Neymar wins Man of the Match trophy for Brazil’s win in World Cup opener
By Josh Sanchez
Following Brazil’s 3-1 win over Croatia in the 2014 FIFA World Cup opener, star forward Neymar has earned the Man of the Match trophy for his two-goal performance that helped to lift his team to victory.
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Neymar’s first goal came in the 29th minute when he skimmed the ball across the turf and it deflected off of the post past Croatia goalie Stipe Pletikosa.
The goal tied the game after Brazil’s own goal.
Later in the second half, Neymar scored on a penalty kick that came in the 71st minute to give Brazil the advantage.
The second goal from Neymar came after a controversial foul inside of the box when Brazilian forward Fred took an obvious dive. The penalty was still called and Croatia defender Dejan Lovren got a yellow card. Neymar finished the job by converting the penalty kick despite a deflection by Pletikosa.
There was also a yellow card for Neymar in the first half, so he will need to be careful moving forward in order to avoid suspension.
Neymar’s Man of the Match was awarded after fan votes on Twitter, FIFA.com and on the official World Cup app. The award is sponsored by Budweiser.
As a fun little twist, the Budweiser Man of the Match award is shaped like the Budweiser logo.
Here is a look at the award:
It was a stellar World Cup debut for Neymar, but Brazil will have to hope that Dani Alves and the rest of the Brazilian defense will be able to get their act together so they can continue to charge forward showing the rest of the world why they are the favorites.