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Brazil 1 - 0 Croatia

June 13th, 2006 | By: Zé Fernando | 110 Comments »

A car I saw on my way to school, with 2 hours left for the game to start A win is a win, but I can tell you that wasn’t what I expected. It could have been much worse, I think - at least it wasn’t a tie or a loss.

At times, Brazil performed really well. We saw many glimpses of the Ronaldinho we know from Barcelona. Brazil’s defence was pretty accurate many times, and midfield was pretty supportive in intercepting the ball.

The game had its many dull moments, however. Frequently, Brazil didn’t find enough space for passes and ended up losing possession of the ball or just kicking it back and forth. They weren’t so creative in finalizing, and the only goal on the match - by a perfect long kick by Kaká, with his left leg - was just a shot in the dark that ended up being more than the goalkeeper could handle. Adriano was too tough on the game and I was surprised he didn’t get a yellow card, and honestly I don’t know why Ronaldo even bothered walking into the field. Replacing him with Robinho could have come much earlier - Robinho tried hard many times, but the team was already too tired to follow him on the offensive effort.

Croatia did a lot of mistakes, but their players have shown they’re in the game as much as anyone else. They tried very hard, and didn’t get to score because of bad luck and because of some sharp defenses by Dida.

Like I said, a victory is a victory, but that wasn’t as good as I’d expect - I hope they do improve with time. And, even though it hurts me to say this, I hope Robinho starts on the main squad next time. Knowing Parreira, however, I know this is unlikely.

Your thoughts?

PS. Please refrain from posting spam for the same sites again and again on the comments. It’s starting to get annoying and I’ll edit them to remove links or just delete the comments.

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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 110 comments.

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By lemon | June 14th, 2006 at 6:23 pm

i strictly unsatisfied for Ronaldo’s playing, he seems to save his leg for club football, but he should think about his country first, and most of worlds people see only worldcup football, a few parcentage peoples watch club football, so we all expected that ronaldo will show his performance 100 percetage, but we all effortless!!
is there anybody wanna favour me!

By Chakan | June 14th, 2006 at 6:54 pm

dudde, u assume things that u dont know, ronaldo did just one shot on gol and him almost scored, if him did make that goal, everyone would say how deadly him is, older? this is bs dude, his age is not the problem, him just dont play anymore like b4 and him is not 100%, like i said him is kind like romario of 98′, but parreira wont take him from the team, so the best deal for brazil would be ronaldo and robinho on 1st half and then on 2nd adriando can replace ronaldo, cuz it obvious adriano and ronaldo dont work and never worked, its point less to argue the age or size, its how the players play the game, with adriano and ronaldo the attack get stuck, with robinho the attack have more movements, even if ronaldo walk on field, it will still better.

Posted from Brazil

By Chakan | June 14th, 2006 at 7:00 pm

btw there was a poll yesterday wich attack brazil should have, adriano and robinho won by far, Casa Grande have the same opnion, its not how good each player are but how it can fit to be the best in this case like casa grande said must be robinho + 1

Posted from Brazil

By fred | June 14th, 2006 at 8:12 pm

hey guys,

stop blubering over Ronaldo..he’s a fatty. Focus on the future of Brazilian football. Well done Croatia, those of us who aren’t blinded by our own biases know that Croatia played better. Even though my heart is with Brazil I somehow feel it is our time to fall. It was a good run but all things must eventually end. I am enjoying the tournament very much so far.

Posted from Canada

By Kern | June 14th, 2006 at 11:47 pm

To all the fans saying Croatia made the game ugly and ruined it with packing their defense… That may be true for teh first half, but we did far better in the second half when we were attacking, we also had more chances, we arn’t typical team that defends Brazil, we arn’t cowards and prooved it today. Any team that plays strict defense against Brazil is bound to lose at least 3-0. Marc and anyone else who agreed with him, stop crying just because your team played poorly and played poorly because another team made it so.

Posted from Canada

By Denis Susac | June 15th, 2006 at 1:01 am

CROATIA VS BRAZIL 0-1
CRAP I wish we atleast tied or won…

Brazil 3pts
Australia 3 pts
Croatia 0
Japan 0

hmmmm…not what I really wanted but there is still HOPE!! SO THAT BASICLY THE GOOD NEWS. Croatia didnt expect a win anyways they knew it will all be answerd when Croatia plays Japan on the 18th..If we play like we played against brazil, with a tight defense and allooot of attacking we’ll be able to beat them with ease.

so lets say we have a bad day and we tie Japan. Now the standings would look someting like this..

Brazil 3 pts
Australia 3pts
Croatia 1
Japan 1

While we were playing japan and tied, australia will mostlikely be losing against brazil.

So that leaves us with the australia match, wich we will win..and Japan will oviesly lose agianst brazil, so the standing will be something like this…..

Brazil 9pts
Croatia 4pts
Australia 3pts
Japan 1pt

We dont have anything to worry about, if we continue playing good the next round will be in our pocket, we just have to hope brazil beats both japan and australia, and then we’re good so even if we tie a game against jaan we’ll still win, but we wont we will win both games..

