Neymar shines; ‘relief’ for Marcelo after own goal
Sao Paulo: Five-time champions Brazil brushed aside the embarrassment of opening the football World Cup with an own goal to defeat a resolute Croatia 3-1 and set the ball rolling in the biggest sporting spectacle on earth here.
As expected, Brazil opened the scoring but much to the horror of the packed stadium, it ended up being a goal for Croatia when Marcelo passed the ball, which had deflected off Nikica Jelavic’s feet, into his own net.
But wonder boy Neymar expectedly emerged as the hero as he rose to the occasion by scoring an equaliser before converting a highly controversial penalty to send the 60,000 plus gathering into an ecstatic frenzy at the Corinthians arena.
The 22-year old, playing his first World Cup game, was under tremendous pressure and scrutiny for his prodigious talent and the star Barcelona striker did exactly what was expected of him.
To put the icing on the cake, Oscar, whose selection was debated, toed the ball from a distance into the goal post in dying moments to complete the win.
Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura though was dubbed as villain for his dubious decision to award penalty, leaving Croatian team and their fans heartbroken. Fred had backed into Croatian defender Dejan Lovren and fell over, an act which Nishimura punished.
“If anybody saw that was a penalty, let them raise their hand. I cannot raise my hand. I didn’t see it,” Croatian coach Niko Kovac fumed.
But in one of the most exciting opening games in a World Cup, witnessed by 12 heads of states, Brazil made a prefect start in their quest to lift the Cup for a record sixth time.
The victory triggered celebration across Sao Paulo when hours before the opening ceremony, police had to fire tear gas and rubber bullets to defuse a fresh protest near a subway station.
The vibrant opening ceremony encapsulated the colour, culture and nature of Brazil, hosting the big football party first time since 1950.
Thousands of football lovers from across the world thronged the Corinthians Arena and watched the spectacle unfold with invigorating enthusiasm. However, a few stands were still empty when the 30-minute ceremony began.
Earlier, the Cup opener wasn’t meant to start this way for Brazil.
Defender Marcelo turned and stared off into the distance, his eyes wide open in disbelief after his own goal early in the opening game of Brazil’s great World Cup party.
“It was kind of sad,” he said.
It was almost devastating for the home team.
The vast majority of the 62,000 fans packed into Itaquerao Stadium on Thursday were just as stunned by the 11th-minute error and Croatia’s surprise lead. This was not how they saw it going on opening night.
The Real Madrid player stood still for a moment, bewildered, after skewing his attempted clearance past goalkeeper Julio Cesar and into his own net in the first World Cup game in Brazil in 64 years.
Cesar glared at him, then pushed his hands downward in a calming motion toward his teammate.
“It was very tense,” Marcelo said. “The game was very intense.
“I stayed calm because if I let myself get down I would have hurt the team. It’s not the first time that this has happened, so you have to stay relaxed to help the team.”
Luckily for Marcelo, and the country that longs to win the World Cup on home soil, forward Neymar rescued the game with two goals and Oscar sealed a 3-1 win.
That final, victory-clinching goal prompted Marcelo to run and leap into the arms of Cesar, his despair turned to joy. He fell to his knees, arms pumping out in front of him, and kissed his shirt.