World Cup Photos: Brazil 2-1 Korea DPR – Did Maicon Mean It?

Ollie Irish

16th, June 2010

6 Comments

By Ollie Irish

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Picture 1 of 22

Brazil fans cheer on their side in the stands prior to kick off

This was more like it – not a great match but still a significant improvement on most of what’s gone before. Robinho was absolutely brilliant for Brazil, so much so that any Man City fans watching must have been thinking, “Cheeky bastard, why didn’t he play like that for us?” Michel Bastos was ace too, a real livewire down the left for Dunga’s side. It’s not all rosy for Brazil though: Kaka was weak, as he was for Real Madrid all season, and No.1 striker Luis Fabiano never looked like scoring. But under Dunga, Brazil looks solid enough to go a long way in the tournament, especially with Robinho in such dazzling form.

The Koreans were very impressive in the first half, working super hard as a team – take note, England – and using the ball efficiently if without flair. They lost their way after Maicon scored from a ridiculously tight angle, but rallied late with a superb Ji Yun Nam goal on to keep Brazil honest in the closing minutes. On this evidence, the so-called whipping boys in Group G will give both Portugal and Ivory Coast a good workout.

So did Maicon mean it? He claims he did, pointing to a similar goal he scored against the Portuguese in a friendly back in 2008:

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Who are we to argue? Our man love for Maicon is well documented, after all. He’s certainly good enough to smash the ball home from that position.

Posted in Photos, World Cup

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6 Comments

  1. Chris says:

    I think he meant Maicon meant it. My brother, however, didn’t – cue text message slanging match!

  2. mareantheone says:

    picture 6 i’m quite sure it’s a man…

  3. kaya says:

    I have no idea why all the speculation over if he meant it. Looked pretty clearly a shot to me. The keeper was expecting a cross, so Maicon went near post. I realize it might be painful for english to acknowledge some players make the right shot for the right circumstance, but it does happen.

  4. Les says:

    Absolutely not! Think he was doin the right thing in drivin it across the box but the swerve was down to the ball.

  5. kritter says:

    @Les – A player as good as Maicon doesn’t just miss totally hit the inner half of the ball when he’s aiming for the outer half. He hit it exactly as he wanted to hit it.

  6. BigGayAl says:

    He did not mean it.
    Ronaldinho did not mean to lob David Seaman either.
    Unless a player calls a shot before he makes it, we should assume it was a fluke.

Leave a Reply to BigGayAl