Croatia coach Niko Kovac cannot help but enrage after Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura hands Brazil with a debatable penalty within 20 minutes left in the game, and with a 1-1 scoring.
The big move happened when defender Dejan Lovren was accused to have thrown down Brazil striker Fred. The contact was said to be insignificant.
Then, player Neymar goaled on that event, and Oscar added another point. Brazil, the host for the year, won at the World Cup opener with a 3-1 score.
"We talk about respect, that wasn't respect," said the Croatian coach. He was so disappointed he said that the team should just give up and go home.
"...We don't need to play football anymore. Let's play basketball instead," he added. "Two point five billion people watching on TV saw this was not a penalty!"
"It's really disappointing for us because we were playing a good game against a big team," insisted Croatian player Lovren. He also said he feels like crying after the loss.
Brazil were in a leading control, but Croatia was hoping for at least a decent draw match against the opponent. But all hopes were shattered as soon as penalty was handed to diver Fred.
The 85-kilogram Brazilian striker was in possession on the ball in the middle of the field, ready to strike when Lovren challenged him, and eventually had put him down on the grounds. The decision from Nishimura was a snap.
The Croatian coach said that there is no way a big guy like Fred could be taken down by Lovren with such little effort. He proposed that Fred had been acting in front of the crowd to score a penalty.
No matter how much the Croatia team, especially Lovren and Kovac, disputed against Nishimura, the answer is no.
In fact, the referee doesn't even know how to speak English. "And then it was a shame. He didn't know what to say," said Lovren. He also suggested Nishimura is ineligible to referee the World Cup. "It wasn't a mistake, it's a scandal."
"What I want is for referees to stick to the laws of the game and apply them equally with both teams," explained the coach.
As the games continue on, Brazil's victory at the opening cup had triggered a lot of opinion from viewers.
Most of them suggested that diver Fred's moves were just part of the act to get Brazil to the next stage. Some wanted to hear the Brazilian team's opinion on the match.
