It's good that the Winter Olympics are over in 4-5 days (can't figure out what the day is today, here or there). Then I can concentrate on the big final 100 day countdown. 100 days! Wow. What's 995 minus 100? A lot.
It's also useful that I occasionally go back and check what I wrote the day before. It's usually too late for editing so I catch any mistakes the next day. And last night there was a good one. And again, another good thing, that not many people read this or bothered to question what my reference to "rules won" was yesterday in my rambling about the quantity of stats in North American football coverage.
Rules won? It was supposed to be "duels won". Duels. "Rules won" does not amuse me, "duels won" does. How does anybody measure who won a duel and who actually sits there and counts duels, or decide on what constitutes a duel?
In today's Russia 2018 news, Brazil's coach, Tito, apparently already knows who Brazil's starting 11 players will be in Russia. He told UOL Esportes (reported by Fox Sports, Australia) that the 11 are: Alisson; Marcelo, Miranda, Marquinhos, Daniel Alves; Paulinho, Renato Augusto and Casemiro, Neymar, Coutinho and Gabriel Jesus. He also said that Firminio, Willian, Thiago Silva and Fernandinho will be in the squad.
So will those 15 players relax now and enjoy their football, knowing they are definitely going, or is this early naming strategy an incentive for other players to step up their game and impress to be selected to fill the 23-man squad?
Alisson, the goalkeeper, plays for Roma and it is rumoured that Liverpool are preparing a world record transfer bid for him. The previous highest fee was for Ederson, Manchester City's number 1.
It's hard to believe that the two most expensive goalkeepers in the world could be Brazilian and be playing in the biggest league in the world. The memories of that great attacking Brazil team of 1982 are countered by the memory of their questionable goalkeeping, courtesy of Waldir Peres. And there seemed to be a perception, maybe until Taffarel in 1994, that goalkeeping was not a Brazilian forte.
On a final, sad note Peres died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 66 last summer. He was probably the least admired player of the 1982 team, but still part of a great memory.
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