Brazil starts their World Cup campaign with a 3/1 win over Croatia, but only a hugely controversial penalty decision helped them beat a very impressive and brave Croatia side. Croatia took the lead through a Marcelo own goal before star man, Neymar, leveled the scores late in the first half. With the clock ticking, the Brazilian players got more nervous as they were finding it extremely difficult to find a way through Croatia's back line until the referee gifted them a penalty in the 71st minute. Fred, who was having a below average game, received the ball inside the penalty area threw himself to ground after a minimal contact from Lovren, but the referee decided it was a penalty, much to the dismay of the Croatian players. Neymar stepped up and slotted home his second of the night even though the keeper nearly saved it. Man of the match, Oscar scored a last minute goal with a very clever finish from outside the box. The second match of the world cup witnessed more questions than answers in terms of refereeing. Mexico took on Cameroon in a must-win game for both teams given both of them will still face Brazil. Mexico's star, Dos Santos, had two wrongfully disallowed offside goals when replays showed he was perfectly placed on both occasions, but somehow the linesman denied him two 100% legitimate goals. However, there was no stopping this time for Mexico and, thanks to a Peralta strike in the 61st goal, they managed to collect a hugely deserved three points against a mediocre Cameroon. “Group B” witnessed one of the biggest surprises in the history of the competition as finalists of the last edition of the World Cup Spain and Holland faced each other in the opening game of the group in one of the most anticipated games of the group stages of the World Cup. The game certainly did not disappoint and even presented what will surely be one of the most shocking results in World Cup 2014. The champions took the lead via a penalty kick scored by Xabi Alonso after Diego Costa was fouled inside the box and seemed in total control of the game up until a superb header from Holland's skipper, Van Persie, leveled the scores in the last minute of the first half. From that minute until the end of the game, it was all about the Dutch side who tore the champions apart in every way possible. Four goals in the second half saw the game end in a 5/1 win for Van Gaal's side thanks to another Van Persie strike, two Robben strikes and a de Vrij header. No one saw this coming, even the most optimistic of Dutch fans. The disastrous defensive performance of Spain will raise plenty of questions, let alone Casillas' performance, which was nothing less than awful. Spanish fans certainly did not enjoy this one, but football fans around the world entirely enjoyed a breathtaking game. Still in “Group B,” Chile managed to hold their nerves to collect all three points against Australia, as they defeated them 3/1, thanks to a massive performance by Barcelona's star, Alexis Sanchez, who scored one and set up another. Chile went two goals up before Cahill pulled one back for Australia, who dominated from that point aiming to find an equaliser, but Chile held their nerves and scored the killer goals seconds before the end to seal a vital victory. Moving to “Group C”, the opening game of the group saw the Falcao-less Colombia destroy Greece as they defeated them by three goals to nothing thanks to a marvelous performance from the likes of James Rodriguez, who scored one and assisted another, and Pablo Armero, who scored the opening goal and tormented the opponents throughout the game. The other game in “group C” saw Ivory Coast taking on Japan hoping to start with a win that could very well put them in commanding position alongside Colombia. They fell behind as Honda scored a brilliant goal to put the Japanese side ahead in the first half that also saw Ivory Coast missing a chance after another as their manager Sabri Lamouchi opted to start with Drogba on the bench. In the second half the African side seemed too determined to get back in the game as they threw everything and everyone forward and managed to score two goals in two minutes through Bony and Gervinho from two headers, with the first in particular looking a class apart from Swansea City's star, Wilfried Bony. Drogba came on only two minutes before his side's equaliser and it seemed that the Japanese defenders were so concerned about seeing him on the pitch that they conceded the two goals straight away. Ivory Coast will surely fancy themselves to clinch a spot in the next round now after beating one of their main rivals for that spot. They still have to face a very strong Colombian side, but they should easily beat a mediocre Greece team. In “Group D” Costa Rica started their world cup campaign with a shocking win over a Suarez-less Uruguay side that looked far from a team and defended pathetically during the 90 minutes as they lost by three goals to one even though they finished the first half leading by a single goal scored from the spot kick by Cavani, after Lugano was fouled inside the box. However, they started the second half very badly and conceded two goals inside the first 15 minutes and never got going from that point. Cavani and Forlan did not do much in the game as the Uruguayan side clearly needed Suarez's sheer class in the game. They now have a very hard task ahead of them as they have to beat Italy and England to secure qualification to the second round which will be extremely difficult given their dismal defending and possible absence of the best striker in the world at the moment, Luis Suarez. In the other match of the group, which was also one of the most anticipated matches in the competition, Italy took on England hoping to maintain their excellent record against them. England has been consistently criticised in big competitions for their lack of belief and technical ability in the final third. However, this game was the exact opposite, as they probably played their best game under Roy Hodgson, but somehow left the game empty handed. Italy managed to snatch a 2/1 win in an utterly breathtaking encounter that saw both teams missing a chance after another, especially England, who looked extremely dangerous on the counter attack thanks to the magnificent Liverpool duo Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge, who scored England's goal. Italy took the lead in the 35th minute via a wonderful 20-yards shot from Claudio Marchisio against the run of play. However, there was no stopping for the English side that leveled the scored just two minutes later through Sturridge after a great cross from Wayne Rooney. England could have ended the first half leading but found Italy's goalkeeper, Sirigu, in fine form. The second half started brilliantly and saw some decent chances missed by both teams inside the first five minutes until Mario Balotelli put Italy ahead in the 50th minute. From that point till the end of the game it was all England attacking aggressively, but not finding an equalizer. Rooney missed a sitter minutes before the end. England will surely feel hard done by the result, but they can be more than proud of their performance and will certainly feel they have enough quality to beat Uruguay and Costa Rica to a place in round 16 alongside Italy. In “Group E,” the magnificent Karim Benzema led France to a 3/0 win over Honduras as he scored two and played a huge role in the third. The other game of the group saw Switzerland come from behind to beat Ecuador 2/1 with the last kick of the game to take a huge step towards qualification alongside France. “Group F” saw Lionel Messi play a starring role as he scored one and set up another as Argentina defeated a brave Bosnia side 2/1. The other match of the group ended in a tasteless 0-0 draw between Nigeria and Iran in a game that saw very few chances for both teams, who played as if they were more afraid of losing than looking for a win. Moving to “Group G” Germany started their World Cup campaign in style as they thrashed Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal by four goals to nothing thanks to a brilliant hat trick from Thomas Muller who finished World Cup 2010 as the top scorer. Portugal's Pepe was sent off when it was 2-0 for Portugal and it was game over at that point as the German side went on to add two more goals, in addition to missing plenty of clear-cut chances in a game that saw Cristiano Ronaldo totally isolated and not getting any service to make an impact on the game. The other match of the group was between Ghana and the USA and it ended in a 2-1 defeat for the African side that paid the price for starting too slowly. They managed to get back in the game and find a late equaliser in the 82minute, but the American team scored the winner just four minutes to collect maximum points from the game. The writer is a freelance journalist.
