Archive for June 17th, 2009

Here we go again. My head and my heart clash. Yes, I do have a Brasilian heart and American head. That means I am certifiable crazy. True. Brasil and The USA clash on Thursday in the Confederations Cup. My wife and I will watch the match. My wife is Brasilian.

I met my wife in Brasilia, Brasil in 2003. We were walking to meet one of her friends when I noticed a TV on. We got closer low and behold it was match between the USA and Brasil. We stopped to watch the match in of all places Dominos Pizza. Yes, folks Dominos Pizza delivers in Brasil.

Do you want to talk about irony? That’s it. American in Brasil watching of all things a futebol match between USA and Brasil in a Dominos Pizza. Strange but true.

Brasil kicked the Americans butts.

But what else is new.

We have been traveling back and forth between Brasil and the USA for six years now. My wife is one step away from becoming a citizen. Praise be to God.

Brasil has a habit of taking it easy. The USA has a habit of stinking the joint out. So, will this be a lazy way to stink the joint out?

Brasil should win hands down but which Brasil team will show up? Will Kaka, Robinho, Luis Fabiano, and Juan play supercharged futebol or will they ease off the gas pedal and play stupid defensive futebol. If Brasil does, this could be disastrous for the guys. America does have some cats that can score like Donovan, Michael Bradley, and Jozy Altidore.
Brasil players told the news folks the let down they had against Egypt was due to being tired from World Cup qualifying the previous week. Good excuse guys, but I don’t buy it. Maybe Paraguay super star Cabanas was right when he said that Brasil’s central defense is suspect. We will see.

www.uol.com.br has this to say about the match on Thursday:      A seleção brasileira elegeu seu principal obstáculo na série de jogos que começou com a rodada dupla nas eliminatórias e agora parte para a segunda partida da Copa das Confederações. O aspecto físico virou vilão de um grupo assumidamente esgotado depois da temporada europeia e deve se sobrepor a conceitos técnicos e táticos na escalação para a partida contra os EUA nesta quinta-feira (11h, de Brasília), em Pretoria.

The article further states: “Dos atletas que nós estamos em contacto, Juan e Maicon, que vieram de lesões, pode precisar de uma parada, por questão de manutenção de ritmo de jogo. Mas, se acharem que existe um certo limite, com esses e em outros casos, podemos decidir isso”, afirmou Runco.

Dunga is blamed the lapse on some of his players were playing injured. He also blamed the lapse on his using the wrong tactics in the match. That his tactics were not so good. Dunga will have better tactics against the USA.

Dunga also said the reserve squad played a controlled scrimmage against a club team from South Africa and won 2-0.  Nesta terça, os reservas da seleção realizaram um treino contra uma equipe sub-19 da África do Sul. Na quarta, Dunga comandará o único treino antes do compromisso diante dos norte-americanos, no local da partida, o estádio Loftus Versfeld. Essa prática, combinada com a conversa particular com os atletas, deve nortear a escalação para quinta.

Check out these sites

www.palau.org

http://www2.hillsong.com/tv/home.asp