Almost certainly not bent but it would appear that the occasion and the crowd etc got the better of him hence the way all the marginal (and non marginal) decisions all went in Brazil's favour. If he had made a bad decision against Brazil then he would not be considered for future rounds and the like.

It's no coincidence that when Ferguson was in charge of Manchester United it was hard to get a decision against them at Old Trafford whereas under Moyes that was not the case - the referees weren't bent but they were influenced (by fear).

I think this is probably the case, although I imagine there would be pressure from FIFA either indirectly or directly for the referee's to behave in a certain way shall we say. FIFA haven't shown themselves to be squeaky clean in the last few years and I doubt they would want the big tournament hosts to go out.

We don't know what instructions the referees have received coming into the tournament. It could be that they have been told to act quickly and decisively. He didn't appear to consult his assistant over any of the decisions ? That's unusual, but perhaps it's a directive to prevent the long drawn out protests with players surrounding the ref that we see so often.
I still say, penalty..wrong, no straight red card..correct, disallowed goal..debatable. Not great refereeing but nothing we don't see every week of the season in the PL.

If the players are going to fall over so easily each game mistakes will be made unfortunately.

I think Croatia had a dodgy throw in decision

5 - the coming together of 2 players in the Brazil penalty when the Croatian player was chasing down a through ball and was taken out by a brazil defender, but that was ok because it was going through to the goalie.
6. I think it was Olic who was breaking down the wing heading into the box, having beat the defender, and the ref gave a free kick for handball, when it clearly came off his face.

The latter one is the type of decision which always irks me. We always hear the excuse the ref can't give a decision unless he sees it. So how the hell can he give a decision on something which didn't happen. It can only be because he 'thought' he saw it.

This could get busy rather quickly

Is it true the referee was a local Brazilian and does this happen in the opening game of every World Cup i.e the referee is local to the host country .

Did England have an English referee for the opening match in 1966 ?

No one cares about Mexico.

He was from Japan!

Linesman has had a bad day today.

Least Mexico are winning.

Plus the fact that Man Utd would invariably do most of the attacking in matches at Old Trafford, meaning that the referee would have more decisions to make that could result in a goal being allowed / offside not being given / penalty being awarded etc, that would benefit Man Utd, than there would at the end that Man Utd were defending.

You are aware that referees at major international tournaments can't referee games involving their own country, right?

Just saw those decisions in the Mexico vs Cameroon game

I had Dos Santos first scorer 🙈

Totally agree.
Then add the fact that Mexico were robbed of two goals yesterday. Those decisions could cause Croatia and Mexico to fail to qualify.
No wonder a Croatian said "they might as well give the cup to Brazil now and let the rest go home."
The solution is simple... A fourth official watching a screen, as in rugby.

Well after this fiasco the world will be scrutinising the refereeing of the rest of Brazil's games for anymore favouritism .

Guess where the biggest Brazilian Ex Pat community is?