Match 1 - Group A - Brazil VS Croatia 21:00 BST including the opening ceremony

[Jorg]

Attacking Adrian Chiles in the studio!

[Harryseaess]

Brazilians hate Adrian Chiles as much as we do .

[daylight]

Someone tell Chiles that the stones getting thrown are from British people and has nothing to do with the WC in Brazil.

[Confused Clarity]

Chiles hasn't got a clue how to handle the fact that protesters are throwing missiles at the studio's windows does he

[Orzelek]

Wikipedia about the ref:

Yuichi Nishimura (西村 雄一, Nishimura Yūichi^?, born 17 April 1972) is a Brazilian football referee who has been a full international referee for FIFA.

His very unorthodox upbringing gave him eyes with which he can't see if someone plays with their head, hand or leg...

[Fvg]

2 very poor decisions in the game made it feel a bit of a let down, although watching it id feel more confident pkaying against brazil than croatia in later rounds.

Also adrian chiles petrified of people outside lol

[Chr1s Lawson]

I wondered that, would like to see a better view of it.

re-wound it and watched it a few times and convinced, all irrelevant now i suppose.

[DJ]

Happy Brazil got a 3rd goal tbh because it would have been a shame to see the game end 2-1 on a debatable penalty decision.

Pity there was an obvious foul in the run up to the 3rd goal

[Bracken]

Ref was awful, but Oscar

[thegr8anand]

Haha. I just wonder if wikipedia trolls have hired people to change every little thing as soon as it happens.

Oscar is awesome. Not this games goal but his best for us:

[georginho_juventusygr]

Júlio César showed some weakness, but he's perhaps the best out of the three goalies? David Luiz can, as usual, make a tackle killing the chance for Brazil to win the World Cup. Hulk and Fred were average and need to step their game up.

Pletikosa could have done better, but I think it's due to his age. I've seen better from Kovačić, but he's still young. I think Croatia missed Mandžukić. Or they should have played with a more defensive midfielder in Perišić's place, i.e., another formation.

[Orzelek]

Indeed.

Nothing to do with FIFA wanting to win the game at all, it's purely & simply their ridiculous decision to have referees from all over the world, many of whom simply aren't qualified to go.

Ridiculous that Clattenburg isn't there when you look at some of the jokers that got to go.

Exactly!

And even if they want some "exotic" refs, then give them a game with less attention/pressure then the opening game ffs. This dude is a ref in a mediocre league without much attention and then they face him to be a ref in one of the biggest games of the whole year. There always will be mistakes, but the chances of them being made by unexperianced ref are miles higher. This happens a couple of times each World Cup

[Fabio MVP]

Awful penalty decision. The ref saw that Brazil have almost no chance of scoring, so he had to do his magic. I blame Pletikosa for first and third goal though, especially for the third one. Croatia to win their remaining two games easily if they play like this, especially when Mario returns instead of Jelavić.

Can't remember a match when striker from both side were this terrible. Fred and Jelavić.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Pity there was an obvious foul in the run up to the 3rd goal

Have not even seen this yet

[Harryseaess]

I hate how we've jsut had the opening match of the World Cup, they talk about it for 5 minutes and then move on to England.

[sean_oc16]

Croatia played very well in chunks of that game and created some good chances. They just need to put this behind them and focus on playing like that again in their remaining games and they should be able to win them.

[ArsenalFan7]

Friends one of those conspiracy mentalists. Hilarious stuff, suggested they'd fix the entire tournament due to the implications it would cause if they were not to win.

[CaptainPlanet]

One game isn't enough. I WANT MORE FOOTBALL

[TM]

I hate how we've jsut had the opening match of the World Cup, they talk about it for 5 minutes and then move on to England.

need to talk about Rickie Lambert? whatever he has to say can't wait till tomorrow's coverage of Mexico V Cameroon

[Orzelek]

Happy Brazil got a 3rd goal tbh because it would have been a shame to see the game end 2-1 on a debatable penalty decision.

Even the best goal in the history of football couldn't hide the fact that this win happened only due to a joke of a ref

[Rob1981]

Oh please just ****ing **** off, we don't actually want to hear about Rickie ****ing Lambert. Why don't you actually properly analyse the game we've just watched.

[Orzelek]

Awful penalty decision. The ref saw that Brazil have almost no chance of scoring, so he had to do his magic. I blame Pletikosa for first and third goal though, especially for the third one. Croatia to win their remaining two games easily if they play like this, especially when Mario returns instead of Jelavić.

Can't remember a match when striker from both side were this terrible. Fred and Jelavić.

Spot on. If Croatia can continue like this they'll have a very good tournament

How are their other keepers? Pletikosa was really poor tonight, so a change might be good

[Orzelek]

Friends one of those conspiracy mentalists. Hilarious stuff, suggested they'd fix the entire tournament due to the implications it would cause if they were not to win.

