While Neymar had a brace for Brazil in the opening match of the World Cup against Croatia, Chelsea FC’s Oscar played absolutely brilliant to get Brazil’s World Cup campaign off to a great start.
Brazil’s and Chelsea’s No. 11 had a fantastic match in which he recorded an assist on Neymar’s opening goal, had the pass that set up Neymar’s “penalty” goal and added in a sublime goal of his own to help seal the three points for Brazil.
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Oscar completed 83 percent of his passes and also had 11 take ons, which led the Brazil squad. It seemed like Oscar started to really find his groove in the match, after Marcelo’s own-goal, and helped Brazil turn up the pressure on Croatia. He nearly opened the scoring himself, but his curling effort was denied spectacularly by Croatia goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa.
Neymar may be the face of the national team, but I believe that the key to Brazil’s success lies in the hands, or feet, of Oscar. His playmaking abilities and general intelligence in the midfield help free up space and chances for Neymar and Brazil’s other attacking players.
Also in the Starting XI for Brazil was Chelsea FC’s (for now) David Luiz. While we were all hoping for Luiz to knock home a free-kick in the game, he had a very solid game at the back, winning 75 percent of his aerial duels and had 11 clearances in the game, most of them coming in crunch-time.
Ramires was also a late substitute for Brazil where he came on in the 88′ minute for Neymar. It was Ramires’ tackle that spurred Oscar’s goal.
Willian was on the team sheet for Brazil but did not make an appearance.
Brazil is back in action on June 17 against Mexico where these Chelsea FC players will be back on the field.
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