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Good day, all! After the grand total of 0 views for yesterday’s blog, I’ve decided to set up a Twitter account to actually advertise this thing so people might actually read it. If you’re just tuning in, do take a quick look at yesterday’s blog too as I attempt to predict which two countries will advance from their World Cup groups.

Follow me on Twitter: @TheFootbllPhnx

Right then, I watched Brazil vs Croatia in the opening match of the World Cup last night. It was a pretty good game, all things considered, but was ultimately let down by a couple of poor decisions by the referee and his linesmen.

Brazil started the game with the lion’s share of possession, but were unable to real trouble Croatia, who were relatively composed at the back. Croatia looked dangerous on the break, and it was on one that they opened the scoring. In the 11th minute Wolfsburg frontman Ivica Olic burst down the left flank and sent an excellent low cross into the box. Hull’s Nikica Jelavic somehow miss-kicked the ball when he should have scored himself, but the slight touch from his foot was enough to redirect the ball into the path of Marcelo and the Real Madrid defender could do nothing but bundle the ball into his own net. A bad start for the tournament hosts.

Brazil continued to dominate possession, and Croatia continued to look threatening on the break, but the scoreline remained the same for the next 15 minutes. Brazil’s equaliser was inevitable, though, and came through superstar Neymar. Luka Modric attempted a half-arsed challenge on his Barcelona rival, and Neymar broke through, dribbled  and scuffed a left-footed shot that went through the legs of a Croatia defender and into the far bottom corner, despite the best efforts of Stipe Pletikosa to keep it out.

Brazil pressed for a second but it didn’t come until well into the second half. The ball was sent into the box by Oscar, and striker Fred tried to control it, before going down far too easily under a challenge from Southampton defender Dejan Lovren. There was nowhere near enough contact for a penalty, but referee Yuichi Nishimura pointed to the spot. Neymar’s most ridiculous of stuttered run ups failed to deceive Pletikosa but despite getting a good hand to it the Croatian keeper somehow didn’t save it and Brazil went 2-1 up. The keeper really should have done better, and sadly for him not for the first time of the evening.

Croatia pressed for an equaliser, and had one wrongly disallowed. The impressive Ivan Perisic volleyed home, but only after the whistle had gone after Olic was adjudged to have fouled keeper Julio Cesar in the process when competing for a header, but there was little in the challenge and a foul should not have been given. However, Brazil put the game to bed in injury time. A Perisic shot was saved, Brazil broke and Oscar drove towards goal and toe-poked an effort from 20 yards into the bottom corner. Once again, Pletikosa really should have saved it.

So, Brazil win the opening game of the tournament. It wasn’t without controversy, but it was a decent game to watch and will hopefully set the standard for the rest of the tournament (except for the bad officiating, of course). Croatia, on the other hand, looked a good unit and you’d have to fancy that they could still get out of the group stage.

Tonights fixtures will see Mexico take on Cameroon in the other Group A fixture, whilst Spain and the Netherlands go head-to-head for the first time since the World Cup 2010 final in what is a mouth-watering match-up in Group B. Fellow Group B nations Chile and Australia will also take each other on. Unfortunately, I won’t be watching any of the matches tonight as I am out, but here are my predictions, just for fun:

Mexico 1-1 Cameroon

Spain 2-1 Netherlands

Chile 2-0 Australia

Mexico and Cameroon both fit the ‘good but not great’ description. I think Spain will edge past the Netherlands and that Chile should dispatch of Australia (sorry Aussies!). 

 

Right then, onto the other piece of big news from yesterday, and that is the transfer of Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona to Chelsea. The former Arsenal captain confirmed that the Gunners turned down the chance to re-sign him (more on that momentarily), so he decided Chelsea was the best option to take.

For Jose Mourinho and Chelsea, it’s a master stroke. £30 million for a player worth much more than that, and with the additional purchase of Diego Costa from Athletico Madrid they’ve already finished their major summer business before the transfer window has even opened. Better chance creation, and a more clinical finisher to bury those chances, were the two things that were quite obviously holding Chelsea back last season. The idea of someone with the vision and drive of Fabregas picking out the deadly Costa is something all Chelsea fans should be excited for.

