Written by: Armando Zamora • June 13, 2014• Top News World Cup

World Cup Game Analysis: Brazil v Croatia

In the first game of 2014 FIFA World Cup, hosts and tournament favorites, Brazil defeated their first opponent in Group A, Croatia with a final score of 3-1 but does the final score reflect the game play on the pitch?

Both teams lined up with a 4-2-3-1 formation and on paper Brazil was deemed the superior side but what we saw was far from convincing. While Brazil retained possession, took more shots on goal and more shots on target, they failed to gel together as a group. The style of play was not the familiar “Joga Bonito” that fans are used to seeing from Brazil. The Selecao played a slow game with a pace similar to that of 2013-2014 FC Barcelona, Neymar’s new club. And while Barca kept an incredible amount of possession throughout the season, they fell short in all their campaigns recording one of the worst campaigns in recent memory. Likewise, Brazil did very little with their possession and their most threatening attacking came from Oscar-not from Neymar, the man who was expected to play big. That’s not to take away from Neymar who scored two goals against Croatia, but aside from his two goals, Neymar struggled to create chances that challenged the Croatian defense. Brazil was not playing to the hype they were receiving and it was evident in the face of manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari that the team was not playing how he hoped they would. However, Brazil managed to win-albeit with help from the referee. A win is a win, no matter how ugly.

But Croatia didn’t play well either. A lack of confidence is what seemed to hold back the Croatians as they held back and defended deeply and with strength against a Brazilian side that struggled to figure out how to break a hole in their defense. Croatia did not maximize their possession of the ball. For the short increments of time that the Croatian national team had the ball, they quickly panicked and lunged the ball into center field hoping one of their forwards would pick up the ball and run into the goal. What they learned is that you can’t play like that in the World Cup. Not if you want to win. Instead of building up play or at least allowing time for a threatening attack to build, the Croatian side gave the ball away and set up camp to defend. It seemed as if they were hoping for a draw, accepting from before the whistle they could not beat Brazil in São Paulo.

What we learned from the opening match is that this Brazilian team, as of now, is beatable and that no group will be easy to claim.