Rio de Janiero - 2014 Fifa World Cup Thread

[FootballLight]

First topic message reminder :

This **should** be the main article for the Fifa World Cup 2014 competition that happens in 10 days time. Lets try and keep the debate simple yet reasonable about all of the build-up, the stadiums, the countries, the players, the qualifying, the winners and most importantly, the "bought" 2022 World Cup.

Enjoy! (And... lets try and make this World Cup as good as possible considering all of the poor build-up, tragic deaths and he outrageous violence that has been happening over recent months)

[Crimey]

Slightly disappointed with Brazil, Croatia showed that if they can get out of the group they may be a really dangerous tie, hard to break down and on another day could have easily snatched a draw here. Brazil got the escape card through the penalty, but it was likely a goal would have come anyway. Neymar a good bet for the Golden Boot, score more than one goal in a game for a team likely to progress to the latter stages and you are always going to be in contention.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Probably should point out Croatia were missing the suspended Mandzukic, he'll give them a cutting edge they missed tonight

In other news Ronaldo limped out of Portugal training tonight

[skyeman]

Probably should point out Croatia were missing the suspended Mandzukic, he'll give them a cutting edge they missed tonight

In other news Ronaldo limped out of Portugal training tonight

Could be big news.

[Mad for Chelsea]

Slightly disappointed with Brazil, Croatia showed that if they can get out of the group they may be a really dangerous tie, hard to break down and on another day could have easily snatched a draw here. Brazil got the escape card through the penalty, but it was likely a goal would have come anyway. Neymar a good bet for the Golden Boot, score more than one goal in a game for a team likely to progress to the latter stages and you are always going to be in contention.

I'm not too sure about that bit. Brazil hadn't really created much in the second half until then. The third goal, excellent as it was from Oscar, owed a lot to Croatia committing men forward.

Brazil need to do something about that CM pairing, it's just too passive for me, allowed Croatia to control the middle of the park. They've got some good players in the wings (Ramires?) so a change of personnel may be needed...

Agree with the rest of your post, both the bit about Croatia and the Neymar for Golden Boot.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Oscar was the best player on the pitch by a distance. Goalkeepers didnt cover themselves in glory. Hardest game of the group for Brazil so they'll be chuffed to come out with 3-1.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Oscar was the best player on the pitch by a distance. Goalkeepers didnt cover themselves in glory. Hardest game of the group for Brazil so they'll be chuffed to come out with 3-1.

I dunno Modric was class as well, between them two for motm for moi 

Don't understand Gustavo over Fernandinho. Gustavo doesn't get play going like Fernandinho can, and both offer the protection.

[Crimey]

Think Oscar needs to be moved centrally, Neymar to the left, Hulk to the right, that is the most natural formation and would get the best out of the players. Paulinho-Gustavo is too slow and passive in my opinion, Fernandinho or Ramires would be a better option as there is a lot more energy and dynamism in there.

[Duty281]

I said before the tournament that Brazil would exit at the semi-finals, which is par for home teams, and nothing in Sao Paulo tonight changed my mind. Two significant factors which aided them in their, slightly undeserved, win:

The referee. I like to praise referees wherever possible, but this fellow was pretty poor. I expected most of the 50-50s to go Brazil's way, yes. But that was never a penalty. Neymar should have seen red. Croatia shouldn't have had a goal chalked off. Pretty poor all round.

Pletikosa. He should have certainly saved the last goal, probably should have kept out a poor penalty after he laid both hands on it, and, if he were positioned better, should have stopped the weak first goal.

Brazil's attack is good, yes, but their defence is below average. They were worried on many occasions tonight but a Croatian side lacking their best striker, and who were also more than happy to soak up the pressure. Better quality teams will puncture Brazil. They also lacked patience and tried to force the issue too many times; possibly because of the pressure coming from their fickle fan base.

A columnist writing in the Times today predicted Croatia to get to the final this year. That certainly raised my eyebrows. They're a decent side, and should get through the group, but will probably exit in the last sixteen owing to the difficult nature of the draw. Good on the counter, but not designed to chase a game...hmmm, that reminds me of a certain team!

Anyway, decent first game, hope for more of the same tomorrow!

[Mad for Chelsea]

Oscar was the best player on the pitch by a distance. Goalkeepers didnt cover themselves in glory. Hardest game of the group for Brazil so they'll be chuffed to come out with 3-1.

not just my Chelsea bias then? good to know

agree with Olly that Modric was class too, he just always seems to have that little bit more time on the ball.

then again I also thought Luiz had an OK game, so...

