Brazil - Ivory Coast

About sixty minutes through the DVR of Brazil vs. Ivory Coast, a game I had marked a few months ago as one to watch in the first round.

The Ivory Coast (I'd do "Cote d'Ivoire", but I can't find the circonflex on blogger) started well but were undone by one of the better goals of the tournament from Luis Fabiano. Kaka set it up, and it was one of the few positive things he did for the entire first half. For the first 20 minutes it seemed like every time he touched the ball, a CIV defender flew in and stuck him. But his pass was nice and simple and put Fabiano through.

Minute 66, Brazil up 3-0, and Elano gets raked in the shins and pulled off -- for Dani Alves, who has to be the best player not starting in this tournament. Can you think of another better? Given that, it's hard to see how Brazil won't make it at least to the final. Dunga's brought a new focus on defense and "efficiency". Lucio is a great center back, Juan does a good job too, and Julio Cesar is apparently the best goalkeeper in the world though I'd personally rather have Tim Howard or Casillas and I think probably still Friedel too. Biased, maybe. So Brazil can sit back, stroke the ball around, stay organized, and then rely on the tournament's most skillful front three in Kaka, Robinho, and Fabiano to counterattack and get a goal. Score that first one -- as with against the Ivory Coast -- and the opponent's plan changes, the game opens up, and Brazil can go be Brazil.

We'll see what happens against Portugal, but my guess is that they rest a few guys and still come away with at least a tie.

As for the Ivory Coast, they've really done themselves a lot of harm with such a heavy loss. As with South Korea or South Africa, a one goal loss would've been acceptable. Allowing so many goals though is likely to come back and bite them.