Day 1: Brazil vs. Croatia

[Sixpence]

Kovac: 'If someone's not up to scratch to referee the first game then find someone else. Two and half billion people saw this wasn't a pen.'

Kovac has attacked Japanese over tonight's pen decision. "I must say the referee was completely out of his depth."

Kovac "If that's how we start the #WorldCup, we'd better give it up now and go home."

 

[Stack]

Take a look at the video in the "World Cup Referee Watch" thread, looks like a foul to me.

Are you sure? It looks like the ball has already slipped out of the keepers hands by the time the Croatian player makes contact.

 

[cyberman]

What's annoying is Neymar getting a leg up in the golden boot race..

 

[justboy68]

Oscar was absolutely stunning tonight no doubt about it. All the hype will probably be about Neymar (who was very good himself just not as good as Oscar) though because the media is blinded by goals sometimes. Oscar, Modric, Rakitic and Neymar in that order were way above everyone else.

 

[The Brown Bull]

Tough on Croatia, draw would have been a fair result.Fred & Hulk are useless.Modric was excellent.
Brazil won't win the tournament.

 

[Red-Jeff]

Are you sure? It looks like the ball has already slipped out of the keepers hands by the time the Croatian player makes contact.

Nah looks like he barges into Cesars back as the ball is making contact with his hands to me.

 

[CrashDavis]

What's annoying is Neymar getting a leg up in the golden boot race..

Yep, plus the fact he should be suspended right now.

 

[Goalfather]

at that rate we will have a dozen penalties each match.


it was a dive.

People see what they want to see.

The defender fouled him Fred fell and the referee was obliged to give Brazil the penalty.
It is pretty cut and dried in my opinion.
I have a problem with referees in general using their discretion where contact in the box is concerned. That discretion often works in favour of bigger more established teams.

 

[Stack]

Nah looks like he barges into Cesars back as the ball is making contact with his hands to me.

yeah, I cant tell for sure to be honest looking at that video.

 

[CrashDavis]

Nah looks like he barges into Cesars back as the ball is making contact with his hands to me.

Contact sport, challenges in the air for the cross. Nothing wrong with that at all. Cesar was all over the shop for it.

 

[Ibi Dreams]

The penalty was incredibly soft, I can see why it was given but for me it's not a foul and Fred was clearly looking for it. Felt as though the Olic foul on Cesar was harsh too, because what's he meant to do in that situation, not challenge for the ball and just let the keeper take it? Cesar fumbled the ball, Olic may have put him off, yes, but in exactly the same way that defenders put off strikers and get credited for defending well.

 

[Red-Jeff]

yeah, I cant tell for sure to be honest looking at that video.

It is close to say the least. Brasil got help from the ref, that's not in question. I think this call the ref got right or it was at least close enough that it's not too difficult to see why he called it that way in this instance.

 

[Red-Jeff]

Contact sport, challenges in the air for the cross. Nothing wrong with that at all. Cesar was all over the shop for it.

Goalies are a protected species and that is a constant in modern football, why should that change here? Making contact with a keeper as he is trying to catch the ball is always going to be a foul in every league on every day.

 

[GifLord]

Are you sure? It looks like the ball has already slipped out of the keepers hands by the time the Croatian player makes contact.

was foul on the goalie
can see it from the other angle

 

[CrashDavis]

Goalies are a protected species and that is a constant in modern football, why should that change here? Making contact with a keeper as he is trying to catch the ball is always going to be a foul in every league on every day.

But that's the point... he was flapping at it. Didn't show conviction at all whereas Olic was leaping right for it: totally committed. And it should change.

 

[George Owen]

The penalty was incredibly soft, I can see why it was given but for me it's not a foul and Fred was clearly looking for it. Felt as though the Olic foul on Cesar was harsh too, because what's he meant to do in that situation, not challenge for the ball and just let the keeper take it? Cesar fumbled the ball, Olic may have put him off, yes, but in exactly the same way that defenders put off strikers and get credited for defending well.

do you even know the rules?

you cant challenge the keeper like that inside the goal area (the small box inside the box).

that was one of the few clean calls out there...

AND ITS been like this since ever.

 

[Cantona'sCollar]

Never a penalty, for me. Also, Julio Cesar looks like he has a howler in him just waiting to come out. The guy couldn't catch a cold. He was once a great keeper, but that was a few seasons ago, now.

Neymar is exceptionally unselfish - twice on a breakaway did he attempt to play in the other player. Both times it was the right choice, but still, a player of his calibre has the right to go for it himself. He's always struck me as a real team-player. Amazing talent, too. Wasn't fantastic today, but he shouldered the responsibility and took the game by the balls, while showing some lovely skill on more than one occasion. Oscar impressed me, too. MOTM. I will never know how Hulk actually plays for Brasil, he is horrendous when he is asked to do anything other than smash it with his left, in acres of space.

