Brazil 2014: Day 1

The start of the 2014 World Cup has arrived!

Not got a wall-chart? Then there is Wall-chart in PDF  format from the FA which can be downloaded here.

Brazil’s Naymar was talking to the press along with coach Perreira. He explained how relaxed the young man is ahead of the tournament:-

Everyone asks me about Neymar, about how he is, and they say that he’s only 22. But did you see how he was in there? Does he look apprehensive? Not a bit of it.

You see him here and you see him in training every day and he just looks so relaxed. You’d never think he was about to take part in the World Cup in Brazil, with the world expecting him to be the best. It just makes us feel that he’s going to be performing at a very high level.

The opening ceremony will take place at 5pm UK time. It’s not being shown on UK television, but will be live streamed by FIFA on their website.

First game of the tournament tonight. The Group A match between Brazil and Croatia which kicks off at 9pm BST and will be shown by ITV.

Australia’s Matt McKay says (talking to FIFATV) that Australia, the lowest ranked team in the competition can play with freedom:-

It’s freedom. I think we’re not expected to do anything and that will suit or style of football. We’ve got nothing to lose. We’ve got to be brave, we’ve got to fight, and that’s what Australians do.

We’re going to stick to our guns, we’ve got our own style and know how to play in the way that has been drilled into us over the last few months. Of course we’ll respect three extremely good nations, who all have different styles of football, so we’ll adapt to that, but ultimately we want to play the way we want to play.

We published our preview of Group A earlier, http://www.exeweb.com/2014/06/12/brazil-2014-group-a-preview/