The world was less integrated at the height of Jogo Bonito, when the Brazilians made their big splash especially from ‘58 to ‘70, on the World stage most of the players were not well-known, they were not playing in Barcelona and with other top teams. That is how it was with Argentina and Brazil.
Some say the best Brazilian team ever was the ‘82 team that still didn’t win the World Cup.
Best to play stylishly and lose rather than on some general blueprint of play. The Brazilians really haven’t played their Jogo Bonito since 1982.
But the Brazilians were still great with Ronaldinho; I watched one friendly and they were on their game definitely.
This German team without mega-stars like Messi still could be one of the best World Cup teams ever, should they win the final and are to be congratulated for that.
England had 2 losses but just for me, were still rather entertaining to watch and they made a go of it. Our USA played overly-defensive and I can’t quarrel with that though there is some room to wonder how a more attack-minded game-plan would have looked against say Belgium. Belgium only looked that good against us but not against 4 other teams though the reasons for that are not totally clear.
Team USA is getting better. We finished second in Group G so while its not bragging rights, its pretty good. And there’s lots of time to prepare for Russia in 2018. We’re in it for the long haul.
I still have to wonder what the US’s approach would have looked like without the loss of Altidore. Even when he wasn’t scoring, his work up front opened things up for others.