The World Cup has gotten under way with typical controversy both inside and outside the stadium as Brazil secured a contentious 3-1 win over a good Croatia team with protests around the country continuing.
From a football perspective we’re all in for a treat as we watch many great players grace the world stage – but I have a hypothesis that if Liverpool played in the World Cup, we would win.
Brazil are the bookies favourites for the competition, understandably so having a 29 year unbeaten home record against European opposition, and a stellar record of qualification for World Cups. However even the favourites for the competition have arguably one of their weakest teams in generations.
Pele and Carlos Alberto both feel Brazil’s strength is in their defence, but while Alves, Luis, Marcelo and Tiago Silva are all very talented footballers, only Silva is an excellent defender. Julio Cesar is way past his best and the team will be very reliant upon Luis Gustavo for protection.
While they have some good players overall, in midfield and attack Brazil are weaker than other major teams such as Argentina, Spain, Germany or Holland.
And yet it was this Brazil team, with virtually identical personnel and formation, that totally outplayed Spain in the 2013 Confederations Cup wining 3-0. Spain are possibly weaker now than then, despite continued success in European Club competitions, their key players are a year older and into their thirties with few young players to add energy. Diego Costa is their big hope up front, but he’s played only twice for Spain with no goals and his style is suited to Atleti’s counter-attacking football, rather than Spain’s Barcelonesque Tiki Taka.
Argentina are my favourites for the World Cup, with an outstanding attacking unit that has finally integrated Messi effectively and a balanced midfield, but have similar defensive issues to Brazil. They will be reliant on de Michelis at the back (hardly a consistent player), but others like Fernandez and left back Rojo, while fairly inexperienced, could impress.
The Dutch have a lot of quality, but their best players are past their peak and a lot will depend on whether Sneijder, Van Persie and Robben can emulate the performances of their younger selves in the heat and humidity in Brazil. Louis van Gaal however does have a good mix of younger players, with the talented defensive pair of de Vrij and Martins Indi likely to be challenged like never before.
Belgium have the strongest squad in their history, and while many will focus on the large talent of Premier League based players like Kompany, Hazard or Vertonghen, other quality players like keeper Courtois or Axel Witsel of Zenit St. Petersberg may become their key players. However they have never been tested as a team, and we know from past history that a collection of great individuals does not makes a great team.
While there are many great players at the World Cup, all the teams have significant weaknesses that I think our Liverpool team would exploit very well.
One of the key reasons for Liverpool just falling short in our quest for Premier League glory was the size of the squad, e.g. when Gerrard and Sturridge were out during Christmas the team lost to both Chelsea and Man City. When we’ve missed key players, we haven’t been quite strong enough. But our best 11 was the best team in the league, we showed this against all opposition.
Fortunately to win the World Cup you only need to win 7 games in a row. Liverpool won 11 matches in a row in a Premier League which has, on average, much tougher opposition than in the World Cup.
Liverpool’s weakest area was without doubt our defence. But a back five of Mignolet, Enrique, Sakho, Skrtel and Johnson is at least equivalent in defensive ability to Brazil’s back 5. And fluidity, creativity, energy, understanding and flexibility with our midfield and attack would be a match for any defence of any team in the World Cup.
In the past there have been dominant World Cup teams that even strong Liverpool teams would have found it difficult to defeat. We had a great team in the 70s but we’d have little chance against Brazil 1970 with Gerson, Tostao, Jairzinho, Pele and Rivelino. Neither do I think our great 80s team would defeat Brazil’s 1982 runners up team of Zico, Socrates, Falcao and co. Perhaps our best chance would have been in 1978 when Argentina won. In 1986, when we also had a fantastic team, I don’t think anyone could have stopped Maradona, even though that Argentina team wasn’t the greatest.
I think we would also have struggled against some of the great German or Italian sides of the past decades, or more recently France in 1998 or Spain in 2010, although in the latter two cases we hardly had a good team ourselves.
It’s probably just me missing the fabulous offensive football we played last year, but I think we play more like Brazil than the present Brazil side. In my mind Gerrard, Coutinho, Henderson, Suarez, Sturridge and Sterling is stronger than Gustavo, Paulinho, Oscar, Hulk, Neymar and Fred.
If that Brazil team is the bookies favourite for the World Cup, then our Liverpool team would win it.
A shame the Premier League season wan’t just 7 games long.
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