Are teams or individuals winning this tournament?

[Lord Camomile]

Much has been made of how the 'smaller' footballing nations are having success by not having star-studded teams, but rather playing as a cohesive unit with good teamwork.

However, you look at the 'bigger' nations and those that have progressed are those where their figureheads and talismen are performing well - Neymar for Brazil, Robben for Netherlands, Benzema for France, Messi for Argentina. I suppose the one exception might be Germany; Muller has his four goals, but 3 came in one match and he's arguably not the same totemic figure the others are for their countries.

I always like to think that teamwork will get you far in football, but will it get you far enough if the other side have a shit-hot player who's on form?

 

[ska invita]

i guess even teams with big names can still be good teams and play with team cohesion - they're not mutually exclusive categories

 

[Lord Camomile]

i guess even teams with big names can still be good teams and play with team cohesion - they're not mutually exclusive categories

No, obviously, and it was consciously a somewhat reductive OP. But listening to the coverage of this tournament it would still seem that the teams with big names are relying on them quite a bit, though maybe that's more true of Brazil and Argentina than France and Netherlands.

 

[ska invita]

its hard to judge isnt - i think big name players sometimes just to do that one little thing extra in a game that just swings it
overall though i think its been a good world cup for team work, and well drilled teams have prospered over squads with bigger pedigree but perhaps a little less discipline
there were a lot of big teams with big individuals knocked out already...

 

[Badgers]

Costa
Ronaldo

 

[juice_terry]

Belgium are doing ok with 11 individuals on the pitch

 

[Lord Camomile]

Costa
Ronaldo

Exactly, those individuals failed, and so their teams failed.

Belgium are doing ok with 11 individuals on the pitch

Meh, are they? Not sure anyone's been too impressed with them.

 

[juice_terry]

Exactly, those individuals failed, and so their teams failed.
Meh, are they? Not sure anyone's been too impressed with them.

Points make prize I have been far from impressed by the Belgians, but they have a good chance of doing what Greece did in Euro 2004 .. a one nil ground out win is the same as a 6-0 win at this stage of the competition. Belgium haven't exactly looked like a coherent team more like 11 individual "big names" who happen to be in the same kit and on the same pitch

 

[Riklet]

Colombia with James Rodriguez too!

The individuals do seem to have been pretty key.

 

[juice_terry]

I think Colombia fall into a great team playing together rather than it all be Rodriguez, they are good all over the pitch.

 

[Doctor Carrot]

Dunno. Having seen the sheer effort of Greece and Costa Rica last night and Algeria's today I'd say it's a really nice mixture of both. Either way it's the best tournament of my lifetime and it's not even the quarter finals yet.

 

[Sprocket.]

How would England have performed if instead of Rooney for instance we had Ronaldo or Rodriguez.
Players like this are capable of making something happen and it is that calibre of player that lifts a good team up to winners of one off games.

 

[Doctor Carrot]

How would England have performed if instead of Rooney for instance we had Ronaldo or Rodriguez.
Players like this are capable of making something happen and it is that calibre of player that lifts a good team up to winners of one off games.

Yes indeed but then again I wouldn't say France have one player specifically doing it for them, same with Germany, Belgium, the yanks (gonna be a cracking game later) same with the teams I mentioned earlier. Again, I think it's that nice mix of both that's making this tournament so great to watch. We had neither in 2010 and 2006 was more teams as opposed to individual efforts.

 

[Sprocket.]

True, this is one of the best world cups I have seen for years. I have to agree it is the good teams that are making the grade.
I haven't seen a bad game to be honest.
Looking forward to the Belgium/USA game tonight.

Alf Ramsey always said ''Great teams win the world cup not great players''
I think it was his will to try team strength over individuals that got him destroyed by the media at the first opportunity.

 

[stavros]

I'm not sure Benzema is France's talisman. That probably would've been Ribery save for injury, but the creators of Pogba, Cabaye, Matuidi and especially Valbuena have more than stood in.