Brazil V Switzerland World Cup 2018

Brazil V Switzerland

(Synopsis in red)

Pregame bets:

I fancy Brazil to do great things in this World Cup, to make the final at the minimum. But I think Switzerland, with their decent defence, might cause them a small hiccup at the start. Remember the Swiss also beat Spain at the start of W Cup 2010, and the Spanish ended up winning the thing, so they can throw a spanner in the works for sure. And the Swiss also got Xherdan Shaqiri who can muster up some magic, if bothered, hopefully today he might get his finger out of his ass.

€5.00 Single
Brazil v Switzerland – Xherdan Shaqiri, 5/1 anytime goal scorer

Full betting review here>https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-of-the-world-cup-2018/

Well I was right in that Switzerland would cause them a hiccup, lol.

Beers: Group E of Beer World Cup:

World Cup of Beer Group E

Up for the Swiss we have a beer from the Dr. Brauwolf brewery, “where beer meets science”, an interesting concept for sure, up against a Brazilian classic Skol and the country’s favourite beer, in today’s beer match up.

Had a Rye IPA from the Dr. Brauwolf brewery and fuck me it was delicious, really great, one of the better beers of the last few days. Outstanding stuff. No competition for Skol. The Swiss win this one hands down.

PreGame:

I have to be honest I hate looking at Switzerland. Let me explain the reasons behind that hatred. In the last World Cup, they were thoroughly shocking. Did the bare minimum to get out of an easy group that included a poor Ecuador, and an even worse Honduras, and lost 5-2 to an average French team. But the worst for me was when they had a piss poor Argentina on the ropes for a good twenty minutes. They basically were playing touch football and toying with them while the crowd were doing ole ole’s from the stands. But the obscene thing is that after getting the better of the Argentinian midfield, they gave up, totally. Was truly an awful sight to see. Compare a team like Iceland to a team like Switzerland and you can understand what I am talking about, men versus boys. Ok to be fair some of their players played well, Rodríguez, Shaqiri, Fernandes all having a decent tournament, but as for the rest of their prima donas, meh!

But nothing seems to have changed as we can see from the qualifying game against Northern Ireland. They scrapped through largely thanks to a dodgy referee. Stephan Lichtsteiner, their captain, spent so much time rolling on the floor that his shirt was completely brown by the end of the game, while a lot of the Norn Iron team must be wondering how they let this one slip through their fingers. For me they are a team that are lazy and not bothered too much, a team that is also leaderless and easy to put to the sword with the slightest bit of pressure.

Don’t get me wrong, they have some seriously good players. Xherdan Shaqiri is world class, without a doubt, but Jesus can someone have a good chat with him and tell him to get his finger out. One can see the attitude with his club choices, from Bayern to a relegation bound Stoke tells us all you need to know here, in it for the money. Johan Djourou, Michael Lang, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Ricardo Rodríguez are all excellent players that work well together, but getting from defence to midfield is always a problem when you have such muck in the centre, Granit Xhaka and Valon Behrami are simply woeful. Gelson Fernandes is a gem in the centre but he is definitely a confidence player and needs to be clicking with his teammates to hit form. Shaqiri plays as an inside forward, and he needs to because they struggle to score goals. Breel Embolo is a big lump of nothingness up front, I still laugh at how great a deal FC Basel did when they sold him off to Schalke, while Mehmedi, Derdiyok, Drmić and Seferović are all journeymen. So its a bit of hot and a lot of cold with this team. I find this disjointed team terribly frustrating to watch. And whats worse is that Vladimir Petković could have included a few of the Swiss champions Young Boys team in the squad. Kevin Mbabu for me should walk into that squad, even Christian Fassnacht or Steve von Bergen, but no not even one player makes the cut from the Swiss champs (as of going to press).

Brazil are the opposite to Switzerland. A team that plays with the right spirit of the game, with passion and a whole lot of heart. You would pay to watch them all day.

Will be very interesting to see if Brazil have exercised the demons of the last World Cup and the debacle with Germany. They certainly seem to be making the right noises, topped the qualifying in record time, a settled squad, Neymar back to his best, a manager, Tite, who is prepared to let the players express themselves and coming into some decent form at the right time.

All eyes will be on Neymar today but I am looking forward to seeing Liverpool ace, Roberto Firmino, and also Gabriel Jesus of Man City. Both players having great seasons in the EPL. Both the whole squad looks decent and although my heart skipped a beat when I saw the name Fred, rest assured it is a new younger Fred who plays in Ukraine with Shakhtar Donetsk, phew!

But having said all that Switzerland still could get a result today against Brazil. They could bring Brazil down to their level of puke football and with Xherdan Shaqiri they always have a chance of scoring, more likely from a dead ball situation. Now I dont expect them to win (albeit they did beat Brazil a few years ago), but they could eek out a draw.

A more detailed review on Brazil here and on Switzerland here

“Now I dont expect them to win (albeit they did beat Brazil a few years ago), but they could eek out a draw”, lol. Exactly!

Great game, end to end, and some stout defending from Switzerland near the finish to hold out for a magnificent draw.

Started off ominous for the Swiss as it was all Brazil at the start, pacey and dominant, and sure enough it wasn’t long before they got on the score sheet with a brilliant goal from Coutinho who curled a lovely goal in off the post, brilliant finish.

But after the while the Brazil attack petered out and Switzerland came more into the game, and got the equaliser from a free header. They played well, the Swiss and even though I am not one of his greatest fans, Behrami gave a world class performance today, top stuff. Their defence also held out very well today, Sommer was strong in goals, and we only got the two dives from Lichtsteiner today. I wonder is he not well?

Good call from the ref on giving the goal, it was too slight a push, and also he got the penalty call correct, no way was that a peno for Brazil. Good referring through the game today,

Nice one Switzerland!

Music to get you in the mood

CSS – Alala (Brazil) V Dandies – L Comme Liaison (Switzerland)