It’s our very first match report – Happy World Cup, y’all! Take it away, Cindy!
Brazil: Neymar 29′ 71′ (pen) Oscar 91′
Croatia: Marcelo 11′ (og)
Lineups
Brazil: Cesar; Alves, Silva, Luiz, Marcelo; Paulinho, Gustavo; Hulk, Oscar, Neymar; Fred.
Croatia: Pletikosa; Srna, Corluka, Lovren, Vrsaijko; Kovacic, Modric; Rakitic, Perisic, Olic; Jelavic.
Well that was quite a match to kick off the World Cup. Brazil started off the game pretty well, with lots of attacking intent and possession. Oscar and Neymar combined well at the front, Fred and Hulk not so much and in my opinion barely contributed to any attacking runs. Despite the good start though, Marco and Dani Alves had some miscommunication and let Olic through and in an effort to clear it, Marcelo scored an own goal in the 11th minute.
Oopsie daisies Marcelo.
The mostly Brazilian crowd were not okay with that and after going on behind and Brazil were pushing extra hard to equalize. Of course it would be Neymar (golden boy and saviour of Brazil) who in the 29th minute had a surging lone run and took a low drive that Pletikosa just couldn’t reach into the far corner. Cue Neymar taking a victory lap running around the pitch ending in a pile of hugs from the coaches like he already won the trophy.
Hugs for Neymar, he really did pull through on this goal.
Fred went down under a challenge (really easily) from Lovren in the 70th minute, there was some slight arm contact and the referee gave it as a penalty. Personally I think Fred was already falling/stumbling and it wasn’t a penalty, but any penalties in the World Cup is going to be somewhat controversial. Neymar did a weird stumbling run and scored, the goalkeeper got a hand on it but it wasn’t enough to keep it out.
Fred falls down and gets the penalty, Lovren is not impressed.
To be fair, Croatia played well despite the penalty (grrrr not a penalty) and looked dangerous on the counter attack, which hasn’t been as frequent as they’d like with Brazil holding the majority of the possession. However the David Luiz – Thiago Silva centreback pairing for Brazil has been so solid this match, especially David Luiz with clearing crosses and shutting down balls in the box. Side note: it’s crazy how well David Luiz’s hair is holding up in this heat and with all that movement.
You shall not pass.
Croatia’s strategy against Brazil wasn’t really working and their plan B of subbing in Rebic and Brozovic didn’t do much. Neymar came off the game with a couple of minutes to spare for Ramires, the crowd with a roaring ovation which he does deserve for the two goals.
Kudos to the vanishing spray bottle line to keep the wall from moving.
Oscar scores to really seal the deal.
Croatia missed a glorious chance to equalize int he 91st minute when Julio Cesar blocked a strong shot and there were no checkered shirts in the box to hit the rebound. And because Croatia surged forward for that play, their back was exposed badly when Oscar made the run just outside Croatia’s box and scored the third goal of the match. Game over Croatia.
Brazil wins, all fans decide they need to commemorate this with a picture.
To end this post on a good note for all (because nobody hates Kaka), here’s a gratuitous picture of him at the match with his son, both of them as cute as ever.
Hope you enjoyed the game,
Cindy/@meridiansour
PS. Sorry that my twitter is locked, but due to work purposes, I have to keep that way, however feel free to request to follow and I’ll approve.
Of Headbands and Heartbreak
watishistacorrespondents
Of Headbands and Heartbreak... 
Nobody hates Kaka except Shigs 😉
-mygypsyspirit
And she fears & loathes him enough for the rest of the world. That picture is going to give her nightmares. So is the next post I do. 😉
I’m giggling evilly
Cindy: you ROCK! I don’t know what you do in real life, but really you should be a futbol commentator/pundit. Thank you. I was torn about this match. Clearly, Brazil, okay, Brasil, (let’s do this right, huh?) is the better team but I was hoping to see Croatia lift up. And at the same time: to have Marcelo OF ALL PEOPLE “score” the first goal of this World Cup as an own goal made my heart clench. I always wonder how it is to play against someone you just won a different tournament. Country. League team. So interesting and so fascinating and so heart wrenching. As a woman, I love reading intelligent soccer update thought out and written by other women. Not that I don’t enjoy men’s input but I believe we need more women writers/thinkers out there working on the Beautiful Game.
So with you on needing more women working on/in the Beautiful Game.
That’s one of the main reason I started drafting watishistas to write about the World Cup. I know so many women who can talk passionately and intelligently about football. It’s long past time to get some of them writing about it as well.
Brilliant idea!
With. Should be in the 7th sentence. Sorry.
I echo the sentiment of women writing about the game. 🙂 I thought Croatia played well, that penalty( I agree, not penalty) changed the direction. I hope this isn’t the start of the Dive Wars. Ahh well… Happy FIrst Day of WC!!!
The not-a-penalty really soured me on the match. It would have been an exciting game without that bit of theatrics. That said, I’m glad Brazil won, for Marcelo’s sake.
great match report, cindy! what a way to start the tournament – not the greatest game, but certainly full of the spectacle we tune in for.
1. the look on marcelo’s face after the own goal was heartbreaking.
2. questionable refereeing: the penalty that wasn’t, the spray paint holster.
3. gk julio cesar needs to get it together if brazil want to pull this off.
4. i really, really enjoy watching neymar when he plays for brazil.