Brazil vs Mexico. 17th June. 8pm. BBC1

[Power n Glory]

Not sure if any of you lot have actually seen a world cup before but the side that win it often start slowly.
Last time out Spain lost their first game, for example, and didn't exactly thump the other two sides in their group despute them being easy games.

Brazil tend to get to the latter stages and they're at home, I wouldn't write them off just yet.

You're a joker. No need to patronise. We've all seen World Cup's before but this is a very average looking Brazil side. They lack flair, attacks look slow and poor…very out of character. They used to have so many attacking options, the main worry was whether you could fit all the players in one team and work out a good balance. Now it looks as if they only have Neymar and Oscar. They look very average.

[Niall_Quinn]

Negative, conservative coaches are the problem. It's a lot easier to wreck than create and coaches are getting success by stifling the opposition so that becomes their primary tactic. Maureen is the classic example, where there was joy he brings despair. This is viewed as admirable, based on the results alone. Nobody gives a shit beyond that, except for rare exception like Guardiola, Rodgers and (until recently at least) our own manager. There's so much money riding on the result these days it has become everything. Fine, results are of course important but Brazil shouldn't complain when people who used to love to watch them now turn around and say they'd rather watch Costa Rica or Chile. And I would. Give me an attacking team to watch any day, football is about entertainment for the fans but hardly any coach remembers this. They are so busy with their latest multi million quid contract they have forgotten all about the football.

[Niall_Quinn]

Remember how Italy used to stand out as the 1-0, grind you down example of containment football? Now they are the norm. If anything they have been surpassed by the negativity of their rivals. The only thing saving the game from complete stagnation is the fact the modern day player is more hype than substance. Like Neymar. He has been embarrassingly ordinary so far, it has taken the media pundits some pretty severe hyping to make him stand out at all. Rooney. Ronaldo. Of course they can all play, but the hype is ludicrous. These are half the players the media would have you believe and there's a much smaller gap between the so-called super stars of today than there was in the past. Going back to George Best, what the hell would he be today? Jesus or something like that. Even Gascoigne was a cut above the supposed modern day geniuses. Messi, of course, stands out. And Pirlo. These are genuinely players of elevated ability. That fuck RvC too. Can't believe we sold him, the best striker on the planet. Now we're hunting around for a quality striker and wondering should we bring in a head case because he has a little bit about him that's marginally above the norm. Lunacy.

[Power n Glory]

Negative, conservative coaches are the problem. It's a lot easier to wreck than create and coaches are getting success by stifling the opposition so that becomes their primary tactic. Maureen is the classic example, where there was joy he brings despair. This is viewed as admirable, based on the results alone. Nobody gives a shit beyond that, except for rare exception like Guardiola, Rodgers and (until recently at least) our own manager. There's so much money riding on the result these days it has become everything. Fine, results are of course important but Brazil shouldn't complain when people who used to love to watch them now turn around and say they'd rather watch Costa Rica or Chile. And I would. Give me an attacking team to watch any day, football is about entertainment for the fans but hardly any coach remembers this. They are so busy with their latest multi million quid contract they have forgotten all about the football.

I never thought we'd see a more conservative Brazil side, but that's always been Big Phil. I guess they just don’t have the same sort of players they were producing 10 years ago. A lot of the young talent go overseas to Europe and adapt a more European style of play too early. They lose that style of play. Just look at Diego Costa. I also think Oscar would be a different type of beast if he weren’t at Chelsea. That’s the irony of that animated Nike clones ad for this World Cup. There is a lot of truth in what it says about the game losing its passion and character but that’s partly driven by organisations like Nike. Just imagine if the host nation didn’t qualify to the knockout rounds. There would have to be a knock on effect to the promotion and advertising revenue.