You know what I dont want to deal with a loss against japan and then having to beat australia 5-0..that would suck!!

Posted from United States

By Euler | June 15th, 2006 at 1:24 am

I agree Susac, no need to worry.

By Monique | June 15th, 2006 at 2:32 am

Wow!!! I came to this website hoping to share in some friendly discussions but I’m sad to see so many hateful insults. Let’s remember that the world cup is a time for people to come together in the spirit of sportsmanship. Both teams played great, with pretty much equal possession of the ball and although Brasil will always be my favorite, I have a lot of respect for Croatia and the skill and energy they played with. I agree that Ronaldo did not play his best, but lets be loyal fans and support the players with some dedication. No one can be a superstar everyday. Props to those of you who are being respectful on this blog.

By beni | June 15th, 2006 at 12:34 pm

brazil wird weltmeister sie haben eine gute trainer und eine gute goali dida

Posted from Switzerland

By Euler | June 15th, 2006 at 1:46 pm

Das ist sehr nett von dir, Beni. Ich hoffe das du Recht hast. Danke!

By Victor | June 15th, 2006 at 3:22 pm

Hi,

The brazil team needs rivaldo badly . In 2002 ronaldo performed due to assists from rivaldo. Without him now their is none to feed him . Also Adriano is not fit to play at this level. He is not able to keep possesion of the ball for once in the match with croatia. He should be left out and robinho should be in the next game.

If Rivaldo cannot be brought back they should consider Gilberto Silva in the next game in place of Ze roberto.

Also Emerson does not look fit to play world cup . I am sure brazil defence will have tough time in coming matches.

Posted from India

By Soze | June 15th, 2006 at 4:02 pm

Ein trainer und ein goali machen allein keine Mannschaft

By zee | June 15th, 2006 at 6:46 pm

ronaldos the best striker in da woled.
he will win the golden boot,
and is way better than ronaldinho will ever be!!!!!

Posted from United Kingdom

By fred | June 15th, 2006 at 8:30 pm

can’t we all just get along? Winning the world cup doesn’t mean any team is superior it’s just an excuse to drink and have a good time.

Posted from Canada

By persian | June 16th, 2006 at 2:24 am

zee heck no ronaldinho is greatest ever even pele says it

Posted from United States

By persian | June 16th, 2006 at 2:26 am

adriano is good i dont wat ur talking about he did more than ronaldo

Posted from United States

By Arjuno | June 16th, 2006 at 5:38 pm

The 1st match was just a beginning - nothing more. Croatia is a tough team, they placed 3rd in the ‘98 WC when they were knocked out by France in the semis 2-1. So even the Fench only beat them by 1.

For the Brasil-haters out there, keep believing Brasil is overrated and weak…if that’s what you need to give you hope that your team will succeed.

For the Brasil fans, Brasil has 8 straight WC match wins - no other team in history has equaled that record. That’s a fact that has nothing to do with opinions about how the team and its players. There is pressure on Brasil, but they are a seasoned team with a great tradition and excellent skills - what more could we ask?

By Euler | June 16th, 2006 at 10:40 pm

How many languages does Soze speak?

Hey Arjuno! I love to read comments like yours. Brazilians are very demanding of the national team and sometimes we can use a message like yours.

But Argentina is now the team to be beaten (thank God). Let’s see who is the best on the pitch!

By Denis Susac | June 17th, 2006 at 4:44 am

I KNOW YO DONT CARE BUT I SPEAK 3 LANGUAGES!!

Croatian
German
Emglish

BUt on my resume it sais,

Croatian Halo
Bosnian Sta Ima
Serbian Gdje si bona
English Hello
German Wie gehts
Austrian Was machst du
British What is up
Australian Good day mate

lol, TOLP THAT …IF YOU CAN lol

Posted from United States

By zé | June 17th, 2006 at 6:38 am

I speak the language of love.

By Euler | June 17th, 2006 at 7:08 am

Very funny guys!

By FIFAworldcup.com - The Un Official Site of Fifa World Cup 2006 | June 17th, 2006 at 9:15 am

Ronaldo Makes Me Sick

I cannot believe how a talent like Ronaldo would show up overweight in the greatest sporting event in the world. The 1996, 1997 and 2002 World Footballer of the Year was a disgrace in the first game against Croatia with Kaka providing the only goal fo…

Posted from United States

By 6 x Champions | June 18th, 2006 at 3:01 am

i ask for the amricans who called bull**** the brazilian national team, how can you define the us team?

UMA GRANDESSISSEMA MERDA !!!

so, we didnt smash croatia. whats the problem ? we got the 3 points, thats whats really matters.

in the end we’ll see who’s
the best…

Posted from Brazil

By Mano | June 18th, 2006 at 6:59 am

Australia will belt Brazil! Ronaldo is injured! Cahill and Viduka are on fire! u guys goign down 3 nil!

GO AUSSIES!

Posted from Australia