?SAO PAULO–Neymar gave Brazil a winning start to its home World Cup, scoring twice to lead the host nation to an unconvincing 3-1 victory over Croatia in the opening game yesterday.
Brazil had a disastrous start when defender Marcelo found his own net while trying to clear a low cross by Ivica Olic in the 11th minute, but Neymar then showed why the nation's high hopes are all pinned on him.
The 22-year-old forward equalised in the 29th minute, clearing a defender in midfield before making a run toward the edge of the area and firing a perfectly placed low shot that went in off the post.
The game turned on a controversial penalty awarded by Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura in the 71st minute when striker Fred went down inside the area under minimal contact from defender Dejan Lovren.
Neymar scored from the spot and the Croatians were furious.
"If that was a penalty, we should be playing basketball," said Croatia coach Niko Kovac. "Those kinds of fouls are penalised there."
As Croatia searched desperately for an equaliser, Oscar added to the lead in the first minute of injury time with a toe poke from just outside the penalty area.
Croatia had a few good chances toward the end and had a goal disallowed in the 83rd after the referee ruled Olic had fouled Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
The host nation hasn't lost in the opening match in the last nine World Cups. South Africa was held by Mexico to a 1-1 draw four years ago.
A draw would have been a huge disappointment for Brazil, which had won its opening match the last eight times.
The five-time champion entered the home tournament having won 15 of its last 16 games, including five in last year's Confederations Cup, the warm-up tournament it won. The team hadn't been held to a draw in the opener since a 1-1 result against Sweden in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
The result kept Croatia without a win in its last five World Cup matches. Its last triumph was a 2-1 win over Italy in 2002. The Croats didn't play in South Africa four years ago.
The tournament finally got underway as planned after months of talk about the preparation problems that plagued Brazil since it was picked as host seven years ago.
The troubled Itaquerao Stadium, which wasn't fully finished for the opener, held up without major setbacks to fans or the match itself, although part of the lights atop the pitch went out a few times for brief periods in the first half.
Despite the support from most of the more than 62,100 fans in attendance, Brazil got off to a slow start and allowed Croatia to threaten early. It opened the scoring with one of its first chances as Marcelo failed to clear Olic's cross. The ball got slightly redirected by striker Nikica Jelavic before the Brazilian defender touched it backward into the goal.
The crowd stayed behind the team despite the setback and Brazil started creating more chances.
Midfielder Paulinho and playmaker Oscar both came close to scoring, but it was Neymar who found the net with his well-struck low shot into the far corner.
The other Group A match will be played between Mexico and Cameroon in Natal today. (AP)
World Cup glance
Yesterday's Results
Brazil 3 (Neymar 29th, 71st pen Oscar 90) Croatia 1 (Marcelo og 11th)
Today's Fixtures
Group A
Mexico vs Cameroon, Natal, noon
Group B
Spain vs Netherlands, Salvador, 3 pm
Chile vs Australia, Cuiaba, 6 pm
Tomorrow's Matches
Group C
Columbia vs Greece, Belo Horizonte, noon
Ivory Coast vs Japan, 6 pm Recife
Group D
Uruguay vs Costa Rica, Fortaleza, 3 pm
England vs Italy, Manaus, 6 pm
The Main Match
Spain vs Netherlands
Spain
Manager: Vicente del Bosque
World Cup record: Winners (2010), fourth (1950)
How they qualified: Spain head to Brazil as the defending champions who, these days, have to qualify.
They were unbeaten in their group, one which also contained France, topping it with six wins and two draws.
Goalscorers: Pedro was Spain's top scorer in qualifying with just four which included a hat-trick against Belarus - the only time the Spanish really well went town. Manchester City's Alvaro Negredo weighed in with a goal in each of the last three fixtures.
Netherlands
Manager: Louis van Gaal
World Cup record: Runners-up three times (1974, 1978, 2010)
How they qualified: Easy winners of UEFA Group D, collecting 28 out of a possible 30 points and banging in goals left, right and centre,
Goalscorers: Robin van Persie led the way with 11 goals in qualifying, the most in all the European qualifying groups. Their team tally of 34 from 10 matches was only bettered by the 36 netted by Germany.