 

[ravi2]

The game wasn't a football match. No integrity at all. Brazil weren't losing that - ever.

Should have been off the pitch though. Ref bottled the whole match big style.

I cant believe the film crew didn't show a reply of the foul that led to the third goal and the commentators never even mentioned it.
The Croatian 2nd goal that was disallowed was the softest foul I've seen in awhile.

There was no chance of Brasil losing that game. Its such a dishonourable way to win and I hope Croatia bounces back and Brasil crashes and burns in their next 2 games.

Oscar was pure class tho, well done for him.

 

[Red-Jeff]

But that's the point... he was flapping at it. Didn't show conviction at all whereas Olic was leaping right for it: totally committed. And it should change.

Why because you think so? doesn't work like that sorry. How do you know Cesar would not have caught it if Olic hadn't put him off? You don't and that's why it was correctly called a foul.

 

[Saxo]

I don't think anyone could genuinely get away with bribing the ref in the opening game of the WC, but I definitely don't think it's outside the realm of possibility for some authority figures to have reminded him how important it is to present the host nation well in the opening game of the tournament. Has any host ever been as hysterically overhyped as Brazil 2014? It has frankly been absurd, the extent to which they've been glorified in the last few months, far more than I can ever remember any other host being fellated by the press or the governing body.

In any case, with both FIFA and Brazil's government having incredibly strong incentive to take the world's attention off of themselves, I find it possible that one or the other (or both) have told the ref that it wouldn't be so very bad if he gave the team a helping hand and changed the headlines from "protests in Brazil" or "down with Blatter" to "Brazil win opening game." He just went too far and couldn't make it look innocent.

So many wildly incorrect decisions all favoring Brazil, with the tournament's golden boy being allowed to smash an elbow into the face of an opposing player (whom he was literally looking at, so he can't claim it was accidental) and get away with a yellow card, meaning the ref saw it but chose not to make the call that this undisputably warrants. Then the laughable penalty, the highly questionable foul called on the Croatian in the box leading to an annulled goal, and an obvious foul leading to the final goal. Each and every single goal barring the first fluke OG was affected by a gigantic refereeing mistake, and each and every single one in Brazil's favor. I don't think the ref was bribed, but I think he was influenced by the politics of the game and those in charge of it.

 

[gaucho_10]

They never showed what looked like Ramires foul on Rakitic before Oscar goal. That foul was the pass.

 

[redefw]

absolutely terrible refereeing. Under no circumstances was that a penalty, someone barley touching your arm doesn't give you the right to go down as if the force of a thousand stars are pulling you. And dont think it was foul on the Brazilian keeper either, it was a loose ball which both players had every right to go after. Its really cowardly of the editing team to not show the incident where the Croatian player lost the ball which led to the 3-1 goal on the replays, to me it seemed like he got rammed down from behind.

Hope this dosent turn out to be like south korea in the world cup 2002.

The fact that all of this terrible refereeing benefited the home team make it suspicious, but i hope for the sake of football and believe this was down to a bad referee who couldn't handle the pressure from the home supporters rather than any sort of match fixing.

 

[CrashDavis]

do you even know the rules?

you cant challenge the keeper like that inside the goal area.

that was one of the few clean calls out there...

AND ITS been like this since ever.

Challenge like what? With your eyes on the ball, leaping for it and getting your head to it? The keeper has the advantage in a situation like that but he blew it, losing the flight of the ball. Piss poor effort at collecting it while Olic shows real desire and a fantastic leap. Another terrible call.

 

[CrashDavis]

Why because you think so? doesn't work like that sorry. How do you know Cesar would not have caught it if Olic hadn't put him off? You don't and that's why it was correctly called a foul.

Because it was such a half hearted attempt by him to collect it. Olic took him by surprise, that's all. Hardly any contact and should never have been a foul.

 

[George Owen]

Challenge like what? With your eyes on the ball, leaping for it and getting your head to it? The keeper has the advantage in a situation like that but he blew it, losing the flight of the ball. Piss poor effort at collecting it while Olic shows real desire and a fantastic leap. Another terrible call.

wtf... did you start watching football yesterday?

you can't TOUCH the keeper inside the small box when jumping/moving to collect the ball.

 

[ravi2]

They never showed what looked like Ramires foul on Rakitic before Oscar goal. That foul was the pass.

Not only did they not show the reply , but the commentators during and after the match made no mention of that...something is wrong here.

