same thing on Thursday. The difference is Italy didn't take their chances, Brazil scored 3.

[Assasin]

then Jawge never tell you that is was going to be a WHOPPING FOR SPAIN.

give the Brazillian his credit.

Big up Jawge.

[Assasin]

They have to go back to the drawing board. Fact is Spain have a great midfield who goes back and get the ball and take it upfront. Brazil decided to not let them get it out of defense and it proved that their defense is not as good as their offense and Spain can't play the ball over the top.

This is the first time some long ball would have helped spain.

[Lazie]

They have to go back to the drawing board. Fact is Spain have a great midfield who goes back and get the ball and take it upfront. Brazil decided to not let them get it out of defense and it proved that their defense is not as good as their offense and Spain can't play the ball over the top.

This is the first time some long ball would have helped spain.

Yes he did say so but he basically said so because it's Brazil. It's kinda like you saying Jamaica going to win the Gold Cup, just because you want to show you love the team.

[Assasin]

fact he was right and he told you .

I might say Jamaica going to win, but are we gonna?

[Tilla]

I bet you he would not put some money on it though?

[Paul Marin]

Paul, goals win matches, not what could have been. Spain were just taken out of their game yesterday and could not find an answer to the relentless Brazil side. For every miss you can count for Spain, I can point to a corresponding miss for Brazil. Remember, Brazil did not benefit with a goal when Neymar was brought down by Pique. Also Oscar had a close miss as well as Fred had a miss which he should have scored.

So let's talk about what happened and not what could have happened, as we will get nowhere with such discussion.

Brazil surprised me. There is obviously a chink in Spain's armor and I think this has been exposed by Brazil's tactics yesterday. Watch other teams try and emulate this approach.

You miss my point. What I'm trying to say is that this was a one-off game that was not as lop-sided as I think most people think it was and that the result may be of good benefit to Spain as they prepare for the World Cup. As an objective observer, I think that for Spain the troubling issue is that they were unable to change their game e.g. they should have been trying to release their wingers with longer passes as the Brazilian midfielders were pressing high and were very active. However, where they did get chances, Luiz and Cesar stepped up and had ALL chances been taken - by both sides - the score line would have been closer. Brazil has to be carefully watched from here to the WC as they showed that they were both a skillful AND athletic team, able to win 50/50 balls and dominate with speed.

[Assasin]

"they should have been trying to release their wingers with longer passes as the Brazilian midfielders were pressing high and were very active."

Can Spain adopt? Will they adopt. They have used this kind of game to full effect for a long time. I can't see them going to the finals again if they don't adopt

[Karl]

Brazil?
...can the center backs consistently perform at the tremendously high level they did...or if the draw enables both TEAMs to contest the 2014 World Cup final; can they reproduce that level play in such a final match?

Thiago Silva and David Luiz were both awesome!

The timing of each? Impeccable!
The way they attacked the ball? Pin-point in just about 100% of time!

David Luiz is a right foot dominant player...who appeared to use his left as well as his right. There was no hesitation or errors (save 1 I can remember - a sliced ball going out on the left touch-line/his left touch-line). He was just about 100% error free. Unheard of type play at this level.

His pace was great. Never outrun by even the fastest of attacker (=any opponent Spain threw at him) he faced.

David Luiz's performance could not have been surpassed. I am thinking I have never ever seen a center-back (...and that includes tapes of Der Kaiser) perform at a higher standard.

Joke performance dat - Di man tun in a left foot dominant performance of highest of highest performance...and I must repeat, he is a right dominant player.

...but back to Spain: The performance was as per Brazil allowed. Lest we forget the Spanish players are TOP WORLD players and they were subdued. This Brazil TEAM proved it could slice through the Spanish defense at will. ...both from methodical thoughtful build-ups and instant counters.

Interesting to see that on pace - across ground - Brazil, man for man, had the Spanards beat.

...on a side note - The physical fitness of Oscar and Neymar was on display late in the game...where Oscar put on a display of being fulcrum of killing of the game...being point of 'tons' of give and goes right across the pitch and Neymar was full of running to the final whistle.

Brazil fitter and faster than Spain in this match?
Appears so!

NB: This is by no means an attempt to rehash game...merely to point to, for me, some high points.

E.g. - Fred's terrible misses - 2 headers and 2 foot-strikes on goal that on another day he would have buried on another day and time within match each occurred not touched.

[Jawge]

The thing is I'm not a gambler ;therefore I don't know the spots in my area to place bets. I'm more proud of my analysis of these teams though. You forgot that I predicted the US would beat spain last confed (didn't go out on a limb because I was disgruntled with Bradley). I'm not here to convince you though, harbour whatever thoughts you please.

One thing I know is that I know the brasilian team. Thanks to Prof.Simoes I now have more than surface understanding of Brasilian foootball. It sad to see that the Prof. came to Ja and revealed the mysteries of Brasilian football to Ja (to no avail). I see an amateur coach on tv talk show saying he doesn't like Prof. Simoes. that was the last time I watched that show.

Ja will not reach Brasil's level because they do not want to learn. Matter of fact Ja is not even at Nigeria's level.

[Tilla]

I am not a gambler either but as a measure of how much we believe Brazil would have won, let us assume we were. I although support Brazil and wanted them to win, I would not put my money on them yesterday. You have consistently supported Brazil, irrespective of how they are playing and what team they are playing against. So when it comes to you, your analysis before any Brazil game is going to be the same - a win for Brazil. I on the other hand will look at how the teams are playing before taking a position on the outcome.