Day 1; Oscar Playing in the Shadows

The waiting and waiting and waiting and various 'I can't wait for the Wolrd Cup' conversations are over. A victory and brace from the ultimate and literal 'poster boy' of this 20th World Cup finals, was a fairly perfect start for the hosts, and one almost capable of making us forget the horrors of the opening ceremony, where Pitbull, the man who smears his lack of talent on 99% of pop music and adds a 'feat. Pitbull' to it's title, was undoubtedly outshone by people dressed as shrubbery. 

But the dancing trees weren't the only things casting a shadow for others to perform in, Neymar, metaphorically photosynthesising in the rays of the so called lime light, casted the perfect shadow for Oscar to perform in. Chiles said before the show, 'he doesn't even look old enough to have his own paper round,' and the Chelsea playmaker's performance was equally unfunny. It was serious, hardworking and at times, majestic. 

Occupying a role behind the front three of Brazil and ahead of Paulinho and Luis Gustavo who guarded the defence, Oscar served as the main outlet for his team in the transition from defence to attack. 

This meant he saw a large helping of the ball, often in wide areas depending on the whereabouts of the 6 foot by 7 foot frame that is Hulk. From these wide areas, his delivery was excellent, cross after cross as he tried to put things on a plate for the fittingly podgy-shaped-Fred to gobble up, and if it wasn't for David Luiz intercepting his Neymar bound cross in the second half, the number 10 would've almost certainly completed a historic hat-trick, and via the spotlight created an even more prominent shadow for Oscar to perform in as the tournament progresses.

The youngster also displayed superb dribbling, something we're often told is a dying art in the game, yet seems to be planning a Come Back Tour 2k14, with Sterling, Barkley, Lallana etc being the up and coming English acts to emerge. Through skill and speed he repeatedly skipped past flat-footed yet tough Croat defenders, but it was a sense of determination and resilency that seemed to give him an extra yard, sometimes two. On more than one occasion he seemed to have been dispossessed, and the attack thus broken down, but before home fans could return their Brazillian buttocks to their newly refurbished seats, he'd regained possession and not only revived the attack, but given it an new lease of life. His goal capped off his evening exquisitely, first he displayed this resiliency in chasing down defenders who did make a Feijoada (Brazillian black beans with smoked meats) out of the clearance, but he then had the skill to gracefully poke the ball past Pletikosa (who I'm pretty sure used to warm a bench at White Hart Lane?) before the oncoming defenders had a chance to curve his enthusiasm with a body check or professional foul. 3-1. Genius. Here we bladdy go World Cup 2014...

                  (Feijoada)