Sorry Soccer Nerds, Switzerland Using The Hack-A-Neymar Strategy Was Actually Good

I know what you’re all thinking. ‘Hey, you’re not Sam.’ Yeah, I know. I’m Reags. I also know this isn’t basketball, but I’m actually a big soccer fan too and a former soccer player as well, so I wanted to discuss the World Cup and specifically what Switzerland did yesterday against Brazil and Neymar. That said, if you want to read Sam’s recap and preview (which I highly suggest) click this. 

Switzerland pushed Brazil to a 1-1 draw yesterday afternoon. While that’s a huge story in itself, the other story was the defense that the Swiss used against Brazil’s star. Neymar was fouled 10 times, the most in World Cup history since Alan Shearer was fouled 11 times in 1998. Here’s the thing.

I LOVED the move by Switzerland. It’s one of the smartest things they could have done against Brazil. They weren’t going to outplay Brazil. They weren’t going to be the better team. They had to ugly the game up and they did just that. It also upset Coley, who shared the same thoughts as Neymar here:

The name of the game in the group stage of the World Cup is to get points and advance. Switzerland getting a point against Brazil was huge in order to help them advance from Group E with Serbia, Costa Rica and Brazil. It was a similar strategy to what we see basketball teams do with DeAndre Jordan, Tristan Thompson, Andre Drummond, etc. However, instead of sending them to the free throw line you are just giving up a free kick and can get your defense set.

I’m a big fan of teams that are self-aware – same goes for people that are self-aware. That’s what Switzerland was yesterday. I’m also a huge fan of soccer teams that throw a couple of hard fouls early. Set the tone and knock a guy like Neymar down a bunch of times. Get someone like him frustrated and get into his head where he then tries to do too much.

Sorry soccer nerds, but the World Cup has its enforcers and they go by Switzerland.