SAO PAULO // A population that squeezes limes into their drinks are not unfamiliar with being left with a bitter taste in their mouths. Yet even Brazilians seemed unimpressed by the manner in which their national team defeated Croatia last night in the opening match of the Fifa World Cup.
Brazil fell behind inside 11 minutes courtesy of an own goal by Marcelo, but having equalised through Neymar, they required a controversial 71st minute penalty to take the lead in front of an expectant home crowd of 62,103. Oscar added a flourish to the scoreline, but it was the penalty decision rather than the performance that proved the talking point.
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Fred, the Brazilian striker, appeared to go to ground easily as Dejan Lovren marked him tightly. There was little – if any – contact, but the Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Neymar converted and Brazil were able to relax a little inside their R$965m pressure cooker.
Niko Kovac, the Croatian coach, called the penalty decision "ridiculous" adding that Nishimura was "completely out of his depth".
"If that's a penalty, then we can just stop playing football right now," Kovac said. "Let's play basketball instead. It's shameful. The slogan for Fifa is about respect, but there wasn't any respect for Croatia. Two billion people say that it was not a penalty. If that's how we start the World Cup, we will see another 100 penalties in this tournament. We may as well give up and go home now. We will have a circus."
Nishimura officiated four games at the previous World Cup and sent off Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo in their quarterfinal defeat to Holland. While that decision was widely deemed correct, Twitter was ablaze last night with fans - many Brazilian - condemning Nishimura's latest decision with one Recife-based fan going as far as say he was "ashamed" on behalf of his compatriots.
Yet when Luiz Felipe Scolari was relayed Kovac's comments in his post-match press conference, he replied: "Thousands didn't see the penalty? The referee saw it and he is the one that decides. We also think it was a penalty."
Even before the match had started, the atmosphere was pressurised, but it was Marcelo, the Real Madrid left-back, who looked most at ease during a passionate anthem that ran into a second verse and offered a cathartic release for a troubled country full of conflicted Brazilians. He smiled as he sang, soaking up a historical, unrepeatable moment in his life.
After 10 minutes, he must have wished the field would swallow him up like it did Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte during the opening ceremony. With Dani Alves failing to get tight to Ivica Olic, the Croatian broke down the left flank and fired a low ball across the face of goal that cannoned of Marcelo's legs and nestled into his own net.
It was Brazil's first own goal in 84 years of playing in the World Cup.
Neymar, the Brazil striker with the weight of a nation on his shoulders, soon found his rhythm. In the 27th minute, after Oscar and Paulinho had bundled the ball through midfield, Neymar collected it, cut on to his left foot and released a low diagonal into the corner of the net. The stadium erupted as a nation celebrated.
With 19 minutes remaining, Neymar became the first Brazilian striker since 1962 to net a brace on his World Cup debut, although his penalty was almost saved. When he was replaced by Ramires with minutes to play, he received a standing ovation, and the fans continued to celebrate when Oscar toed in a third in injury time.
"I believe individually we have a very strong squad and when we play collectively we are very difficult to beat," Neymar said. "If our whole team doesn't play connected we won't win."
gmeenaghan@thenational.ae
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Neymar after win: ‘When we play collectively we are very difficult to beat’
Neymar praised Brazil's collective cohesiveness after their 3-1 World Cup opening win on Thursday while Croatia coach Niko Kovac blasted a controversial penalty decision. Gary Meenaghan reports from Sao Paulo.
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