Neymar Double Steers Brazil Past Croatia

My ball! Neymar and David Luiz

His nation’s hopes were on him, and he never disappointed. Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, commonly known as Neymar, was the star man as Brazil opened its gates to the 2014 FIFA World Cup with a win over Croatia at the Arena de Sao Paulo.

The 22-year-old netted twice to help the Selecao defeat a decent Croatian side 3-1 in the opening match of this year’s spectacle. That score line, however, was deceptive as the European outfit had the hosts on the cosh for most parts of the game and could have at least grabbed a point from the highly entertaining match. 

After the usual early nervous exchanges, the hosts fell behind with 11 minutes on the clock after Marcelo unluckily directed a cross from Ivica Olich into his own net. The goal livened up the game with Brazil looking for a quick response with Oscar coming close with a shot inside the penalty area.

The equalizer came at the half hour mark, Neymar beating Croatia keeper Stipe Pletikosa with a shot from outside the area after being fed by Oscar. 

The rest of the half had little action and the monotony (as far as goals are concerned) continued until the 70th minute when a moment of controversy saw Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura award the hosts a soft penalty after Fred went down under the challenge of Dejan Lovren.

Neymar stepped up to slot it home though Pletikosa got a good hand on it but not good enough to keep it from hitting the back of the net. Luiz almost made it three for the Selecao but David Luiz headed over Oscar’s pinpoint cross. The Croats must have felt even more hard done when Ivan Perisic found the back of the net only for the goal to be disallowed after Olic was adjudged to have fouled Julio Cesar.

Oscar who was at the center of all of Brazil's attacks got rewarded in stoppage time when he coolly slotted in for the hosts third goal to cap off a man of the match performance and help Brazil start their campaign with a 3-1 win.

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