Big Phil Answers the Big Question

We’re starting to think that Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari reads World Cup Blog. First he changed his mind about the England coaching gig just hours after we explained why that jobs sucks. Now he has gone ahead and answered one of our Big Questions. In an interview with Kicker magazine, Big Phil offers his thoughts about how many goals will be scored at this year’s World Cup.

“Attack with six players and defend with eight when you lose the ball. That is football at the moment,” Scolari said. “For that reason I do not think this World Cup will be a goals fest. There will not be as many goals as at previous World Cups.”

We’re going to disagree a bit with loyal blog reader Big Phil on this one. There are plenty of teams in this year’s finals that have serious defensive question marks even when they play eight behind the ball. There are also a number of minnows that might be even weaker than past minnows, increasing the likelihood that we’ll see some first round routs.

Since we are in the habit of making predictions, we’ll say that there will be slightly more goals scored this year than there were in 2002. Big Phil, if you are reading this, we’ll bet you a slice of pizza that we are right.

One more thing, Big Phil. You might not want to wear the suit in that picture ever again. It just doesn’t work well with your complexion.