It’s not without controversy, though. In 2010 or 2011 Fabregas himself said something along the lines of “you’d have to kill me before I put on a Chelsea shirt”, and as such he joins Rafa Benitez and Samuel Eto’o on the list of players who have bad-mouthed Chelsea in the past before going on to join them. So can we expect him to become an instant fan favourite at Stamford Bridge? Not among all sections of the fans, I would say. It goes to show that as a footballer, you should really take care about what you say as you never know where your career will take you in the future. But either way, Fabregas is a fantastic signing for Chelsea.

So that leaves us to discuss Arsenal’s decision not to re-purchase him. Frankly, I find it baffling that Arsenal would turn down the chance to purchase a player of that quality no matter how many attacking midfielders are at the club. £30 million for a player who is arguably better than every other midfielder at Arsenal. It was an excellent opportunity, and they blew it, if you ask me. They have enough money to buy who they want, and they still would if they went and bought Fabregas.

As an Arsenal fan, this is where my problem with Arsene Wenger signing a new contract lies. He’s not interested in what rivals do, only what he does. But instead of increasing the quality and depth of his squad by bring Cesc back, he’s decided not to because he already has enough attacking midfielders. The result is that Fabregas has gone to a direct rival who finished above Arsenal in the league this season and have already signed a world class striker. Should Arsenal fans be bitter towards Cesc for choosing to go to Chelsea? He wanted to return to England, he wanted to come back to Arsenal, but Arsenal didn’t want him back. So basically…no, Arsenal fans shouldn’t begrudge him his decision.

Forget all the nonsense about having too many attacking midfielders. Aaron Ramsey was brilliant last season, but missed four months due to injury. Jack Wilshere is even more injury-prone. Alex Oxlade Chamberlain wasn’t around for the majority of the season either, and all three are better suited to box-to-box roles (and out wide in Chamberlain’s case). Santi Cazorla can play out wide and did so more often than not last season, Tomas Rosicky won’t start many matches and is also injury prone. So that leaves competition between Fabregas and Ozil, something that should bring the best out of both of them. Oh, and also rotation between the two, and maybe even playing them together! Why not?

Yes, Arsenal do need a defensive or deep-lying midfielder much more, but bring Fabregas back would not have meant they couldn’t have done that either. If you ask me, the whole thing’s madness. However you look at it, it’s a bad start to the summer for Arsene Wenger and co. And where is Arsene right now? Providing commentary for French TV broacasts of World Cup matches, while Mourinho’s gone and got the most important of Chelsea’s summer business out of the way. It might just be another long, hard summer for Arsenal fans, and as one myself I’m not looking forward to it. Please prove me wrong, Arsene.

There’s also another confusing aspect to Chelsea’s purchase of Fabregas – why on earth did Barcelona want to sell him? For years both players and directors alike went on media witch hunts to try and bring Cesc back to Barcelona, convincing him that it was the right thing to ‘come home’ and whatnot. Three years later, after three good seasons at the club despite often being played out of position, he’s found himself on the bad side of some sections of the fanbase and was told that the club no longer wanted him.

This was a player tipped to be Xavi’s successor, whom Barcelona delved into their most disreputable and disrespectful nature in order to bring back. All that effort, and three years later they decide they don’t want him and send him off, bringing in Sevilla’s Ivan Rakitic as a replacement (who is a very good player but not quite, from what I’ve seen, as good as Fabregas). It just goes to show what a dislikeable club Barcelona actually is. They’re full of arrogance and have no respect for anyone, even their own players. But either way, Cesc’s departure is their loss, and maybe they’ll soon come to understand that.

 

Right then, that’s all for today. I’m not sure if there will be a blog tomorrow as I have work, but there will definitely be one on Sunday. Until then…