Brazil V Croatia (spoilers)

[Toge]

8PM KO

Probable Teams:
Brazil: Dida, Cafu, Lucio, Juan, Roberto Carlos, Emerson, Ze Roberto, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Adriano. :notworthy

Croatia: Pletikosa, Simic, Kovac, Simunic, Srna, Tudor, Kovac, Babic, Kranjcar, Klasnic, Prso. :|

I don't see why Brazil can't drop Ze Roberto and play Juninho.

[mjb1975]

Juninho's a helluva a player to bring on though! I'd be happy to see him start and hope that Brazil get loads of free kicks! :D

I'll be cheering on Croatia here (kinda my second team) but can't see them getting anything. Could be a good game though.

[evilsly]

no Kleberson

:suspect:


;)

[unrealnils]

ohhhhh my pes team comes up againts kaka

Big question is will we see bikemalonic anyone :D

[Doll]

Brazil: Dida, Cafu, Lucio, Juan, Carlos, Ze Roberto, Emerson, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Adriano, Ronaldo. Subs: Cicinho, Cris, Fred, Gilberto, Julio Cesar, Juninho, Luisao, Mineiro, Ricardinho, Robinho, Rogerio, Silva.

Croatia: Pletikosa, Simunic, Robert Kovac, Tudor, Simic, Srna, Babic, Nico Kovac, Kranjcar, Prso, Klasnic. Subs: Balaban, Bosnjak, Butina, Didulica, Ivan Leko, Jerko Leko, Modric, Olic, Seric, Tokic, Tomas, Vranjes.

[scottwilson82]

Come on Dado :thumbs:

[Prufrock]

Wow...a sea of red and white shirts in the stands!

[Greemie666]

5 minutes in and already 20 times better than France/Swizerland.

[scottwilson82]

5 minutes in and already 20 times better than France/Swizerland.

Only 20 times???

[basegreen]

I'm just defrosting after the France game.

[Greemie666]

Ronaldinho looks like shelly duval in the Shining.

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/2546/lookalike7az.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Midge]

Hubba Hubba :D

[Chuckman]

Easily the most enjoyable game of the day and oh look, a gratuitous shot of two Brazilian beauties! :thumbs:

[t@xman]

OMG, these 2 are the most iritating commentators the world has ever known! Somebody shoot me!!!!!


edit: Just realised you can swap the commentary to Martin Jol on 5live (if you're watching on digital). :clap:

[robzinski]

OMG, these 2 are the most iritating commentators the world has ever known! Somebody shoot me!!!!!


edit: Just realised you can swap the commentary to Martin Jol on 5live (if you're watching on digital). :clap:

I lasted until Motson said that Ronaldinho was Ze Roberto, and switched him off. Just got the crowd noise on now.

Heh, on this option you get to hear the stadium announcer pronounce Kaka's name as Caaaaar-Caaaaar.

[Alan b]

So that is Brazil off and running then...

[Greemie666]

Top class goal.

[Jacob]

I've only got analogue so I'm having to get my commentary from the radio :nuts:.

[nemo5000]

OMG, these 2 are the most iritating commentators the world has ever known! Somebody shoot me!!!!!


edit: Just realised you can swap the commentary to Martin Jol on 5live (if you're watching on digital). :clap:


Motty, and especially Lawrensens, fawning over Brazil is quite off putting. They are awful.

[unrealnils]

I've only got analogue so I'm having to get my commentary from the radio :nuts:.
I have to do this when i watch upstairs and bit of a shame that the radio is a second earlier then the screen :nuts:

[gjkendall]

Lawrensen is nearly as bad as Pleat...and that's saying something!

[KiLeAk]

Ronaldo is cracking me up! Has he even broke into a fast walk yet!?

[unrealnils]

Gotta respect the croats here there playing really well considering who they are playing !!

[john316]

Ronaldo looked even slower than Maradona in that recent Soccer Aid game :gag:

Subbed now though!

[Mondo]

Ronaldo looked even slower than Maradona in that recent Soccer Aid game :gag:

Subbed now though!

Cant believe he was started.

[unrealnils]

God Ronaldhino can be a mardy sod when he gets takled/foul hes grabbing the ball shouting at the ref !!

[john316]

God Ronaldhino can be a mardy sod when he gets takled/foul hes grabbing the ball shouting at the ref !!

Him and Henry are the same sort of players - you start kicking them and they go off into a tantrum. Problem being that they can be so fast that just fouling them can be hard! :D

[Bender]

Boring game overall.

[john316]

What a struggle that was for Brazil - but the 3 Rs cannot be that ineffective again surely?

[Alan b]

Job done for Brazil then, not the best game in the world. Croatia weren't bad and perhaps they deserved something out of the game.

[Doll]

Fat Ron was an embarassment, I think if the Aussies play their agressive game at the weekend they could make it awkward.

[rawowl]

But England got slated for winning !!!! great support for the nation YES

[Dan]

Croatia deserved a draw. Ronaldo shouldn't even be in the squad, he's clearly in very poor condition.

[soberion]

Dull evenings football overall, I think we'd been spoiled up till tonight.

I did like Lawros comment as Ron came off "he's moving faster now than he has all game"

[mjb1975]

Croatia were very unlucky there. Didn't create a huge number of chances and those that they did went straight at the keeper, but I thought they had enough of the ball to deserve a draw.

And that would've been funny.

