Brazil breaches fortress

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This article was published 16/06/2010 (5953 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JOHANNESBURG — There’s something about those canary yellow and blue uniforms.

Gets you every time.

The insidious beat of Brazilian drums joined the by-now persistent buzz of vuvuzelas as la Selecao, the glam gang, made their World Cup 2010 debut on a Reykjavik-cold night in Joburg.

Kaka. Robinho. Fabiano. Silva. Maicon. Cesar.

More famous Brazilian exports worldwide than even the Girl from Ipanema. Their arrival onto the pitch Tuesday night drew a thousand pinpricks of light, a ritualistic flash-popping of worship usually reserved for kings, presidents and popes.

Any Brazil match is always a fascinating study in stargazing.

And after finding frustration at most every turn (not to mention a red-clad Korean defender) for 50-plus minutes the tournament co-favourites finally succeeded in battering down the sturdy defensive barricades erected by the DPR, launching their campaign successfully via a 2-1 win over the tournament’s lowest-ranked team.

The score line certainly didn’t reflect the degree of Brazilian dominance. They had a staggering 70 per cent of ball possession and pelted the Korean net with 10 shots.

“The opener is always harder,” reflected coach Dunga, who stood on the touchline wearing a coat that looked as if it’d been stolen from a doorman at the Rio Hilton. “There is the anxiety, the players are more nervous than usual, trying to do too much.

“I’m not entirely happy but this is common in football. In the second half we changed our rhythm a bit. At first we were passing side to side but in the second half we improved a lot. The spirit of this team is noteworthy and this team wants to go forward.”

Perhaps not their most scintillating display — not on par with Germany’s clinical dismantling of the Aussies, certainly — but a decent beginning against a foe whose primary tactic was nothing more ambitious than survival. Many of Brazil’s great individual talents, most notably Kaka and striker Luis Fabiano, struggled to make much impact.

“It wasn’t our best match, but at least we got the win, that’s what matters now,” reasoned Robinho.

If the Koreans were anti-football, the night was antifreeze.

Temperature at kickoff hovered near -3 C. So frigid they should have renamed this 67,000-seat rugby stadium originally built 82 years ago and set in the squalor of downtown Johannesburg Ron Ellis Park.

Not that the disciples who make pilgrimages to wherever the Brazilians play in a major tournament cared. Much.

And in a sense, everyone went away happy. Brazil snared the crucial W to kick-start its quest for a sixth World Cup title. And the Koreans managed to actually score a goal — their first in the competition since a last visit 44 years ago — while hanging tough.

“I thought we fought bravely,” said North Korea coach Kim Jong Hun proudly. “We defended very well.”

The Koreans’ massed defence at the edge of their own penalty area held up stoutly until the 55th minute, when ever-attack-minded right back Douglas Maicon’s run had him taken to a yard of the byline and, from the remarkably tight angle, he curl-spanked the ball past Korean keeper Myong Guk Ri on the short-side, catching him cheating into the middle of the pitch, anticipating a cross that never came.

Another goalkeeping error in a tournament positively rife with them.

The Korean fortress at last breached, the Brazilians poured forward in search of more booty.

Robinho, lively throughout, drawing audible gasps with nimble footwork and audacious flicks and tricks, sliced the defence wide with a decisive pass, Elano leaving marker Ji Yun Nam in his wake in the 79th minute for a Brazilian second.

Good thing as it turned out, too.

Because Ji made amends with the scoreclock winding down, scooting free to chip over keeper Cesar and notch a historic goal with a minute and extra time remaining, sparking wild celebrations among the Koreans and their fans.

— Canwest News Service

Brazil 2 / N. Korea 1

Brazil 0 2 — 2

North Korea 0 1 — 1

First Half

No Scoring.

Second Half

1. Brazil, Maicon 1, 55th minute

2. Brazil, Elano 1, 72nd

3. North Korea, Yun Nam Ji 1,

89th

Shots — Brazil: 25; North Korea:

11.

Shots On Goal — Brazil: 9;

North Korea: 2.

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Yellow Cards — Brazil: Ramires

(88th).

Corner Kicks — Brazil: 7; North

Korea: 3.

Attendance — 55,686.