Group F : Brazil 3 – 1 Ivory Coast

The game started with fury. In the first couple of minutes, Brazil threaten to score when Robinho got the ball and ran towards the defence. He had Kaka in front of him and Michel Bestos on his left who had acres of space. Instead of passing it left, Robinho decided to take his chance with the erratic ball and take a shot. It went high.

Ivory Coast set out to conquer Brazil. They were not afraid. They passed the ball across the ground quickly. At times luring the brazilians into committing foul. In one of the freekick, Drogba had an excellent opportunity to swing the ball into the penalty box where ivory coast had half a dozen players waiting. True to Drogba’s dire need for attention, he blast the ball high and wide. I think thats the worst freekick in the world cup 2010 so far.

If you do not take your chances when facing any team in the world cup 2010, be prepared to pay for it. Even more if your opponent is Brazil. True to word, Brazil took the lead. Robinho picked the ball from a midfielder. He linked up with Kaka. Kaka barged his way through three ivory coast defenders and toe poke the ball to Fabiano. Like a man wanting to release all his anger for his goal drought, he smashed the ball into the back of the net. The force was so great that even the ivory coast keeper shunned into his own post. Kind of similar to the goal scored by Landon Donovan of USA against Slovenia.

Second half Brazil started off in similar fashion. They were able to string passes together and played a lot of small triangles. The combination of Kaka, Robinho and Fabiano is proving to be a menace for any opposing defence. In a long punt, Fabiano manage to control the ball ahead of 3 Ivory Coast defenders and whacked the ball for Brazil’s second goal.

CIV was not without chances. Well they did attack. But if its not for poor finishing, it would have been for selfish play. Most of the time, Brazil were quick to close their opponents. They were also quick to recover from counter-attacks. In Dunga, Brazil has formed a formidable defense.

Elano who has been anonymous at times in the barclay’s premiership with manchester city, has been excelling in Brazilian colours. He is forming the Brazil attack quartet. He scored Brazilian’s third goal after receiving a pass from Kaka.

Drogba missed a good and opened header from a corner. In another move, CIV was counter attacking with Gervinho (Brazilian born ivory coast player) who run a good 60 metres. He was stopped on his track but still manage to get the ball. He pulled the ball back to his team mate in midfield. He saw that Drogba was running in between the defenders and quickly dispatch a pin point cross. Drogba immediately head the ball that bulged the net with Julio Cesar stranded. Brazil had thought that he would have been in an offside position. They were wrong. A goal to CIV. It shows that if they worked as a team, they would have been able to score more goals.

In the last few minutes of the game, Keita ran into Kaka an fell onto the ground clutching his face. His nonsensical action caused Kaka to be red carded after a second yellow. Alas, Brazil won the match 3-1. They are cruising in this world cup and probably will peak as the tournament goes on.