Quality

     The best part of this World Cup was the ignominious exit of Brazil from the tournament.  From their very first game in the group stage the "Seleção" demonstrated that while fabulous ball control skills are a wonderful thing for Nike ads, when it's game time you forget the fancy moves and just start diving...shamelessly.  The flop by Brazilian star "Fred" in their opening game versus Croatia was so egregious that I really expected FIFA authorities to issue some sort of post-match fine or at least an apology for the referee.  As it was, Fred's transparent simulation led to a PK for Neymar and ultimately to a 2-1 win for Brazil.  
     And that's how they played every match.  All of the commercials for Nike and Coke were highlighting the romantic tradition of Brazilian joga bonita, the bare-footed, play-in-the-alleys-and-on-the-rooftops-to-the-beat-of-a-samba version of the game.  But the team in the tournament, dressed proudly in their national colors, was showing the world what most fans know to be the true nature of Brazilian soccer:  flop, dive, simulate, whine...feign injury and writhe in pain until the ref produces a yellow card...and then when you take the PK be sure to point to the sky and thank Jesus.  Man, I loved watching these losers get waxed by Germany and then again by the Orange.
     There were other divers and floppers on other clubs but, thankfully, there were also some great examples of players who don't tip over so easily.  At the top of that list is Lionel Messi.  Coach Mark was able to isolate some video from the Argentina v Belgium game that shows Messi being fouled repeatedly and yet he does not go to the turf until he is literally forced down.  In the closeup you can see that it's not until Fellaini actually steps on Messi's foot, pinning him to the ground, that Lionel finally tumbles down. Until that point he keeps stumbling forward not wanting to give up on his chance to get off a shot.  Brilliant quality.