Brazil Does Just Enough

Brazil Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira recently tried to downplay his team’s chances of winning the World Cup for a record sixth time. Home-field advantage, he said, belonged to Europe.

“The European teams are at home here,” Parreira said. “They just have to take a bike or a bus and they’re in Germany. They’re in their own house.”

Croatia’s fans certainly felt quite at home in the Olympic Stadium on Tuesday night, so much so that one of them ran half the length of the field, interrupting play before being led off by ponytailed Croatian forward Dado Prso.

The fan, in jeans and a Croatian shirt, with his face painted in red-and-white quarters, Croatia’s colors, intended no harm. It was simply a bit of exuberance in light of the underdogs’ determination in holding the world champions to only a 1-0 victory.

Croatia battled throughout the 90 minutes and a tie would not have been an unfair result. “A draw would be a success,” Croatian defender Igor Tudor said beforehand. “It would be a sensation if we won.”

The only thing that separated the teams was Kaka’s 44th-minute goal off a pass from Cafu. Three Croatian defenders were nearby when the midfielder controlled the pass, touched it once to his left and then unleashed a fierce left-foot shot that curled inside the left post beyond the reach of goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa.

A desperate lunge by Niko Kranjcar, the son of Croatia Coach Zlatko Kranjcar, came seconds too late to throw Kaka off stride.

Brazil, which had worked hard to no avail throughout the half to unlock Croatia’s defense, celebrated as if it were the World Cup final, which will be played in the same stadium on July 9.

By then, Parreira’s players will presumably have lifted their game by several notches or they will be in the historic stadium only as spectators.

On Tuesday evening the sellout crowd of 72,000 could be excused for leaving with a vague sense of not having received its money’s worth.

Sure, Ronaldinho, the two-time FIFA world player of the year, was everywhere, setting up scoring chances for others, trying shots himself and hustling back on defense, always with a grin or a smile. Glad to be in a real match after months of training.

Sure, Ronaldo, a three-time FIFA world player of the year, was out there, but the man who had been labeled “fat” was not in top form.

Ronaldo had not played a competitive game in more than two months and the rust showed. His only notable contribution was a blazing shot that flew just over the crossbar. Otherwise, he was not a factor.

Ronaldo needs three goals to become the all-time leading goal scorer in World Cup history. He has 12, the same as Pele, but trails Germany’s Gerd “Der Bomber” Muller, who scored a total of 14 in the 1970 and 1974 tournaments.

“For me personally, it’s important, but what is more important is how the team does,” Ronaldo said. “It’s not my No. 1 priority.”

Brazil has games against Australia on Sunday and Japan on June 22. Their defenses might have learned a thing or two from the Croatians about shutting down Brazil.

The problem was, the script was muddied by Croatia’s resolve to give the champions a difficult game. The Croats had reached the semifinals in 1998 and are determined to try to match that performance this time.

Ronaldo might not have moved closer to the record he seeks, but Brazil set one of its own. By winning, it became the first team in the 76-year history of the World Cup to win eight consecutive games, including the seven in a row it won in 2002.

Said Cafu: “I told the team before the game that we had to go up seven steps. We went up one and now we have six to go.

“In each game we will try to improve.”