Well, Brazil may have the dream attacking quartet of Ronaldo, Adriano, Ronaldinho & Kaka…but only the latter two really sparkled tonight.

Ronaldo does not appear to be remotely match fit, and Adriano just didn’t offer enough movement when Kaka and Ronaldinho were looking to offload through balls from central positions (particularly in the 2nd half). As I said in the comments on the previous post, I thought the game, overall, was a terrifically competitive and flowing affair…but Brazil’s fluidity definitely improved when Robinho (still something of an unproven quantity) came on. He (at least) caused the Croatians problems with his pace and liveliness and has, perhaps, justified a starting place against Australia (at the expense of an out-of-sorts Ronaldo).

Ronaldinho may have been occasionally wasteful in possession, but he never once shied away from the ball and was (like Kaka) involved in practically everything that Brazil did right. If Brazil are to win this World Cup it will be the performance of that half of the quartet that take them there. Ronaldo and Adriano are replaceable - Kaka and Ronaldinho are most certainly not.

Brazil 1 Croatia 0

France 0 Switzerland 0

South Korea 2 Togo 1

Note: Little did I realise when I chose the World of World Cup Wonders 'header' that 5 days in we'd still be waiting for our first penalty kick of the tournament. What's the record, I wonder, for most days without said incident?