[Mad for Chelsea]

I agree with the criticism of the Paulinho-Gustavo combination too, looked way too passive for me, no communication with central defense either. Need more energy in there. I would actually go Fernandinho who is slightly more defensive minded than Ramires - with their attacking players other than Oscar singularly uninterested in working to win the ball back, two full-backs who aren't much good at defending, I'm not sure they can afford an attack-minded box-to-box midfielder in there as well.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Fernandinho weirdly not given a look in. I do wonder whether Brazil will look slightly better when they play teams they can spring out at.

Perisic or Modric second, but Oscar beyond fantastic in every area of the game and my clear MOTM.

Hulk challenging keepers for worst players on the pitch

[NickisBHAFC]

What a fantastic opening game to the best sporting event on earth.

Both sides played some great football and Croatia can feel very very very hard done by. Defeat is harsh, losing by 2 goals is even harsher. 

The referee was a major talking point, im scared were going to see plenty of idiots like him in this tournament, the standard of officating is just awful. 

However, brilliant to be boozing, cheering, betting, on football again!!! I love the world cup!!!!!

[dummy_half]

MfC
Oscar definitely Brazil's best player - had a hand in the build up to Neymar's first goal and then got his own late on. Generally put in a shift and caused the defenders lots of headaches.

3-1 was very much a flattering scoreline - absent the poor keeping and the 'homer' ref and Croatia could have won.

It looks like this Brazil side is following the formation used in 94 when they had Roberto Carlos and Cafu as the full backs - 2 central defenders and two very defensive midfielders to shield and to fill in when the FBs get forward, and then four forward players who can rotate as they require.

Problem is that Hulk and Fred just are not very good, so it puts a lot of pressure on Oscar and Neymar to carry the ball effectively.

[Ent]

Thought blanco was left back in 94.

[Crimey]

Also Paulinho and Gustavo aren't particularly defensive, they sit and don't get forward but didn't think they offered a shield to the defence which is why I felt the Brazil defence was so exposed. Not enough energy in there for me. Think both were playing the same role and Brazil can afford to drop one in favour of a midfielder with more energy and likely to win the ball back and link the defence to the attacking players...sounds perfect for Fernandinho, or even Ramires.

[Soldier_Of_Fortune]

What a fantastic opening game to the best sporting event on earth.

Both sides played some great football and Croatia can feel very very very hard done by. Defeat is harsh, losing by 2 goals is even harsher. 

The referee was a major talking point, im scared were going to see plenty of idiots like him in this tournament, the standard of officating is just awful. 

However, brilliant to be boozing, cheering, betting, on football again!!! I love the world cup!!!!!

Have to agree Nick, I think the occasion got to the ref. There was obvious bias shown to Brazil. Croatia, although they did have there moans, they kept quite restrained giving the circumstances.I could have dropped that ref if I was Lovren for giving the pen and Ollic for his fair challenge on the keeper.

Brazil have shown they are beatable, but Croatia are a very good side.

[Crimey]

I was very impressed with Perisic last night as well.

[shivfan]

Oh my days, never, ever a pen. Disgrace. Gift for a dire brazil

I disagree....

What was the Croatian defender doing putting his arm on Fred's shoulder? For far too long, defenders have been getting away with dirty play in the penalty box. Yes, Fred went down easily, but it doesn't take away from the fact that the Croatian defender should not have his hand on Fred's shoulder.

The more penalties are given for that, the less of this rubbish we're going to see....

[Mad for Chelsea]

might as well watch basketball then IMO. For me football is intended to be a contact sport, and if we see penaltys given for that we should see a penalty given at pretty much every corner/free-kick which is crossed into the box since almost inevitably there's pushing and jostling going on.

Oddly Neymar seems to have been given MOTM which makes little sense to me. Apparently according to Brazil's statistics, Oscar made the most tackles of any Brazillian player, on the right wing!!! Shows what most on here haev been saying, lack of energy throughout the side.

DH, Oscar also had a hand in the Brazilian second goal, it was his run and pass to Fred which led to the penalty, so really he had an important part in all three goals. Superb performance. Oddly I was watching on ESPN and their commentators said Oscar didn't usually do the dirty work. Can't have watched any of Chelsea last season then, Oscar has always been really good at that stuff.

[westisbest]

Ref was dreadfull. No surprise.

Croatia didn't deserve to lose 3-1.

Also this lark with players waving their hands to tell the ref to give an apposing player a card has to stop.

Should get a yellow themselves.

Looking forward to Spain v Holland tonight.
Always back Holland, god knows why. Didn't back anyone this year.

