Going to this game I thought would let me see 2 things. 1) Brazil to completely walk over Scotland by a huge margin and 2) Get to see some good talent coming out of Brazil. In the end I only got to see one.
When the Brazil squad was announced at the start of March I was quite disappointed. No Kaka, no Ronaldinho, no Robinho, no Luis Fabiano and Pirlo then pulled out a week before the game with an injury. There was no big stars but the silver lining was that we would be able to see some of the next generation and in particular Neymar who there was a lot of hype about before the game.
The game started and immediately for the next 90 minutes there was continuously samba drums, whistles and what ever other musical instrument you can think of which can be related to Brazil. For a man with a hangover it was going to be a long 90 minutes.
But back to the game, Brazil started strongly in the first 30 mins and Julio Cesar was happily sitting back and being a spectator. Some of Scotland's players who I thought would have a decent game failed to shine such as Charlie Adams while Kenny Miller was struggling to make an impact by chasing the long ball which Brazil's centre backs easily dealt with.
Soon enough Neymar popped up with the first goal after several chances, taking the ball on the inside when in the box, he managed to adjust his body brilliantly to slot the ball in the bottom corner beyond the hands on Mcgregor.
Surprised I was come the second half, whilst the samba band were still playing, Scotland came out fighting. I was quite surprised by how much they were going for it and it seemed their midfield finally clicked and Crainey was getting forward and looking like a threat. It was a shame when the penalty came as that put the final nail into Scotland's coffin, it was a definite penalty which Neymar converted with no problems. From then on Neymar looked a constant threat running at the back four of Scotland. The Brazil midfield pairing of Ramires and Lucas looked brilliant as well.
But unfortunately the major incident of the game overshadowed the football with the 'banana' incident. I was right in front of the pitch where the banana was found and as far as I'm aware, the banana was thrown when the action was taking place at the other end of the pitch and the fans that were closest where it was thrown were Brazil fans so I think this incident is being over evaluated and should just be laid to rest.
In the end Brazil were convincing 2-0 winners and Scotland should take a lot from this game.
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