Brazil vs Croatia - Fri 13 June, 03:00 am - Match Thread

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Brazil vs Croatia

Fri 13 June, 03:00 am Bangkok time GMT+7 - Match Thread

Venue: Arena de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo

Group Stage: Group A

Take part in the pre-match build up, match discussion, goals and more with Thaivisa

[Jonathan Fairfield]

The FIFA World Cup 2014 kicks off in the early hours of Friday morning (Bangkok time) as hosts and tournament favourites Brazil take on their group A counterparts Croatia.

Whether you're setting your alarms for an early start, or staying up late, you can follow this thread for pre-match build up, discussion, goal updates and more.

TheScarf predicts a comfortable 2-0 victory for Brazil.

[kingalfred]

Croatia are no mugs at football

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Croatia are no mugs at football

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Agreed, but for me, Brazil at home, opening game, it's hard to look past Scolari's team.

[StevieH]

shame mandzukic is missing for croatia, but their midfield is very useful.

no pressure neymar lad.

[Jonathan Fairfield]

shame mandzukic is missing for croatia, but their midfield is very useful.

no pressure neymar lad.

LOL. Yes, not much!

[CroBiker]

Croatia are clearly underdogs but as Croatian coach Niko Kovac said "we will leave our heart on the field". It is not the shame losing to world cup host and 5 time winners as long as we do our best and make country proud.

[Africanteacher]

It would be fun to see Croatia draw or beat the Samba boys!

[Jonathan Fairfield]

It would be fun to see Croatia draw or beat the Samba boys!

Agreed it would be quite an upset for the opening game

[Jonathan Fairfield]

So it looks like they've let me out of my box for the duration of the World Cup. You've got four weeks to put up with me before they put me back in my darkened room at Thaivisa towers.

The plan is to cover every minute, every kick, every Messi dribble, every bit of Ronaldo magic, every inch of a Neymar shimmy, follow it all with Thaivisa and TheScarf.

But before all that.

Do I go to bed for a few hours first, not forgetting to set my alarm, or just roll on straight through to full time?

What's everyone else doing?

These Brazilian kick off times aren't exactly great for people living in Thailand, are they?

[Costas2008]

Let's hope it will be worth it to wake up at 3:00 in the morning.

Being the first match, it will be full of nerves and tension between the teams.

Hope they give us a good show.

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Starting line ups:

#BRA team: Cesar, Alves, Thiago Silva, Luiz, Marcelo, Paulinho, Gustavo, Hulk, Oscar, Neymar, Fred

#CRO team: Pletikosa, Srna, Corluka, Lovren, Vrsaljko, Modric, Rakitic, Perisic, Kovacic, Olic, Jelavic

[Taunusianer]

poor openig ceremony. And who is still interested in JLo?ﾠ

my prediction: 2:1 for Brazil

[HeavyDrinker]

Why was Harry Hill singing with J-Lo in the opening nonsense?

[rhythmworx]

If anyone fancies a bet William hill are offering on Brazil v Croatia 3/10 for a Brazil win 4/1 for a draw and 10/1 for a Croatia win.

Sh*t odds, It's a walk in the park for Brazil IMO, all I can see is a field of yellow with a few away kits nestled inbetween.

Just waiting to see the caramel skinned onion booty's jiggling about.

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Is it time for a coffee or something a little stronger?

With kick off just 15 minutes away, excitement is building and World Cup fever has well and truly taken over.

Let's hope I'm still this excited for Honduras vs Ecuador in a weeks time.

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Everyone seems to be predicting a Brazil win.

Does nobody fancy a Croatia upset?

Even a draw here would be an upset for Brazil.

[bartender100]

Why was Harry Hill singing with J-Lo in the opening nonsense?

I am sure it was my old chemistry teacher

[mrbojangles]

Why was Harry Hill singing with J-Lo in the opening nonsense?

I can see where you are coming from HD. Especially after a few changs

[rhythmworx]

4-1 Braziilia is my prediction.

[Jonathan Fairfield]

source: Owen Gibson ‏@owen_g

[hullupullo]

English audio line is awful. Same as they had all season with La Liga and they will not do anything about it.

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Decent start here from both sides.

If Croatia had of scored then, that would have made things very interesting

[Jonathan Fairfield]

GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!

1-0 Croatia!!!

Comedy own goal from Marcelo

[rhythmworx]

OMG!!!!

<deleted>?

Lionel Ritchie.

[mrbojangles]

Everyone seems to be predicting a Brazil win.

Does nobody fancy a Croatia upset?

Even a draw here would be an upset for Brazil.

Pretty difficult to go with anything but your head and probabilities on this one Scarf. Home soil, the whole nation behind you etc but you never know in football and that's what makes it such a great sport.

Lots of credit should go to Croatia though, with a population of just over 4 million they have a very strong side. It'll be no push over for Brazil this one.

And just as I was going to press post, Croatia have scored

[HeavyDrinker]

Pure comedy even Marcello's Oliver Hardy blank stare to camera after....

Croatia could have been 2 up .....

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Brazil will have to really get at them now.

Croatia should brace themselves for a Brazil onslaught.

Be interesting to see if they can hold out for.

THis already looks like it was worth staying up for!

[CroBiker]

Yeah baby!!!b

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Oscar went close there.

Brazil starting to get into their groove