WC 2014 - Match 1 - Brazil vs Croatia

[Royalclapper]

"Now remember, he'll take a dive in the seventh.......you got that"

Jap ref "Yeah I've got it, dead Fred will wait for his moment and go down......no problem I got it covered"

Oh how we've missed South American World Cups

[Royal Rother]

And TalkSport telling us it was a fabulous end to end game and a great start to the World Cup.

[Royal Ginger]

Both keepers have looked pretty ropey

Don't think Julio Cesar did much wrong, to be fair...

Eh? He was all over the place! Got away with a couple of flaps, and his positioning was awful. Looked very rusty.

[Flyingkiwi]

Both keepers have looked pretty ropey

Don't think Julio Cesar did much wrong, to be fair...

Eh? He was all over the place! Got away with a couple of flaps, and his positioning was awful. Looked very rusty.

He got away with one flap (When he backed into that Croat and, to be fair, that is going to make you drop the ball. Regardless of whether it was a "foul" or not). Otherwise? You think he was at fault for the own goal?? You have high expectations, Mr Ginger.

[TBM]

Thought Oscar was superb last night. He was involved in pretty much everything

[sputnik]

'greed on Oscar, MOTM for me.

[Zana Badawi]

A few months ago, I spent a long pub discussion convincing a Rugby fan that the perception of footballers being soft cheats who like a moan at the Ref was just that - a perception. The argument was based around that if you actually spend the minutes watching the football, then the % of minutes where these contentious events occur are very small, and we only really remember the incidents that the television highlights and the papers want us to remember and they'll pick the worst examples as that's the nature of the beast. After an hour of badgering, backing up my argument with countless examples of uneventful football, I managed to convince the Rugby fan that his perception of footballers was unfounded. It was no easy task.

So, yeah, thanks for last night Brazil.

[LUX]

I don't think I can take a month of this. Cheating players, shit biased refereeing, and the Brazilian love in - bullshit.

Hopefully no-one will try to tell us that crap was a festival of football and whets the appetite for what lies ahead.

It did the complete opposite for me.

Agreed, what a travesty of a game.

come off it, bit OTT. Surprised at you, especially Tulip. I thought it was a good game for the neutral, played at a gr8 pace. The Croatian goal was correctly disallowed and Brazil got a very soft penalty. I was supporting Croatia for betting reasons and, yes, they were unlucky. Pleased for Brazil, though.

[Whatevs]

wasn't surprised the goal was disallowed tbf, bit of a soft foul though

[wingnut]

Ref's whistle for the foul had blown long before the ball was put in the net and the Brazilian defenders had all stopped.
Debateable whether it was a foul but you can't be certain Croatia would've scored if play had continued.

[jd82]

I thought the lino flagged as the had ball swung out of play.

[TFF]

I hope someone's having a careful look at the Croat goalie's bank accounts.

And the penalty wasn't soft, it was outright cheating.

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

Two goals scored by a player who shouldn't have even been on the pitch + a perfectly good goal disallowed.

FIFA should just give 'em the trophy now, and save us all a month of our lives.

[Ouroboros]

Two goals scored by a player who shouldn't have even been on the pitch + a perfectly good goal disallowed.

It obviously wasn't a red card.

The disallowed goal was harsh but can anyone still be surprised by a referee's whistle when a striker jumps alongside them? We might not like way incidents like that are officiated, but you can hardly claim there is much inconsistency.

Disappointed for Croatia who were great, unimpressed by Brazi and frustrated at a soft penalty deciding it. But it was an enjoable game.

[Royalclapper]

Croatia Coach Niko Kovac -
It was like pissing in the wind

The crowd was an utter cringefest as well as the refereeing, it sounded like a 1 Direction gig every time Neymar got the ball.

Big Phil and Marcelo wanted yellow cards for anyone that looked at them the wrong way, although tbf Marcelo is possibly going to challenge Jack 'glass ankles' Wilshere for the player who spends most time on the floor.

Have Julio Cesar and the Croat keeper ever played in goal before? They looked like outfield players that had gone in after the real keeper had been sent off.

[jd82]

No place for sensible posts like that ouro. This is all about hyperbolic disgust

[BraisingsteakRoyal]

No place for sensible posts like that ouro. This is all about hyperbolic disgust

+Fúcking 1,000,000,000,000,000,000

[stealthpapes]

Two goals scored by a player who shouldn't have even been on the pitch + a perfectly good goal disallowed.

It obviously wasn't a red card.

The disallowed goal was harsh but can anyone still be surprised by a referee's whistle when a striker jumps alongside them? We might not like way incidents like that are officiated, but you can hardly claim there is much inconsistency.

Disappointed for Croatia who were great, unimpressed by Brazi and frustrated at a soft penalty deciding it. But it was an enjoable game.

Yeah, pretty much this.

Swoon at the Croat manager.

[Maguire]

Not a bad game really, let's not let the blatant dive override everything else. Wingnut is right about the disallowed goal too - whistle went ages before they scored, it was more of a disallowed opportunity.

No decent side watching that is going to turd their pants at the prospect of playing Brazil. Oscar was very good but they looked extremely vulnerable at the back, even to a side playing with a Hull City striker up front.

[tulip]

I don't think I can take a month of this. Cheating players, shit biased refereeing, and the Brazilian love in - bullshit.

Hopefully no-one will try to tell us that crap was a festival of football and whets the appetite for what lies ahead.

It did the complete opposite for me.

Agreed, what a travesty of a game.

come off it, bit OTT. Surprised at you, especially Tulip. I thought it was a good game for the neutral, played at a gr8 pace. The Croatian goal was correctly disallowed and Brazil got a very soft penalty. I was supporting Croatia for betting reasons and, yes, they were unlucky. Pleased for Brazil, though.

I started off a neutral but was really impressed by the Croatians and totally unimpressed with the Brazilians. Neymar's deliberate elbowing the opponents face turned me off him instantly. He should have been given a red. The penalty was so soft that it spoiled the game from then on. The Neymar love-in is going to ruin this tournament for me.

Brazil had to win for political reasons obviously.