Brazil's problem for the first 30 minutes was an imbalanced midfield. Gustavo and Paulinho played well as dual DMs without the ball, but neither ventured forward to link to Oscar. As a result, they struggled to get the ball into dangerous areas while Croatia threatened to break every time they gained possession. Neymar has a tendency to drift out of games when starved of service. And then he surged through midfield and roled a (perhaps too) precise shot into the bottom right corner. Game on!
In the last fifteen minutes of the first half, Gustavo and Paulinho finally figured out that only one of them needed to stay deep on offense (usually Gustavo), and that was the end of Croatia's day. They lost the midfield, and any counterattacking threat was gone. Sure, the penalty that Neymar converted wasn't a penalty at all, but it's tough to argue that Brazil didn't deserve to win. Credit to Croatia, they fought to the end and mostly contained a dangerous attack.
In the second half, we saw an extension of the end of the first. I was so inspired that I ordered a caipirinha, and enjoyed it almost as much as a slick offensive display by Brazil (59% posession, 432-282 in passing).
Most of the Brazilian starting 11 looked on the verge of tears during the national anthem. I didn't fully grasp how much the World Cup means to the entire country until that moment, and I may have underestimated the benefit of home field advantage. Brazil should build on this come-from-behind performance throughout the group stage, and head into the knockout round flying high. Their only weak point is that Fred is not a good enough center forward for this team. His only real contribution to the game was a HORRIFIC dive to earn the game-winning penalty. Can Neymar carry the load? It looks like he can, but we'll see against teams with quicker center backs. I think Brazil will need to shift their tactics and bench Fred before the tournament is over.
