The World Cup 2014’s opening game was ruined by some awful officiating by referee Yuichi Nishimura, who arguably cost Croatia an upset victory over home nation Brazil.
During the 3-1 victory for Brazil, Nishimura chose not to show Neymar a red card after he elbowed Luka Modric in the face, wrongly awarded a penalty to the hosts after Fred dived to the ground in the six-yard box, and disallowed Ivica Olic’s late goal due to an incredibly dubious”foul” on goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
Croatia were granted the upper hand in the early stages of the game following an own goal from Marcelo, but a brace from Neymar, who arguably shouldn’t have been on the pitch following his foul on Modric, and a late goal from Oscar saw Brazil snag the 3 points.
Understandably, Croatia coach Niko Kovac was furious with the officiating exhibited in the match, saying: “If that’s a penalty, then we can just stop playing football right now. Let’s play basketball instead. It’s shameful. We talk about respect, but there wasn’t any respect for Croatia.
“If that’s how we start the World Cup, then we may as well give up and go home now.”
He added: “I must say the referee was completely out of his depth. If someone’s not up to scratch to referee the first game then find someone else. Two-and-a-half billion people saw this wasn’t a penalty.”
Croatia’s next game will be against Cameroon on Wednesday (June 18th), while Brazil will face Mexico on Tuesday (June 17th).
Photos: Getty Images