Hope to be able to stay awake for Chilie v The Socceroos, aussie, aussie aussie, oi, oi, oi.

Go you good thing go.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Oh my days, never, ever a pen. Disgrace. Gift for a dire brazil

I disagree....

What was the Croatian defender doing putting his arm on Fred's shoulder?  For far too long, defenders have been getting away with dirty play in the penalty box.  Yes, Fred went down easily, but it doesn't take away from the fact that the Croatian defender should not have his hand on Fred's shoulder.  

The more penalties are given for that, the less of this rubbish we're going to see....

So football should literally be a non contact sport then?!

[Scrumpy]

FIFA fixed it so that Brazil was always going to win their 1st game.

[Ent]

I really doubt that.

The referee have a dodgy penalty after a striker dived, it's not that terrible.

[Crimey]

All in all it was a decent game to kick off the World Cup, Mexico Cameroon isn't particularly exciting but Spain-Netherlands is probably the biggest game of the group stages.

[westisbest]

Strange thing with that is, I wouldn't be surprised if Mexico v Cameroon is a better game than Spain v Holland.

The latter is the stand out game for me out of the first round of matches.

[owen10ozzy]

Think the height of this being a World Cup and the fact it was the first game magnified the officiating somewhat; lets all be honest...we saw plenty of the same decisions given across the board in England & Europe this year.

Sadly as plenty of us have said in the past it is slowly becoming an almost non-contact sport.

Whenever you are pushing (no matter how little) into a player from behind and have one arm round/on opponent then you give ref's the initiative to call a penalty.

Regards the ruled out goal; again an incident which is featuring more and more in the game; the inability to challenge the keeper without it being blown up for a foul.

I suspect we will see plenty of similar calls throughout this competition to be honest; don't get my wrong I don't agree with either of them last night...however in the grand context of where the game has been & is heading neither were as big a surprise to me as they appear to be to some people.

Onto the actual game; thought Croatia played well and based on that should be favourites alongside Brazil to get out of the group. They set up well and in Modric and Perisic they have two very influential players who can change a game..both impressed me last night. Also quick mention of Ollic who I thought was brilliant last night...though part of that was down to Brazil defence..

Which brings me onto them...look very suspectible down the left hand side (Alves Right) & if the job of Gustavo & Paulinho was to provide cover they didn't do too great a job last night. Think Hulk was very poor and I would argue that Bernard done enough in his 20 minute spell to push for a starting place next game. Looked lively, has pace and same type of 'lack of fear' that we have in Sterling, Barklet & Oxlade. The boy wonder delivered when he needed and has been mentioned Oscar was the stand out player. However should they be stifled out wide I think they could struggle as when
they had to go through the middle they lacked a cutting edge...be interesting to see if Big Phil tinkers with the formation in the next game.

Looking forward to today now; where I hope we don't get a repeat performance of the final 4 years ago...and will be paying closing attention to the Chile game as I think they could go far (Semi's) if they make it out of this group.

[Alistair]

I think Spain v Netherlands is going to be a snoozefest.

Croatia were hard done by last night. I didn't think it was a penalty and i didn't understand why the second Croatia goal was chalked off. That for me is probably the bigger turning point.

Some great performances from players, though i didn't see the Neymar 'elbow' so can't comment. Oscar was the best player on the park for me. I stupidly backed Fred as top goalscorer before the match. Ooops.

[Ent]

Olic knocked the keeper, albeit very gently - I don't think it was a foul personally but I can see why it was given. The linesman gave it too.

A minor point but Croatia hadn't actually got the ball into the net when play was stopped.

[Alistair]

Nobody seemed to know why it was given. The commentators thought the cross had gone out of play. Olic had every right to go for that ball.

IMO i think 'Keepers are far too protected at times.

[Ent]

He did, I wouldn't have had a problem with the decision going either way.

Mind you had he scored a relatively simple chance in the first half and croatias keeper not been terrible they wouldn't be lamenting the referee.

[Alistair]

That's a fair point.

[Stella]

He did, I wouldn't have had a problem with the decision going either way.

Mind you had he scored a relatively simple chance in the first half and croatias keeper not been terrible they wouldn't be lamenting the referee.

Was never a foul for me, but it may have looked like one from a distance. the ref had a tough game, and tbh, made a couple of errors. We see it very week here. Many posts are to do with bad reffing.

[Guest]

Ref was under immense pressure (real or imagined) not to spoil the showpiece occasion that is the opening game...much like Howard Webb was under pressure not to spoil the Final four years ago. Shame the players didn't feel the same sense of obligation!