Yeah, spending more money on the World Cup wouldn't upset anyone in Brazil

[TM]

do they do post-match interviews with coaches now or is it a bit like the NBA when they have a podium thing later for thoughts with journalists about?

haven't seen any of the coaches yet

[brenosantos]

I think Brazil deserved to win, but there was no penalty and the referee was very confused in their decisions. 2-1 is the fairest score.

[Jorg]

God, ITV are ***** aren't they!

[daylight]

Oh please just ****ing **** off, we don't actually want to hear about Rickie ****ing Lambert. Why don't you actually properly analyse the game we've just watched.

Never going to happen until England are on the plane home, even then you have to get lucky.

Simply terrible from ITV yet again, so many talking points but they actually spend more time talking about England than the actual game that we just watched.

[Rob1981]

Switching over to BBC2 for the highlights. Might just about find someone with something vaguely intelligent to say.

[Fabio MVP]

Spot on. If Croatia can continue like this they'll have a very good tournament

How are their other keepers? Pletikosa was really poor tonight, so a change might be good

Haven't seen much of Subašić and Zelenika, but I guess hes quite a bit better than those two, but for his 110th capr he should have done a lot better.

[daylight]

Yeah me too, hoping the BBC can at least focus on the actual game we have watched.

[Marc Albrighton]

Hulk, what does he do?

[Ricky Riccardo]

Horrible performance by the ref, Croatia very unlucky. Hopefully Brazil lose in the 2nd round and a team outside South America wins the cup.

[Big Geordie]

Unlucky Croatia. Good game, spoilt by a rotten penalty decision. Won't be the last time we'll see something like that over the next 4 weeks.

It's remarkable how much Brazil have changed as a team, since I was a kid. Far more European now in terms or their style and game. I know it's nothing new, but I yearn a bit for the days of Zico, Falcao and Socrates.

[Jorg]

Never going to happen until England are on the plane home, even then you have to get lucky.

Simply terrible from ITV yet again, so many talking points but they actually spend more time talking about England than the actual game that we just watched.

They are more bothered about showing elephants playing football!

[CaptainPlanet]

Hulk, what does he do?

Smash? .

[Animasta]

Smash? .

Quite right.

Smash them into the stands

[TM]

Switching over to BBC2 for the highlights. Might just about find someone with something vaguely intelligent to say.

Shearer and Murphy so I sort of doubt it, England camp will appear at some point as well

[Marc Albrighton]

Worst thing is blatant cheating and horrible refereeing will not be spoken of by fifa but they'll be quick to fine Croatia's manager:thdn:

[Confused Clarity]

Are BBC & ITV in the same Media Complex this time around? Chances they're getting pelted too?

[kpain16]

Haven't seen much of Subašić and Zelenika, but I guess hes quite a bit better than those two, but for his 110th capr he should have done a lot better.

Subašić plays for Monaco but he's still a poor keeper for this level. I'm almost positive he'll be benched next season. Pletikosa is vastly experienced and not worse than Subašić but both are not good enough for a decent NT. FFS Slovenia has 3 keepers that are better than ours. Incredible really that we can't develop a decent left back and a decent keeper (Delač ). Vrsaljko was good today though. Should be fixed as our left back until Srna retires.

[daylight]

Worst thing is blatant cheating and horrible refereeing will not be spoken of by fifa but they'll be quick to fine Croatia's manager:thdn:

In all fairness I am sure FIFA are using their Visa card right now to book the ref and his officials their flights home.

[Marc Albrighton]

In all fairness I am sure FIFA are using their Visa card right now to book the ref and his officials their flights home.

We can only hope.

[William Hall]

Are BBC & ITV in the same Media Complex this time around? Chances they're getting pelted too?

Pretty sure every broadcaster is at the same place.

We had Martin Tyler commentating in Australia.

[Cubiscus]

Half hoping Brzil lose in the last 16 now, needed a dive and a crazy run of poor decisions to win.

[Emersonlfc]

Really disappointed in ITV this evening.

[Baptista_8]

Half hoping Brzil lose in the last 16 now, needed a dive and a crazy run of poor decisions to win.

Not their fault though. Pletikosa needs replacing though

[Confused Clarity]

Really disappointed in ITV this evening.

What specifically?

It was pretty much what I expected from them.

[Big Geordie]

Really disappointed in ITV this evening.

Was even worse than I expected. Chiles, Townsend and Tyldsley are rotten. Too many ad breaks too.

[Butts]

Went into the game quite liking Brazil came out of it hoping they're out of this tournament ASAP, Neymar in particular making me feel that way. Referee absolutely disgraceful, red for Neymar, never a penalty and winning a header against a goalkeeper that already has the advantage of using his hands is never a foul either!

[PMLF]

Nice people seeing how Brazil's national team really are, the 'Real Madrid', etc.. of football, a team that might win but that can be as detestable as possible.