Awesome!!

I hope so too. I just think that Brazilian defence is there to be got at and I'm sure the other teams were watching tonight's match with great interest.

I watched the friendly with Serbia the other week and the Brazilian defence weren't convincing in that game either, Serbia were unlucky to lose.

Referees are useless time to get rid .

Brazil are going to be the most disliked hosts for a while, no one likes a winner.

Good call itv let's talk about Rickie Lambert.

Well, tbh Brazil do not look like a nation on their way to winning a WC from this match. They seemed to struggle to unlock Croatia's defence throughout the match, and needed a bad penalty call to make the match decisively in their favour. That said, you can see why Neymar's so important to this team; practically every kind of attack forward went through him, and without him Brazil seem to have little attacking threat. Oscar had a great game too; really coming into the game in the second half. David Luiz had a pretty poor game I'd argue; perhaps his overall game was even worse than Marcelo's. Only in PSG world can Luiz be worth 50m - more like 15m.

Luiz is a bit of a liability in defence, but Silva is usually one of the best defenders in the world.

Friendlies don't really matter, certainly pre-World Cup games, they are mostly for fitness, besides Brazil won that game.

I saw one I liked! :

Brazil's penalty. The last time I saw something that soft Pele was trying to sell it little blue pills

Why in gods name is this Rickie Lambert interview on during the post match coverage of a match that's got nothing to do with England.

The ref's wiki page has been altered a lot, and is now locked.

This. It's so random.

Because ITV.

Get used to it. They're going to shoe horn England into every single game they show. It's guaranteed.

IF that's all Brazil have then they won't be winning it, no matter how much help they get from the ref.

Not sure about the "welcome" that Brazil gave to the rest of the world tonight - booing your opponent any time they get a bit of possession and pelting the world media studios with bricks isn't going to sit too well ...

On the pitch I thought Brazil were a bit of a shambles and I will be amazed if they reach anything more than the quarter finals - to say the ref had a bit of a nightmare is actually being a bit kind to his performance.

Neymar should have been off for his forearm smash, Fred should have been booked for his dive for the penalty and Croatia should have scored an equalizer after a perfectly fair challenge on their goalkeeper.

It certainly was a far cry from the beautiful game that I have known from Brazilian teams whilst growing up.

Yeah you're right, the player certainly fell very easily given how little force the hand on him exerted so no doubts that is as big a factor to consider as well.

RTE's panel disagree with the ITV one and think the Croatian 'equaliser' should have been allowed, saying there was minimal contact with the Brazilian keeper.

Not impressed with Brazil tonight. Nothing about them excited me, too much play-acting, and could the ref make it any clearer who he wanted to win? I actually found myself rooting for Croatia during the last third or so of the match. So much went against them and they were very unlucky not to get a result

A team of Brazil's stature shouldn't need the slightest bit of help from a ref.....it's pretty horrible to watch.

I've given up even trying to make sense of ITV's pre/post match coverage. Looking forward to their Mexico v Cameroon build up tomorrow afternoon consisting of live updates on the state of the pitch in Manaus and an interview with Kevin Keegan.

But hey, at least Spain v The Netherlands tomorrow night is on the BBC!

I think more elephants would improve the game, Blatter's after more Asian and African culture in the game so why not.

Was really hoping Croatia got an equaliser towards the end there.

A shame the result was decided with dodgy referee decisions, but as opening games go, that was a decent one. Hopefully it continues like that.

Stupid place to put a tv studio. Right on the beach.
I can see the protesters taking it over and using it as a squat before the world cup is at an end.

Best bit about that whole match was seeing the free kick spray in all honesty.

If Brazil win the group (which is looking highly likely!) then they will face the runner-up of Group B in the second round. Spain, Netherlands and Chile are in that group.

That match just stunk of fix .

That Brazilian no 10 should have been sent of for elbowing .
That was not a penalty .
The Croatian 2nd goal was a good goal and should not have been disallowed .

That referee must have been got at and told under no circumstances are Brazil to lose the opening game .

Just gives you a sickening feeling about this tournament and the corruption rife among certain nations with interests in football .