Today’s Brazil-Croatia match marked the beginning of World Cup 2014. Here are a few takeaways from Brazil’s 3-1 victory.
Referees can still blow a call no matter the level of play
With the game level at 1-1, Fred went down and took a dive in the box after virtually no contact. Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura immediately pointed to the penalty spot. He clearly saw something that, well, no one else on the planet saw.
Neymar drilled the penalty kick home, and the entire flow of the game changed at that moment.
Goalkeepers can still decide a game—and not always in a good way
When Croatia needed a top-shelf effort from the goalkeeper, Pletikosa, he allowed two goals that arguably should have been stopped short of the goal line. And the penalty kick was quite poor. He did get his hands on it, and almost made the save. But it wasn’t to be. Had he saved one of the three goals, especially the first Neymar goal which slowly trickled into the corner, we could’ve seen a different result in the match.
And on the other side of the ball, Julio Cesar stopped nearly everything in his way. The own-goal was not his fault. He made some key saves late in the game to keep Brazil ahead at that point, 2-1 (they would later score a meaningless goal at the tail end of the match).
Brazil has the pedigree playing at home
But a draw in this match might have been a fairer result. While Croatia’s only score was an own goal, Brazil got two of their goals via a goalkeeper’s slow reflexes and one by an early Christmas gift from the referee. They will advance out of the group stage, but will need to amp up their game and play up to their potential if they hope to be playing in the finals.
The home crowd will certainly be a huge boost for the team, and could be the “12th man” in a clutch moment later in the tournament. But there’s a lot of pressure on the team to perform at the high level they are capable of playing at as well. We’ll see how they respond.
Croatia is a formidable opponent and can still advance out of the group stage
Their other group games are against Mexico and Cameroon, and if they play up to their potential, their solid defense could be enough to garner four points and advance. They did not advance out of the group stage in the last two World Cups, however, and it appears that anything less than four points may send them home after group stage play.
Lastly, the pregame scene at the Arena Corinthians was electric. Watch and see for yourself!
(Video credit: Sporting News)
