Brazil effect, I wonder?
last wc was really filled with ultra defensive sides. I'm really glad this time is different.
Maybe because it was mostly ineffective. If a team rated themselves lower than another, they set up defensively. Yet, I don't recall any of the minnows getting far (unless you want to count Paraguay, but they *always* play defensive football). The most surprising was Netherlands, one of the most attack-minded teams, giving up playing open football against Spain.
So perhaps this time teams figure the defensive approach won't work anyhow, so they might as well go out and try to score goals, then, who knows?