World Cup notes: Big guns start badly and VAR hits the spot

Brazils 1-1 with Switzerland last night continued an underwhelming start from the teams fancied to win this World Cup.

Tites men were merely following a pattern laid out by Argentina (held by Iceland), Spain (held by Portugal), Germany (beaten by Mexico) and France (unconvincing winners over Australia).

Russias five-goal thumping of Saudi Arabia aside, it has been a tournament of close contests to date, with six of the seven wins coming by a single-goal margin.

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If that suggests a series of nip-and-tuck matches, it may also help to explain why teams laden with attacking talent – notably Brazil, Argentina and France – have been largely frustrated by well organised opposition.

Germany hit by curse of the Confed Cup

Mexicos 1-0 win over defending champions Germany provided perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

But maybe we shouldnt be surprised; it was merely the immutable curse of the Confederations Cup in action.

No team has gone on to win the World Cup having triumphed at the dress rehearsal 12 months earlier – it is footballs equivalent of the Par Three contest at the Masters – so the omens have been bad for Joachim Lows side ever since their success in Russia last summer.

Mexico upset Germany with a 1-0 win in their opening match (Source: Getty)

This also the third consecutive World Cup in which the holders have failed to win their first game.

In happier news for Die Mannschaft, a bad start neednt be terminal: Spain lifted the trophy in 2010 despite losing to Switzerland in their opening group match.

European teams rule the roost

Germanys uncharacteristic aberration aside, Europes representatives have largely outperformed their rivals from other confederations.

Russia, France, Denmark, Croatia and Serbia all beat non-European opponents, while Iceland and Switzerland held the might of Argentina and Brazil respectively.

Iceland recorded a very creditable draw against Messi's Argentina (Source: Getty)

The other Uefa-affiliated teams to play – Portugal and Spain – met each other in Fridays hugely entertaining 3-3 draw.

So good was that clash that is tempting to wonder whether both teams could meet again in the final. Should they progress from Group B they would be kept apart until the Moscow showdown on 15 July.

Ronaldo 3, Messi and Neymar 0

There can be little debate about which player has mustered the outstanding display of the tournament so far.

Cristiano Ronaldos one-man mission to ensure Portugal took something from their clash with Spain, a hat-trick capped by a glorious 25-yard free-kick, was pure box office.

The performances of his habitual Ballon dOr rivals, Lionel Messi and Neymar, have, by contrast, been a huge let-down.

Ronaldo's hat-trick against Spain has the been standout performance so far (Source: Getty)

Messi, so desperate to finally lead Argentina to glory, missed a penalty in their draw with Iceland on Saturday.

Neymar, through whom every Brazil attack must seemingly pass even to its detriment, cut a frustrated figure as they toiled to a 1-1 stalemate against Switzerland.

VAR hitting the spot

As well as prompting irrelevant debates about what constitutes a clear and obvious error, the introduction of the video assistant referee may have had another, more significant, impact at this World Cup: the number of penalties.

Just 11 games into this tournament, we have already seen six spot-kicks – almost half as many as the 13 awarded in Brazil four years ago.

A VAR referral saw Griezmann awarded a penalty that he then scored (Source: Getty)

Two of them were given after the use of VAR: Antoine Griezmanns for France against Australia and Christian Cuevas failed attempt in Perus defeat to Denmark.

With twice as many officials studying the action from multiple angles in search of infringements, we could be in for many more.

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