Croatia furious with Japanese ref after defeat

He was laughably bad. He should have sent Neymar off in the first half for the deliberate elbow but bottled it and gave a yellow card instead. All the big decisions went in favour of Brazil. Very poor.

The Croatian manager has every right to feel the way he does. Neymar should never have even been on the pitch when the 'penalty' was called. That was a straight red for a deliberate elbow. The 'foul' on Cesar was a joke too. I hope Croatia bounce back but it's going to be tough after a lose like that.

That was absolutely awful. nishimura was nearly as bad as the ref that gave SK the game against Spain in 2002. When are they finally going to start using monitors?

Whatever. almost every football game these days ends with one side or the other being "furious" with the ref.

That referee was a joke. He should have Neymar sent off after that elbow in first half. Penalty was also a joke. If penalties would be given like that, there would be a dozen of them in each game. Third goal was scored after a foul committed on Croatian player. Disallowed goal for Croatia is also very questionable.

The result would have been the same anyway.

"Moushiwake gozaimasen" Croatia :(

If it was that bad, they need to give the ref one more shot then boot him if the same shenanigans go on.

Was solid last world cup, but screwed Uzbekistan in the qualifiers and now this? The PK call was the only really bad call, but it was a huge one. As for Neymar's elbow, no other ref would've given a straight red for that. It's be suicide to do that in Brazil to their best player.

When are they finally going to start using monitors?

Even another ref behind the goal like they do in England would've spotted the blatant dive. But what made this call bad was that most of us spotted it in real-time on TV. I personally was shocked when he pointed to the spot. Home cooking or not, I didn't expect it. The yellow card added insult to injury.

Our ref totally hopeless!

That was a horrible ref but seems to be a daily occurrence with soccer games. FIFA knows it but don't do anything about it, what a joke

I think the comments about the ref's performance are racist. Sepp Blatter will no doubt agree.

I didn't think it was that bad. It was a rough game and the player clearly was out of line in the box. A PK was a harsh call but the player did was out of line.

That was absolutely awful. nishimura was nearly as bad as the ref that gave SK the game against Spain in 2002. When are they finally going to start using monitors?

use of monitor may come into effect only after Blue Samurai wins the World Cup.

Coming soon, burning of Japanese flags and other shenanigans in Croatia.

Doesn't this kind of nonsense always decide it. Yet, in this case it was pretty bad that he didn't call the dive in the box as opposed to the PK. He missed a lot of calls. When refs make it about them, it always is a garbage result.

I thought the ref had a decent game apart from the penalty he gave but from where he was situated on the field he would have seen Lovren's hands all over Fred and he consequently conned the ref into giving the penalty. Players need to keep their hands off players - we see it all too often and they get away with, on this occasion he didn't. Thems the breaks.

From JapanTimes:

"I never saw in my life that a referee don’t speak English,” said defender Vedran Corluka, though it is required of World Cup referees. “He was speaking something in Japanese but no one could understand him."

What an idiot, how could they give him the world cup opening match?

Flopping is a big reason why Americans can't get into soccer.

well... we have to admit the Brazilians are very good at faking fouls... And though watching on tv... it was clear the foul was fake... the referee may have not seen it.

Missing a so obvious fake is not a good thing for a referee

I think China should lodge a protest with FIFA about the ref.

Wakarimasen: "I think China should lodge a protest with FIFA about the ref."

China has nothing to do with the match, but obviously you have proven to be as bad as the people you chide by saying what you've said.

@Reckless: I agree. Only sore losers would blame and make it seem like they were poor helpless victims. Pathetic.

I am not Croatian so you cannot call me a bad looser because I lost nothing in this match except my respect for Brazilian footballer's conning a weak ,blind referee. Anyone who accuses anyone here of being a bad looser knows nothing about football,reckless and your boy friend are talking rubbish,the ref gave Brazil the win,Croatia were robbed and have every right to fell cheated.

to bad for Japan's honest reputation. Shame for the country.

Japanese refs are just as corrupt as any other country's. Give up this glorified image that is baseless.

Dodgy refereeing.

This is why during the World Cup--and during the UEFA Champions League season--there should be an additional referee stationed in the TV truck near the stadium watching a bank of monitors specifically to look for diving and other offences that can result in an automatic yellow card being issued.

Probably Nishimura will never be able to safely go to Croatia.

Flopping is a big reason why Americans can't get into soccer.

Yet LeBron still has plenty of fans, so . . . no.

Probably Nishimura will never be able to safely go to Croatia.

Like it matters. How many people do you know that have even been to Croatia?

I watched the Japanese newscasters and they seem extremely excited when Brazil scored. This is called being partial. Professional newscasters will take no sides, even if you use the body language.