Oscar, the man of the match, also
scored the goal of the night and placed sufficient distance between
these teams to ensure credibility, of sorts. Will it be enough to save
this World Cup from the wave of cynicism that overwhelms any event
touched by FIFA these days? We shall see.
A tournament that needed a Brazilian win, got one. It also got an outrageously poor penalty award, to the hosts, an equally soft disallowed goal, for their opponents and a dubious decision that kept the poster boy of the tournament and scorer of two Brazilian goals, Neymar, on the field when he could easily have been sent off. The score at the time was 1-0 to Croatia.
So, not a good night for referee Yuichi Nishimura of Japan who will feature in many conspiracy theorists most fevered speculations from here. He was almost certainly useless, not corrupt, but it is true that his three big errors were all to the benefit of one team.
A tournament that needed a Brazilian win, got one. It also got an outrageously poor penalty award, to the hosts, an equally soft disallowed goal, for their opponents and a dubious decision that kept the poster boy of the tournament and scorer of two Brazilian goals, Neymar, on the field when he could easily have been sent off. The score at the time was 1-0 to Croatia.
So, not a good night for referee Yuichi Nishimura of Japan who will feature in many conspiracy theorists most fevered speculations from here. He was almost certainly useless, not corrupt, but it is true that his three big errors were all to the benefit of one team.
Neymar the Redeemer: Brazil's No 10 strikes a pose after his second goal and looks like the famous statue in Rio
Spot on (just about): Neymar puts his penalty past Stipe Pletikosa despite the Croatia keeper getting a hand to it
Match facts
Brazil: Julio
Cesar 6; Dani Alves 5.5, Thiago Silva 6, Luiz 6, Marcelo 5.5, Paulinho 6
(Hernanes 63, 6), Gustavo 7, Hulk 6 (Bernard 68, 6), Oscar 8, Neymar 8
(Ramires 88), Fred 6.5.
Subs: Jefferson, Fernandinho, Dante, Maxwell, Henrique, Willian, Jo, Maicon, Victor.
Goals: Neymar 29, 71 (pen), Oscar 90.
Booked: Neymar, Gustavo
Croatia: Pletikosa 6, Srna 6.5, Corluka 7, Lovren 6.5, Vrsaljko 6; Modric 7, Rakitic 7, Perisic 6.5, Kovacic 6 (Brozovic 62, 5), Olic 6, Jelavic 6.
Subs: Zelenika, Pranjic, Vukojevic, Schildenfeld, Rebic, Sammir, Vida, Eduardo, Subasic.
Goal: Marcelo 11 (og)
Booked: Corluka, Lovren.
Man of the match: Oscar.
Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan) 5.
Attendance: 61,000
Ratings by MATT LAWTON in Sao Paulo
Click here to view more brilliant World Cup Match Zone
Subs: Jefferson, Fernandinho, Dante, Maxwell, Henrique, Willian, Jo, Maicon, Victor.
Goals: Neymar 29, 71 (pen), Oscar 90.
Booked: Neymar, Gustavo
Croatia: Pletikosa 6, Srna 6.5, Corluka 7, Lovren 6.5, Vrsaljko 6; Modric 7, Rakitic 7, Perisic 6.5, Kovacic 6 (Brozovic 62, 5), Olic 6, Jelavic 6.
Subs: Zelenika, Pranjic, Vukojevic, Schildenfeld, Rebic, Sammir, Vida, Eduardo, Subasic.
Goal: Marcelo 11 (og)
Booked: Corluka, Lovren.
Man of the match: Oscar.
Referee: Yuichi Nishimura (Japan) 5.
Attendance: 61,000
Ratings by MATT LAWTON in Sao Paulo
Click here to view more brilliant World Cup Match Zone
No comments:
Post a Comment