DUTCH, ITALIANS AND GERMANS MOST IMPRESSIVE SO FAR

D. Ray Morton, 18th June 2014.

Germany's Thomas Müller's hat-trick against Portugal makes him top goalscorer and brings his total World Cup goals to eight, now level with the legendary Diego Maradona

Since our last post about Italy's victory over a game but predictable England, we have seen every World Cup team in action now. We have seen Belgium, many peoples' "dark horses" to go far in tournament. We watched as Germany impressed against a self-destructive Portuguese side unable to get the best out of Cristiano Ronaldo. France and Karim Benzema strutted their stuff against violent minnows Honduras and Argentina, thanks to a moment of magic from none other than Lionel Messi, put away a resolute Bosnia & Herzegovina side. Mexico and Brazil were the first two teams to play their second match yesterday and the hosts/favourites failed to impress in a nil-all draw.

Having seen everyone, the three most impressive teams have been Italy, the Netherlands (who thrashed champions Spain) and Germany with Thomas Müller in top poaching form. Italy deserve credit in that they took care of England despite missing Gianluigi Buffon in goal and having to field a back four that had question marks hanging over it. The likes of Matteo Darmian and Gabriel Paletta have been steady, however. There is no doubt that the Netherlands' hammering of Spain has been the stand-out performance of the competition and Germany, though Portugal really were masters of their own undoing, were firm and incisive.

Brazil are a team that should be worrying at this point. Mexico managed to hold them to a scoreless draw thanks to a fine performance from goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa but the seleção were hardly unlucky in their stalemate. Fred had another poor performance and this time there was no cheap award of a penalty. A matter of concern is that the only real back-up for him is former Manchester City flop, Jô. Provided a team can keep Neymar occupied out left, Brazil are offering very little in attack at the moment and must be counting their lucky stars that they were handed such an easy victory in their opening match thanks to some shady refereeing. Things will have to be shaken up and serious consideration must be given to starting the likes of Willian and Fernandinho, players who could offer more creativity than Paulinho, Luiz Gustavo or Ramires.

Tonight's games see Louis van Gaal's Netherlands against Australia (5pm GMT), Spain with a chance to bounce back against Chile (8pm GMT) and Croatia's chance of redemption against a dull Cameroon side (11pm GMT). Vicente del Bosque's defending champions are hanging in there and need a massive performance against Chile. Though many have them written off after their embarrassing opening defeat, they have the quality within their squad to fight back and they could still take that second place position. Assuming Brazil win their group, a repeat of the 2013 Confederations Cup final of Brazil versus Spain would be a mouth-watering second round prospect. Many expected they would not meet until the tournament decider on July 13th but now it is looking like neither team are good enough to win this thing outright.

BRAZIL PREVAIL IN WORLD CUP OPENER

D. Ray Morton, 13th June 2014.

Neymar got his brace against Croatia but Brazil were far from impressive in general

The 2014 incarnation of the FIFA World Cup kicked off yesterday after the bells, whistles and general nonsense of the opening ceremony ended. When the football actually got under way, hosts Brazil managed to dispatch enthusiastic underdogs Croatia with a 3-1 victory having gone a goal behind early on.

Brazil were gifted a victory over a hardly undeserving Croatian side who will feel aggrieved at some highly questionable refereeing decisions. It only took Croatia eleven minutes to take the lead. Brazil started nervously, as evidenced by some of the facial expressions in the tunnel before kick-off. They had been inefficient in their possession and Ivica Olic broke down the left for the visitors and managed to centre towards Nikica Jelavic. Jelavic made a weak connection with the cross but it was enough to guide it onto the toes of the on-rushing Marcelo who was left with the misfortune of scoring an own goal.

Brazil's equaliser came in the 29th minute, against the run of play perhaps, when Neymar managed to beat Stipe Pletikosa from distance with a scuffed left foot effort. Pletikosa's positioning throughout the night had been poor and, refereeing decisions aside, his dismal performance might have been enough alone to lose it for the Croatians.

The true turning point of the match did not come until twenty minutes before the end. Fred, having miscontrolled a ball in the opposition's penalty area, backed into Dejan Lovren and hit the deck as if he had been shot. Lovren's ever-so-slightly raised hands were enough for the Japanese referee to point to the spot. A simply ludicrous decision which spoiled an intriguing football match until that point. Croatia had played a neat short passing game, the now shaven-headed Luka Modric impressing with his all-round orchestration of the game, but now they found themselves 2-1 behind thanks to Neymar's penalty.

With the wind taken out of Croatia's sails, Oscar managed to extend the lead in injury time and there was even a question of a foul in the lead up to that one too. 3-1 to Brazil and a brace for Neymar. That would almost seem predictable to someone who just glanced at the scoreline but the match as a whole told a very different story. Modric had been the best player on the pitch, not Neymar. Brazil's superstar had a decent game, troubling defenders with his agility but offered very little threat. He was made to look good by Pletikosa's shortcomings. Even the penalty had uncertainty smeared all over it. Neymar took the most ridiculous of run-ups and managed to squeeze it past the keeper despite getting a full hand on the ball.

This was not a great showcase for the game as a World Cup opener. The casual fan might have enjoyed Brazil's comeback victory but there was nothing too heroic about it thanks to some shady officiating. Let us hope that this does not become a theme for the tournament where certain teams get preferential treatment. Usually teams that FIFA have an interest in. We do not want another 2002 World Cup farce.