This is the 14th article in the World Cup review series in Germany. Before the 2006 World Cup in Germany, which team was the favorite? I believe that most people will say that the defending champion Brazil team, the star-studded lineup, especially the front quartet composed of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, and Adriano, can be said to be envious of the existence of other teams. This has kept the Brazilian team in the spotlight.
At 9 p.m. on June 13, the defending champions kicked off their World Cup campaign at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin against the Plaid Legion Croatia.
The starting lineup of the Brazilian team can be said to be no secrets, Dida, Cafu, Lucio, Juan, Carlos, Emerson, Ze Roberto, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Adriano, I am afraid that as long as you look at the game, you can guess this lineup.
In fact, there are not many secrets on the Croatian team's side, and the starting eleven are Pletikosa, Simic, R. Kovac, Simunic, Srna, Tudor, N. Kovac, Babic, N. Kranica, Pulsho, and Krasnic.
It is worth mentioning that N-Kranica is the son of the coach of the Croatian team in this World Cup, Z Kranica, and the World Cup field is back as a father and son.
With the whistle blowing of the referee Armando Arjundia from Mexico, the match officially began. After a brief trial, the competition is officially on track. In the 9th minute of the game, the left corner kick taken by Kranica Jr. was directly picked up by Dida, who immediately threw the ball and quickly launched a fast attack. Ronaldo drove in from the left to pass the ball to Adriano, Adriano cleverly knocked back with his heel, Kaka quickly followed up to win the ball, and hit the ball high from the right side of the box.
How could such a thing as a heavy bombardment of the door be without Carlos. In the 14th minute of the game, Carlos, who was unmarked in the middle, bent his bow 35 meters away from the goal, and Pletticosa did not dare to slack off and lifted the ball off the crossbar.
Immediately afterwards, the Brazilian team took a tactical corner kick on the left side, and Ronaldo won the ball and fired a right-footed volley directly into the corner of the penalty area. Ronaldo then took a corner from the right and Carlos won the ball from the edge of the area and fired it over the crossbar.
The Croatian team then began to intensify their attack, but they mainly focused on long-range shots and limited their level of threat. Even when you get a valuable free-kick opportunity, it's hard to play effectively.
In the 32nd minute of the game, the first yellow card of the game appeared. Ronaldo, who was not in good form in this game, sent a through ball from the left rib, Kaka was pulled down by N-Kovac at the edge of the penalty area, and Arjundi Adam immediately showed him a yellow card.
N-Kovac also had bad luck in this game, suffering an injury shortly after receiving a yellow card, and was eventually unable to continue the game, and he was replaced by Leko in the 40th minute of the game. Does this Leco sound familiar? He also coached a team in the Chinese Super League last year.
In the 42nd minute, Emerson was shown a yellow card for stepping on a foul by Tudor.
As the clock ticked down, Brazil's supporters began to worry when the team would break the deadlock. As a result, just before the end of the first half, the score was finally rewritten. In the 44th minute of the game, Brazil launched a counterattack at the back, and Emerson dribbled the ball to the right side after taking the ball to the midfield. After a little observation and adjustment, Cafu made a low cross to Kaka in the middle, Kaka stopped the ball and dodged the small Kranica who returned to the defense, and scored with his left foot at the top of the arc of the penalty area, helping Brazil enter the break with a 1:0 lead.
After the rematch, the Croatian team significantly strengthened their pressing in the midfield after the start of the game, which also made their attacking quality significantly improved. In the 50th minute of the game, the Croatian midfielder sent a long pass, and Pulsho dribbled the ball into the right side of the penalty area and fired a powerful right-footed volley into the goal. Fortunately, Dida was in good form, falling to the ground to save the ball, and then Lucio broke the ball off the line before Poolau could make a follow-up shot.
Three minutes later, Leko fired a powerful right-footed low shot from outside the box, which hit team-mate Krasnic. Krasnic reacted really quickly and then turned and fired hard from the edge of the box, but the angle was too good to pose a threat to Dida.
In the 56th minute of the game, Carlos and Kaka gave the ball to Ronaldo after successive passes in front, and the latter fired a right-footed volley directly from outside the penalty area, but unfortunately the ball flew off the crossbar. The Golden Boot at the last World Cup was not adjusted to its best.
Immediately afterwards, Kranica Sr. replaced the mediocre Krasnic with Olich, hoping to strengthen the attack.
But they came close to being doubled by Brazil in the 62nd minute, when Kaka crossed from the right and Cafu then crossed with his feet, but Ronaldo's header from inside the box was saved by Pletticosa.
In the 67th minute of the game, R. Kovac received a yellow card for tackling Adriano. Croatia then made a couple of attacks, but they were either destroyed by the Brazilian defenders or their own shots were not accurate enough.
Soon after, Brazil's side made their first substitution, with Ronaldo, who was in a slump, replaced by his Real Madrid team-mate Robinho.
In the 70th minute of the game, Croatia had another good chance, Babic received a low cross from the left side of his teammate and dodged a Brazilian defender's right-footed volley, which was confiscated by Dida.
Robinho was very active after coming on, and in the 74th minute of the game, Robinho used his foot skills to shake off defenders and volleyed from the right side in front of the penalty area. The ball touched Adriano in front of goal and then went out close to the right post.
But it wasn't long before the game fell back into long-range shooting from the periphery. Just as the game was a little dull, a fan wearing Croatia's number 17 shirt burst into the stadium in the 86th minute, causing a commotion, and the fan was finally taken off the pitch by security guards.
Such a farce was clearly not good for the Croatian team, who were unable to get an equaliser after the resumption of the game, but it was Tudor who tripped Robinho in the final moments of the game and received a yellow card. In the end, the Croatian team, which was unable to recover, had to accept the outcome of a 0-1 defeat to Brazil.
On the other hand, Brazil got off to a good start, but their performance seems to be far from what fans expected, so how far can they go on the road to defending their title?