Problem is, if the Ref sees infractions they have to act. I don't give two ****s if Prince William clatters Barack Obama, it's a foul, get off the pitch and hurry up about it.

It's laughable when you see the banner proclaiming that "FIFA says No to Racism" yet we understand they aren't overly bothered about sexism or homophobia, they certainly turn a blind eye to corruption, they've failed to stamp out cheating and unsportsmanlike behaviour (BTW Scolari should have been sent off for waving his imaginary cards along with a couple of others - Marcello?) and their attitude towards the feelings of a displaced and oppressed indigenous population seems very clear indeed.

The eyes of the World are watching and yet Blatter and his cronies will stand proudly atop the broken bodies of the Brazilian people and proclaim the whole event a success...my hope is that the protests don't escalate to include any loss of life.

[Duty281]

Predictions for today then:

Mexico 2-1 Cameroon - Should be quite an attacking game given that both teams know this game is their best chance of a win in this group.

Spain 1-0 Netherlands - Will be a tactical, chess-like encounter. Spain's pressure to eventually tell, whilst Holland don't really have enough firepower to worry the champions on the counter.

Chile 2-0 Australia - Everything in Chile's favour tonight; it should be a routine win. Might turn into a rout if Chile score particularly early.

[Crimey]

Mexico 2-1 Cameroon
Spain 1-0 Netheraldns
Chile 3-1 Australia

[Fernando]

Mexico 1-2 Cameroon
Spain 1-1 Holland
Chile 2-2 Australia

[MIG]

Mexico 1-1 Cameroon
Spain 1-0 Holland
Chile 2-0 Australia

[sportform]

Oh my days, never, ever a pen. Disgrace. Gift for a dire brazil

I disagree....

What was the Croatian defender doing putting his arm on Fred's shoulder? For far too long, defenders have been getting away with dirty play in the penalty box. Yes, Fred went down easily, but it doesn't take away from the fact that the Croatian defender should not have his hand on Fred's shoulder.

The more penalties are given for that, the less of this rubbish we're going to see....

In that case there should be a penalty given at every corner.

[sportform]

Nobody seemed to know why it was given. The commentators thought the cross had gone out of play. Olic had every right to go for that ball.

IMO i think 'Keepers are far too protected at times.

I agree. I can see why it was given but there was nothing in it. The player and goalkeeper went up for the ball fairly. The trouble is it never goes the other way. I remember Bayern playing Man United at Old Trafford a few yers ago when the Bayern Munich goalkeeper basically punch a Man United defender in the face and nothibg was given.

[hampo17]

Nobody seemed to know why it was given. The commentators thought the cross had gone out of play. Olic had every right to go for that ball.

IMO i think 'Keepers are far too protected at times.

I agree. I can see why it was given but there was nothing in it. The player and goalkeeper went up for the ball fairly. The trouble is it never goes the other way. I remember Bayern playing Man United at Old Trafford a few yers ago when the Bayern Munich goalkeeper basically punch a Man United defender in the face and nothibg was given.

Yeah but come on, who doesn't want to punch a Man United defender in the face?

[owen10ozzy]

Mexico 1-1 Cameroon
Spain 1-2 Holland
Chile 4-0 Australia

Think Spain will be shocked tonight; yet go on to beat Chile & Australia..leaving the Holland v Chile match as the deciding game as to who goes through...

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Cameroon to beat Mexico easily, 2-0 I reckon, mexico aren't good

Spain to dispense of the worst Dutch side in a few years, 3-1 

Chile to beat the dingos from down under

[Guest]

Oh my days, never, ever a pen. Disgrace. Gift for a dire brazil

I disagree....

               End of!

[Dolphin Ziggler]

I dont think either Mexico or Cameroon are any good so could be goals.

[Duty281]

John's having another facepalm attack!

[Fernando]

I dont think either Mexico or Cameroon are any good so could be goals.

Cameroon have better players then they appear unlike Mexico who have left Hernandez on the bench. Peralta/Dos Santos/Guardado & Marquez as good as it gets for them really.

[westisbest]

Mexico 2 Cameroon 2

Spain 3 Holland 1

Chilie 2 Australia 2

[Ent]

Mexico finished behind Honduras and Costa Rica in qualifying - the only won twice in 10 games.

I think they are pretty terrible, think everyone is just presuming they will be half decent.

On that note Costa Rica came second in Central America with the best defense - I expect them to throw some spanners on that group.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

Cannavaro and Vieira do not deserve to have to sit with Chiles.

[Crimey]

One of the first things ITV and BBC for that matter should take into account is the quality of English of pundits, there is no point using a big name player if he can't get his points across very well.

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