 

[Red-Jeff]

Because it was such a half hearted attempt by him to collect it. Olic took him by surprise, that's all. Hardly any contact and should never have been a foul.

He made contact with the keeper as the keeper was catching the ball, that is a foul and those are the rules. The ref had a dreadful game but got that one right. We will not agree so lets just agree to disagree, have fun watching the rest of the world cup mate.

 

[CrashDavis]

wtf... did you start watching football yesterday?

you can't TOUCH the keeper inside the small box when jumping/moving to collect the ball.

I played football for years and a genuine challange in the air for the ball like that would seldom be pulled up for a foul on the keeper. That was two bodies colliding in the air with one of them showing more desire to get on the end of it.

 

[Red-Jeff]

Not only did they not show the reply , but the commentators during and after the match made no mention of that...something is wrong here.

Would like to see a gif of it, I was on the phone and not paying attention to the build-up.

 

[Mustinjo]

I am so angry right now. Fecking cnut.

On the other side, some of our players didn't have one of their better games, especially Kovačić. I hope one bad performance won't knock his confidence down for next two games because we need him to play to his full capabilities if we want to win both games.

 

[CrashDavis]

He made contact with the keeper as the keeper was catching the ball, that is a foul and those are the rules. The ref had a dreadful game but got that one right. We will not agree so lets just agree to disagree, have fun watching the rest of the world cup mate.

Look how static Cesar is in comparison to Olic when the ball is whipped in. Dreadful keeping and Olic out leaped a fella who's a couple of inches taller than him plus his arm span too.

 

[saivet]

Just seen the highlights, Brazil didn't look great from them. I thought their keepers was slow to the 1st and 3rd goals and he should have saved the penalty which shouldn't have been given, joke of a decision. Also, the Croatia goal that go disallowed was ridiculously soft.

I've not seen where the foul on Olic was either but it was an obvious foul. An absolute shocker from the referee.

 

[saivet]

He made contact with the keeper as the keeper was catching the ball, that is a foul and those are the rules. The ref had a dreadful game but got that one right. We will not agree so lets just agree to disagree, have fun watching the rest of the world cup mate.

It's not as if he caught it and then got bundled. It's as if he saw Olic in the corner of his eye, panicked and then fumbled the ball and just went down. Never a foul IMO, bad goalkeeping.

 

[Red-Jeff]

Look how static Cesar is in comparison to Olic when the ball is whipped in. Dreadful keeping and Olic out leaped a fella who's a couple of inches taller than him plus his arm span too.

As I said agree to disagree.

 

[Amar__]

Unless you had a bet on or you are a Croatian supporter I don't see how you can hate the Brazilian team.

Really? Practically, half of their first 11 is unlikeable, overrated/overpriced. Alves, Marcelo, Luiz, Neymar, Hulk, Paulinho, what's there to like?

 

[Ibi Dreams]

wtf... did you start watching football yesterday?

you can't TOUCH the keeper inside the small box when jumping/moving to collect the ball.

Yes you can, if you legitimately win the ball without foul play. That's what it looked like to me, two players going for the ball and one winning it. Like someone else said, the keeper has the advantage here. He can jump with his hands and catch the ball, and he didn't. Olic went for the ball, eyes on the ball, arms not touching the keeper - why is this a foul?

 

[DanCity]

Thought Croatia started very sharply and looked good.
A few questionable decisions to say the least.

Still though Brazil were the better team overall.
Oscar was brilliant and deserved his goal.

 

[Red-Jeff]

It's not as if he caught it and then got bundled. It's as if he saw Olic in the corner of his eye, panicked and then fumbled the ball and just went down. Never a foul IMO, bad goalkeeping.

Contact was made while the ball was entering his hands, I've said my piece on this and am done now. If you wish to debate more feel free to read my earlier responses and continue to post but I have nothing else to say regarding this, it seems pretty obvious to me

 

[George Owen]

 

[Cristiano_RAFC]

I have just had the most insane combination of predictions all come through in this game. Before the game I predicted the following things:
- My scoreline for this game was 3-1 for Brazil.
- I predicted the score to be 1-1 at half time.
- I then predicted a dubious penatly decision in favour of Brazil around the 70th minute (!). I thought that people (the referee) would start to get nervous then and would help the Brazilians a little bit.
- I thought that the 3rd Brazilian goal would come near the end of the match, possibly from a counter attack.

During the game I made an additional prediction. When the penalty was scored, I actually said that I wouldn't be surprised to see the Croatians score a goal and have it disallowed....

Unbelievably those predictions were all right. The people I watched the game with were looking at me as if I was some sort of freak. Especially the 70th minute dubious penalty and the disallowed goal were kinda freaky they said.