On Friday, reports have emerged of the Croatian team flooding their dressing room in Sao Paulo following a contested loss to Brazil in an opening day match of the 2014 World Cup, The Toronto Sun said. Brazil won over Croatia on Thursday in a score of 3-1, with the latter accusing that the yellow card on Dejan Levren on Brazilian striker Fred by referee Yuichi Nishimura was dubious.
The foul resulted to Nishimura awarding a penalty kick to Brazil, of which Neymar had scored, breaking the 1-1 tie during the game. The call proved to be a gamechanger, as an amped-up Brazil with the home court advantage scored two more goals, the other coming from Neymar, securing a victory for the host nation.
An English-speaking reporter could not resist asking FIFA officials about the reports of Croatia's behavior over Brazil, as the reporter queried during the world soccer body's morning briefing on Friday on whether it has any comment about the Croatian team's act, citing information from a Brazilian club that usually plays in the stadium. The reporter did not say whether there was any damage done or the extent of the damage the alleged flooding has done in the dressing room, the Toronto Sun said.
A tournament official seated at the table addressed the reporter's query and said, indicating that a probe on a matter has already been conducted, "Each party has a right (to express their opinions) as long as it's peaceful. It's not fair to say now based on reports. We have to see what the venue team's report is. It's fair to wait until there's a full report so we can validate that information."
The Canadian paper said that disciplinary issues from Union of European Football Associations qualifiers are no longer foreign to them. In the World Cup finals, Croatia's Josip Simunic was banned before the tournament had started after proliferating uncalled racist remarks. Star striker Mario Mandzukic was also suspended from playing in the Thursday opener after a horror tackle during a World Cup qualifying match.
