18.06.2014 01:55

Neymar the magician short of a trick

Group A

Brazil 0 Mexico 0

Match statistics

Brazil

Julio César, Dani Alves, Marcelo, Luiz Gustavo, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Ramires, (Bernard), Paulinho, Fred (Jô), Neymar, Oscar (Willian)

Coach: Luiz Felipe SCOLARI

Yellow cards: Thiago Silva, Ramires

Mexico

Ochoa, Aguilar, Layún, Moreno, Márquez, Rodríguez, Herrera (Fabián), Vázquez, dos Santos (Jiménez), Peralta (Hernández), Guardado

Coach: Miguel HERRERA

Yellow card: Aguilar, Vázquez

Ball possession: Brazil 53% Mexico 47%

Shots/on target: Brazil 15/6 Mexico 13/2

Corners: Brazil 4 Mexico 3

Fouls committed: Brazil 13 Mexico 18

Group A: Second round

Brazil 0 Mexico 0

Match statistics

Brazil

Julio César, Dani Alves, Marcelo, Luiz Gustavo, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Ramires, (Bernard), Paulinho, Fred (Jô), Neymar, Oscar (Willian)

Coach: Luiz Felipe SCOLARI

Yellow cards: Thiago Silva, Ramires

Mexico

Ochoa, Aguilar, Layún, Moreno, Márquez, Rodríguez, Herrera (Fabián), Vázquez, dos Santos (Jiménez), Peralta (Hernández), Guardado

Coach: Miguel HERRERA

Yellow card: Aguilar, Vázquez

Ball possession: Brazil 53% Mexico 47%

Shots/on target: Brazil 15/6 Mexico 13/2

Corners: Brazil 4 Mexico 3

Fouls committed: Brazil 13 Mexico 18

First round

Mexico 1 Cameroon 0

O. Peralta 61

Cameroon can say that they could have come away from this match with a point, and this is backed up by the match statistics: 10 shots for Cameroon, 4 on target, against nine shots from Mexico, 5 on. Cameroon had five corners to the Aztecs' two. Mexico, however, had two goals ruled out before Cameroon had a chance right at the end of the game when Ochoa somehow managed to save Benjamin Moukandjo's header in the top left corner of the goal.

Match statistics

Mexico

Ochoa, F. Rodriguez, Marquez (Capt), Herrera (Salcido), Layun, Dos Santos, Moreno, Guardado (Fabian), O. Peralta (Hernandez), Aguilar, Vazquez

Coach: Miguel HERRERA

Yellow card: Moreno

Cameroon

Itanjde, Assou Eketto, Nkoulou, Djeugoue (Mounkeu), Song (Webo), Moukandjo, Eto'o (Capt), Choupo-Moting, Chedjou, Mbia, Enoh

Coach: Volker FINKE

Yellow card: Nounkeu

Ball possession: Mexico 62% Cameroon 38%

Shots/on target: Mexico 9/5 Cameroon 10/4

Corners Mexico 2 Cameroon 5

Fouls committed Mexico 11 Cameroon 12

Brazil 3 Croatia 1

Neymar 29 Marcelo (own goal, o.g. 11)

Neymar 71 (pen)

Oscar 90

Hrvatska! This was the first roar the Arena Corinthians Stadium heard this evening as the 2014 FIFA World Cup kicked off with the Group A game between hosts Brazil and Croatia, when after ten minutes Marcelo poked a loose ball into his own net, the sequence of a Croatia counter-attack from Brazil's first corner of five on nine minutes.

Brazil kept pressing, despite the setback and after 29 minutes, the amazing Neymar equalized, three minutes after getting a yellow card for elbowing. His left-footed shot rebounded off the woodwork, leaving Croatia's solid keeper, Pletikosa, beaten.

In the second half, Neymar (penalty) and Oscar added two more goals for Brazil on 71 and 90 minutes, the last coming seconds after Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar made a crucial save.

Croatia will certainly prove a difficult opponent for Cameroon and Mexico in the same group but can hardly complain about this result, such was the dominance of Brazil's attacking display.

Match statistics

Brazil

Julio Cesar, Dani Alves, T. Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo, Hulk (Bernard), Paulinho (Hernanes), Fred, Neymar (Ramires), Oscar, L. Gustavo

Coach: Luiz Felipe SCOLARI

Yellow cards: Neymar, L. Gustavo

Croatia

Pletikosa, Vrsaljko, Perisic, Corluka, Lovren, Rakitic, Jelavic (Rebic), Modric, Srna, Olic, Kovacic (Brozovic)

Coach: Niko KOVAC

Yellow cards: Corluka, Lovren

Ball possession: Brazil 61% Croatia 39%

Shots/on target: Brazil 14/6 Croatia 11/3

Corners Brazil 7 Croatia 3