FIFA World Cup 2014: The opener Brazil-Croatia

10. We are going to scrutinize the teams and the players, to evaluate them and figure out which team was best and who was worthy to become the best player in the end of day. Each team will get maximum 1 point per half for their defence, midfield, attack and interplay. The players can maximum get 1 point per half. Here we go:

Brazil-Croatia
3-1.
A controversial win for Brazil in the opening match of the World Cup. The hosts didn’t show the powerful football expected, but 3 points are a good start. Neymar and Co. are surely going to get better after each game. As for Croatia, Niko Kovac’s team showed brave football, but the penalty given by the Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura killed the team.

 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Official Book

Defence: 0,5 – 0,5
Midfield: 1   - 1
Attack: 1 – 0,5
Interplay: 1 – 1
Total: 3,5 – 3  

10. Neymar (BRA) 1
11. Oscar (BRA) 1
18. Olic (CRO) 1
11. Srna (CRO) 1
10. Modric (CRO) 0,5
4. David Luiz (BRA) 0,5
7. Rakitic (CRO) 0,5
4. Perisic (CRO) 0,5   


9. Cesc Fabregas has signed a deal with Chelsea and will represent the London-based club from the next season.  

8. The Japanese star Keisuke Honda has shared his thoughts with the Japanese media. To the question about his current form the Milan player has answered that he will be in his best form by the final match. Interesting to know which team is he going to play for in the final.  

7. Before introducing the teams getting involved in the World Cup soon, there is this news, claiming to be news of the day: Andrea Pirlo has officially announced his retirement from international football. The Juventus player is one of the 4 Italians in this World Cup, who hold the title of World Champions. The Maestro has played 109 matches for Itraly, scoring 13 goals. Enjoy Pirlo’s last moments in a major tournament.

6. One of the traditional World Cup participants Mexico appeared in the same group with the hosts Brazil, which automatically assumes that Miguel Herrera’s side will try to fight for the second ticket to the Play-offs. Mexico holds a great result of qualifying from the group stage in each and every World Cup they participated since the home World Cup of 1986. The statistics and the gold medals of the London Olympics are the main strengths of the team this year, comprising of mostly young players of 23-25 age. The captain is the 35-year-old former Barcelona player Rafa Marquez. Javier Hernandez and Giovanni Dos Santos are already in the line with players having good World Cup experiences.

 The Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ Fact File

 5. Cameroon is probably luckier than Croatia and Mexico, as the Africans have the chance to solve their problems in the first two matches, before they meet Brazil. So the motivation to defeat the Mexicans is huge. The Lions have left the tournament after the group stage since the shocking quarterfinal achievement back in 1990. It is not a fact that this is going to be Cameroon’s year, however, the German coach Volker Finke has got some experienced players from top European leagues. The captain Samuerl Eto’o is accompanied by Nicolas N’Koulou of Marseille, Joel Matip of Schalke 04 and Alex Song of Barcelona. There are also youngsters ready for a breakthrough, among which Edgar Salli, belonging to Monaco, and Vincent Aboubakar of Lorient.  

4. The World Cup holders will begin the defence of their title on Friday, meeting the vice champions of the world from the Netherlands. Having the same coach, the same side and the same attitude, Spain has to be considered to be a real candidate for yet another title. Having such heavyweights as Casillas, Ramos, Iniesta, Xavi and many more, it is easy to understand why stars like Isco, Llorente, Negredo and Soldado were not able to qualify for Del Bosque’s final squad. The most interesting part related to the Spanish squad is going to be the introduction of the naturalized Brazilian Diego Costa. Del Bosque believes that the Atletico Madrid forward is going to fit into his scheme. Iker Casillas holds the record of most matches played for the Spanish national team with his 154 caps. And David Villa has scored 58 times for Spain. These two achievements


are surely going to improve during the tournament.

3. Despite the two major injuries of Rafael van der Vaart and Kevin Strootman, the Dutch national side has got plenty of talents to watch in this World Cup. However, this is going to be a new Netherlands side, built by Louis van Gaal. The upcoming Manchester United manager was asked to take the charge of the Oranje after the team performances were declining under Bert van Marwijk. And here it comes the new Netherlands team lead by captain Robin van Persie, who, together with Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Dirk Kuyt will try to be an example for the young and inexperienced players. The new generation of Dutch stars includes highly rated players Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum, still representing the Eredivisie.  

2. Chile was one of the most impressive minor teams in South Africa four years ago. Marcelo Bielsa’s side was knocked out in the second round. Chile managed to change a couple of coaches afterwards. Currently it is the Argentine specialist Jorge Sampaoli, who is leading Chile. We will not see the two Fiorentina stars legendary David Pizarro and the talented Matias Fernandes in Brazil, however the Juventus fighter Arturo Vidal managed to recover from the injury. The captain and goalkeeper Claudio Bravo needs 6 more matchers for the national team to become its all-time record holder. The other stars holding the team on their shoulders are the former Sevilla player Gary Medel, the other Juventus delegate Mauricio Isla and the Barcelona-man Alexis Sanchez, who might also change his address to Turin soon. The man to watch could be Eduardo Vargas, currently playing in Valencia. Many experts name Chile to advance in expense of one of the European giants of group B.  

1. Australia should be one of the unluckiest teams of the tournament, together with Costa Rica. The contenders of the socceroos are Spain, Netherlands and Chile, teams, the international football experience of which can by no means be compared to the one of Australia’s. According to transfermarkt.de, the total value of the whole Australian team is around 21,5 million euro, which is twice as less as Arturo Vidal’s value. Well, then why not give the youngsters a chance to get some experience? Especially the defence is going to be busy during this World Cup, and there are at least two young goalkeepers Mitchell Langerak and Mathew Ryan, who get this chance to demonstrate the world the best of their qualities. The coach Angelos Postecoglou has decided to give younger players a chance to obtain some experience. We will not meet Chelsea’s Mark Schwarzer or Aston Villa’s ex-player Brett Holman, but Mark Bresciano and Tim Cahill are in Brazil.