Brazil 3 Croatia 1
Marcelo o.g. 11, Neymar 29, Neymar pen 71, Oscar 90+1
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Yuichi Nishimura, an international referee for 10 years, was the wrong ref for this match.
He officiates in a country that doesn\’t have a top league with the best players.
The J-League is good by Asian standards but not by world standards.
My view: jammy Brazil were handed a soft penalty at 1-1 and Nishimura won the game for them.
My question: will refs give Brazil a soft penalty in every game?
Croatia were worth a draw in that opener in Sao Paulo.
Brazil looked jittery at the start against a compact Croatian outfit who used the flanks cleverly.
Unrecognisable from the flying Selecao of the Confederation Cup Final in 2013, this Brazilian eleven froze and stuttered. I expected a whirlwind but saw a whimper from a team that would have lost without Oscar, the Chelsea midfielder, who held them together, providing drive and ideas in attack and linking beautifully with Paulinho.
The Oscar-Paulinho pairing was the only working partnership Brazil had to offer in Sao Paulo.
Croatia played really well and certainly didn\’t deserve to lose 3-1.
The pressure clearly got to Brazil.
The weight of expectations from 200 million people willing them to do what Pele, Didi & Garrincha did in 1958, what Pele, Tostao & Jairzinho did in 1970, what Romario and Dunga did in USA 94, what Cafu, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho did in 2002, was huge. It was megaheavy and crushed some players.
When we saw Thiago Silva\’s face in the tunnel, he was in the zone of fear. His place in history was at stake.
The protest movement really began at the Confederations Cup last year and the strikes and demonstrations continue because millions of people badly need schools, jobs, housing and health care.
If Neymar and Thiago Silva lost their first game, Brazilians would be asking: Why are we spending billions to host a World Cup to make the corrupt bastard suits of Fifa even richer? What\’s the point of that?
Olic had a headed chance from after a cross by Perisic. Three minutes later, Croatia scored from the same flank. Good ball cut back across the box by Olic, David Luiz allowed Jelavic to zip in front of him and the Hull striker scuffed his shot but the ball hit Marcelo and went in.
1-0 to Croatia!
After 21, Oscar played a sweet ball into the run of Paulinho, whose shot was saved, Oscar had a meaty shot parried, Neymar got a yellow card for an elbow into the neck of Rakitic, then Neymar rifled in a shot from well outside the D and the ball went in off the post for 1-1.
Neymar, the youngest player to reach 50 caps, had scored his 32nd goal for Brazil in 50 appearances.
The over-rated Hulk was a passenger and I was sure he would not improve in the second half.
Brazil were playing with 10 men but level 1-1 at half-time.
The intelligence of Croatia\’s teamwork had made the game surprising and absorbing. They’d looked the better side and had been ahead for 18 minutes.
At half-time, ITV pundit Lee Dixon said, “That was Brazil at their worst.â€
In the second half, Oscar was looking like a top modern footballer who can do a bit of everything. He tackles and passes and dribbles and thinks ahead. As you watch him, you can see things that he wants to do being closed down and cut off and you wonder what other option he can find.
First fifteen minutes of the second half, I was thinking: “If anybody\’s going to win this game, it will be Oscar or Paulinho.â€
At that stage the opening match was a really interesting battle to watch because it was so nicely poised.
Forget all the hype of the World Cup, it was just a good game to be watching.
And then, after 59, I said to my wife Jan, “Tell you what, Croatia could win this game!â€
In 61, Brozovic of Dinamo Zagreb came on for young Kovacic, who hasn\’t had many games at Inter Milan. Hernanes, who also plays for Inter, having joined them from Lazio in January, replaced Paulinho of Spurs in 63.
When Brazil won a free-kick I said, “Don\’t let Dani Alves take it, he\’s useless.†Dani Alves fired it over the bar.
Then, at last, Hulk was removed and the bright little Bernard of Shakhtar Donetsk came on in 78.
A minute later, Fred miscontrolled a ball in the box, realised he could not reach it, felt the hand of Southampton\’s Lovren on his shoulder, and collapsed.
About 80% of the world shouted : Never a penalty!
Neymar took a very risky run-up and blasted the penalty in off keeper Stipe Pletikosa\’s gloves.
2-1 to the Selecao, thanks to a cheating Fred and a rubbish referee who ruined a fascinating contest with that shocking and cowardly decision.
That scoreline was very hard on Croatia because Brazil had NOT been superior.
When Olic was flagged for reaching a header at the far post, I gave up, just accepted the harsh reality: Fifa and the government needed Brazil to win this game.
In 91, sub Ramires won the ball with a foul in centrefield that allowed Oscar, to break away and poke a low shot from outside the box past 35-year old keeper Pletikosa, who had wrong-footed himself.
This guy is an accident waiting to happen. He\’s a BTS keeper: any game he plays in, expect both teams to score.
Pletikosa plays for Rostov in Russia and is very religious. According to World Soccer, he sometimes spends 10 days of the summer praying in a monastery.
On Fred\’s dive, ITV pundit Patrick Vieira said, “That should be a free-kick for Croatia and a yellow card.â€
Fabio Cannavaro agreed: “When you give a penalty like that, you destroy the game.â€
PS. If you want to read more about Brazil, England, Holland, France and Italy, my ebook can be downloaded to your Kindle from here