Not the Start You Would Want

It's just the first day of the World Cup, only one match has been played, and Brazil has already been helped by outside forces to win a match.

And I'm not talking about supporters.

It's exactly what I, and probably quite a few other people, are afraid of, concerning this World Cup: The Brazilians want to win so bad that they would probably stop at nothing to get this trophy, too.
...And we all know how honest FIFA members can be.

Anyway, Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura, assistants Toru Sagara and Toshiyuki Nagi, and fourth official Alireza Faghani, have all contributed in various degrees to a disgraceful 3 points for Brazil here, and a reasonably disappointing start for unlucky Croatia. A Croatian side which, after being lucky enough to just squeeze through the European qualifiers, as the second-placed team to reach the playoffs with the least points, and following a best possible subsequent draw, which had them face Iceland, saw their luck run out in December, when they were drawn to play the overly-ambitious hosts first at World Cup 2014.

But Croatia started well enough, and surprised the Brazilian defense after only 10 minutes, when a quick attack of theirs fooled Marcelo into a late reaction that did no better than promptly deflecting the ball into his own net.

Brazil tied the match relatively quickly, 19 minutes later, after physical gameplay during which the referees, of course, would always try their best to generally only penalize the European outsiders for most rough challenges, letting the hosts impose their dominance more easily.

However, half-time came and passed, and then 20-something more minutes of the second half passed too, and the teams were still tied at 1-1. That could not be, right? The Brazilians were getting anxiously worried.
Enter fred the actor, who got the referee to award a penalty that would have never been given for any other team at this World Cup. Or anywhere else, as a matter of fact, where there is no cheating. Consider, if you will, if the same interaction between the Croatian player and the Brazilian player had happened anywhere else on the pitch, or if it the situation was reversed and a Croatian forward had been touched so lightly in the Brazilian penalty area. Would it have been a penalty against Brazil? (No need for me to answer this explicitly.)

The penalty was converted, so no divine luck there for Croatia, either.

But there is more, sadly. With only a few minutes left to play, that is in minute 84, the Croatians were also disallowed a seemingly-good equalizer. Their players were furious, but what are you gonna do? Playing in a World Cup, in Brazil? You just can't spoil the party!...
(Read more about the play-by-play on the UK Telegraph website.)

With such winds in their sails, no wonder Brazil went on to get a third, too, in injury time.

The saddest thing, in the long run, may be that people are going to forget, and they are going to forgive. They might say brazil was entitled to win anyway, which in my opinion - using that as an argument in favour of letting their outside help slide - is a terrible thing to do.

If Brazil keeps doing this at this World Cup, they surely will push aside anyone trying to challenge them for the title. But that's not what the sport is about. Big teams should not get favouritism from officials, in order to win even when they screw up.

Highlights: