I don't know if you can ever say that a keeper "should" save a penalty but after getting a hand on it, maybe he could have done better. I was not at all impressed by Brazil and they certainly didn't play the Brazilian way. That is most likely due to Scolari but they played some nice football under him in 2002. They didn't look like a team, there was no fluidity to their game and it all looked a bit mechanical to me. Neymar should have seen red, but you'd be brave referee to do that! That's no excuse though, the man is a professional and occasion should be irrelevant. Never a penalty either and especially not a yellow! Brazil were very lucky and if the referees out there are genuinely clean and legit then I can't see Brazil doing much at this World Cup. This may be a bold statement, but on that performance England can beat them. Spain to win it. I've yet to see a better team than them (possibly Germany).
Well the downside is that that was a disgrace in biased refereeing. Neymar could have gone before his goal, it was never a penalty and Croatia's goal was definitely legitimate. Olic jumped with his arms down and headed the ball back after Cesar let it slip through his hands. One of those decisions being wrong you could understand but three bad decisions reeks a bit. I doubt Brazil will have to try too much to get out of their group if they're getting this much help.
Brazil have always had their nasty streak--it gets over looked by the media doing a circle jerk over them when ever they string 4 passes together.(other south american teams get panned for being "dirty") The greatest(IMO) international team ever was the Brazil of the early 70s but they dished it out. Watch the Brazil V England game i think its Franie Lee standing at a corner he gets a round hse punch .The game wasnt dirty but they give it. Its part of their game.
As I said during the game he has a look and knew what he was doing. In hindsight it's one of those that plenty of players will get a red for but in fairness to the ref we don't know if he saw the sneeky fecker having a look first so you can kind of see why he only deemed it yellow.
Not that I feel like being particularly fair to the ref tbh and I'm not Croatian, gawd knows they must be fuming today...
As I said during the game he has a look and knew what he was doing. In hindsight it's one of those that plenty of players will get a red for but in fairness to the ref we don't know if he saw the sneeky fecker having a look first so you can kind of see why he only deemed it yellow.
Not that I feel like being particularly fair to the ref tbh and I'm not Croatian, gawd knows they must be fuming today...
Oh just a tad...Quick round up of the Croatian press reaction here. All Balkans love a conspiracy theory so they will be in overdrive. My Serbian mate is livid for them, and they were at war 18 years ago...
I do feel sorry for them. They are a proper footballing nation. When we were in Novigrad, Istria the summer before last, the stadium of the tiny little town (less than 1000 inhabitants) was near our apartment. Beautifully kept, and I regularly stopped to watch them training, because there were some bewitching skills on display.
Now imagine if there was still a Yugoslavia and they'd had Djeko up front...
I got some background on the Ref today from a Brazilian chap I work with.
he has previously had some games (2 I think) with Brazil and gone against them. So FIFA knew exactly what they were doing by appointing him. He was going to give anything slightly marginal to Brazil.
f**k FIFA and their ever growing arrogance. It gets worse and worse, the guys that run football think they understand the psyche of those that follow football and it makes me livid. they think we are mugs, they think they know what we want and they can survive up a contrived plate of it.
i dont blame Brazil, I blame those w**nkers fixing the competition to what they think makes them more money. go burn in hell the lot of you.
Never a penalty & the Croatia second goal should have stood but i don't think the Neymar "elbow" was a sending off
Croatia deserved something from that game, played their hearts out with a good bit of class & power but Pletikosa really should have kept out a couple of those Brazil goals.
I also don't understand the need to have a referee from random countries just to fill a quota. Pick the best referees and if you end up with 5 English, two Spanish etc. then so be it.
Can FIFA or the Brazilian government afford for Brazil to lose or go out ? Rioting on the streets already only slightly defused by Brazils involvement. I can't believe either Brazilian politicians or FIFA are corrupt can you ? Just a thought.
Watching the match live in Denmark. Apparently the Croatian coach has promised that his players will really have a go at Brazil team from the off. I hope so as I think it will make it a far better game. Want Brazil to win but wouldn't mind the Croats taking a shock lead. Prediction 3-1 to Brazil.
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The upside is I have Brazil in my work sweepstake
The greatest(IMO) international team ever was the Brazil of the early 70s but they dished it out. Watch the Brazil V England game i think its Franie Lee standing at a corner he gets a round hse punch .The game wasnt dirty but they give it. Its part of their game.
Not that I feel like being particularly fair to the ref tbh and I'm not Croatian, gawd knows they must be fuming today...
I do feel sorry for them. They are a proper footballing nation. When we were in Novigrad, Istria the summer before last, the stadium of the tiny little town (less than 1000 inhabitants) was near our apartment. Beautifully kept, and I regularly stopped to watch them training, because there were some bewitching skills on display.
Now imagine if there was still a Yugoslavia and they'd had Djeko up front...
he has previously had some games (2 I think) with Brazil and gone against them. So FIFA knew exactly what they were doing by appointing him. He was going to give anything slightly marginal to Brazil.
f**k FIFA and their ever growing arrogance. It gets worse and worse, the guys that run football think they understand the psyche of those that follow football and it makes me livid. they think we are mugs, they think they know what we want and they can survive up a contrived plate of it.
i dont blame Brazil, I blame those w**nkers fixing the competition to what they think makes them more money. go burn in hell the lot of you.
Croatia deserved something from that game, played their hearts out with a good bit of class & power but Pletikosa really should have kept out a couple of those Brazil goals.