Brazil were largely poor, Kaka perhaps the exception. I've liked the reffing so far - they're not taking any falling to the floor but Brazil to tend to go down easy and moan a lot (Mr Ronaldinho especially) so it was a shame to see them get so many free kicks. Made it a very stop-start game.

Still, promising for Croatia and they could only ever expect to come second so look good enough to qualify. That'll depend on how Australia play against them.

[nemo5000]

The Croatian supporters made it a great atmosphere, and they deserved at least a draw.

[Prufrock]

Is it me, or have none of the so called "top teams" played well in their opening games? Yeah, Germany scored 4 goals, but against who? They also let in 2! We didn't exactly play well in our game. France was crap. Holland was mediocre. Brazil really didn't deserve the win just now. Even Argentina didn't exactly shine. What's going on? I didn't mention Italy/Ghana because I didn't watch any of the match

[Toge]

Brazil were Kaka!

[Bender]

Argentina showed the best team play so far, slick passing...

Mind you this is the WC, don't expect CL levels of excitement until the last top few teams play against each other, even then the game is probably gonna be ruined by the sheer summer heat for games played during the day.

[wayne42]

I think Motson broke a new record tonight. He lasted 23 mins into the game before mentioning "Rooney". I think his previous best was 50 secs.

[BlueDwarf]

That pitch invader was bizarre. All of a sudden this guy in jeans just runs past the ref and the players :lol: How on earth did he get on the pitch?
Mind you, same could be said about Ronaldo...

[dali]

The best game I've seen so far was Mexico vs Iran !!!

[Pisces Iscariot]

The most running Ronaldo managed in the game was his jog off the pitch when he was subbed. For once Ian Wright was spot on, it was embarrassing to watch! It was like a great player at the end of days who still has the technique but can't cope physically anymore and he's only 29! If Brazil stick with him then they won't win the world cup.

Croatia played well at times but it was another example of team not capitalising on any of their openings.

[morleyian]

The most running Ronaldo managed in the game was his jog off the pitch when he was subbed.

Way to steal the commentator's line!

[Pisces Iscariot]

Way to steal the commentator's line!
Not the commentator I was listening to! :p

[Idle Child]

I'm not sure why all the televesion pundits hype Brazil up continually so that the viewers should expect a goal-fest everytime Brazil play. There's no doubting their quality, but they are a so-so bunch when it comes to their effort and focus. Apart from Ronaldhino and Kaka, with some nice play from Roberto Carlos, there was nothing much else to Brazil. They always seem to never be as good as their hype suggests in the group stages, but like winners have a habit of picking up a win from a mediocre performance.

Ronaldo is nowhere near his best. He looks like a striker in decline. His weight seems to be a problem, he did not look match fit and looked relieved to be subbed. Perhaps it's the immense pressure he's under, and we're seeing shades of the WC final '98 when the pressure got the better of him? Either way, that can't be good news for Brazil, however it could turn out to be great news for the other countries in this tournament.

Crotia had the measure of Brazil to be sure (just like Turkey in the last world cup's opening group stage game), but came away with nothing because they should have really been more decisive infront of net and put away atleast a goal. However, simple fact remains, that there's not much the Croatians could do to stop Kaka's well placed shot - there's not much any keeper in the world could have done.

[soberion]

Crotia had the measure of Brazil to be sure (just like Turkey in the last world cup's opening group stage game), but came away with nothing because they should have really been more decisive infront of net and put away atleast a goal. However, simple fact remains, that there's not much the Croatians could do to stop Kaka's well placed shot - there's not much any keeper in the world could have done.

That's the worst/best thing about Brazil. they can play like Bolton for 85 minutes then produce a sublime bit of skill to steal the game.

[Hood]

Slightly off topic. To the many PES players on this forum who play Master League: Kranjcar from the Croatian team is an excellent signing. :thumbs:

[Toge]

Haha... what's his growth rate like? :dork:

[unrealnils]

I cant belive Ronaldo is 29 i thought he was older

[Hood]

Haha... what's his growth rate like? :dork:

For me at least his growth chart was a very fast improvement period but with a peak that lasts for about ten seasons. :) :dork: :dork: :dork:

[Peter UK]

Had him as a 9/2 anytime scorer last night. Thought that header was going in!

[grade15]

I figured out why Ronaldo, didn't even make a jog in the game! I think he even walked away from Croatia’s player when they had the ball.... 1a) he is unfit and terrible injuries but Brazil can't have one of the world’s famous players not in it..1b) Nike..i think..have paid him tons of money just to have his appearance in the world cup. 2) Someone has kidnapped Ronaldo's family and blackmailing him into not to score or play well in the world cup!!

[kerzo]

I think all the extra criticsm of Ronaldo is very unjust, ok he hardly moved but when Adriano moved into his position he was pretty much the same, not to mention the fact Adriano was crap before that when he played in a deeper role. Zé Roberto and Roberto Carlos were anonymous in the 2nd half and overall the only player to escape with some credibility was Kaka and that is at a stretch.

I felt Croatia were unlucky to lose that game as they defended magnificently but they just werent clinical up front.

[Peter UK]

I felt Croatia were unlucky to lose that game as they defended magnificently but they just werent clinical up front.

Tale of the WC so far for a lot of teams - here's your chance, TAKE IT!

[grade15]

I'm not sure if its the heat or pressure in the world cup..but alot of shoots on goal..where lets say..shooting for the sky!

[Mr Flibble]

Thought it was a very poor game from Brazil last night, Motson and Lawro were practically cracking one off the wrist every time Brazil were on the ball!