Football Yesterday & Today: ATWC : Opening Game and Opening Ceremony

As the World Cup top-team of all time, the first group stage game of Brazil was picked for the opening game of the FYT All-Time World Cup and it will be against Senegal (group I, with also Poland and Australia).

OPENING GAME in NY/ NJ Stadium, East Rutherford, United States (capacity 82.500) :

BRAZIL - SENEGAL : 2 - 1

Lucien Laurent scored the first World Cup goal ever and Sadio Mané is the scorer of the first goal in the FYT All-Time World Cup. Brazil win the opening game though, showing their superiority in spite of that one goal small margin. Senegal did not repeat the feat of 2002 (against the reigning champions of that time, France). Mission completed for Brazil. We expected a bit more from them but an opening game is always difficult, especially for the favorites.

GOALS (Mané, Pelé, Pelé) :

21' : long ball from the Koulibaly's feet... at the entry of the penalty area, Bocandé, with a reversed header worthy of an acrobat, finds Mané who had deserted his right flank of the first 15 minutes and scores at close range at the far post.

37' : after this air pocket, Brazil take control of the match and Pelé, perfectly served by Didi, scores the equalizer from the 16 yards, slightly on the right, with a perfect diagonal shot. Maybe Sylva could have done better, though.

68' : Pelé inherits the ball in the middle of a confused action, infiltrates the penalty area, and beats Mendy with a sharp shot.

Yellow cards : Gueye 48', P.B Diop 60'.

RATINGS :

Brazil :

Gilmar 5 - Cafu 7 - C. Alberto 6 - T. Silva 5,5 - R. Carlos 5 - Falcao 5 (Dunga 70') - Cerezo 7 - Pelé 7,5 - Didi 6 (Rivelino 70') - Garrincha 4,5 (Jairzinho 82') - Ronaldo 6. Tot. : 64,5.

Senegal :

Sylva 4 (E. Mendy HT, 5) - Coly 5 - R. Mendy 5,5 - Koulibaly 5,5 - Ba 5,5 - Sène 5,5 (S. Diao 72') - Gueye 4,5 - P.B. Diop 5 - Fadiga 5,5 (E-H. Diouf 79') - Mané 6 - Bocandé 6. Tot. : 58.

Gilmar (5) : he's been surprised by the Bocandé-Mané duet at the 20th minute. Otherwise, he had a rather good game... or average, perhaps.

Cafu (7) : without being really dangerous offensively, he greatly participated to the Brazilian territorial domination.

C. Alberto (6) : he imposed himself without forcing, which is the hallmark of a leader. His restarts from the back were noticeably good, especially in his understanding with Cafu.

T. Silva (5,5) : he's been beaten by Bocandé in the air on goal number one in this ATWC, was surprised like his collegues in a couple of occasions but overall had a decent game.

R. Carlos (5) : without being bad, he left a rough impression.

Falcao (5) : like Didi, he played at a stately pace... but he was less prominent. Both were replaced at once. Dunga lost his first duel then got better and better until the final whistle.

Cerezo (7) : he's been impeccable in everything he had to do.

Didi (6) : he did not start his match the best way then progressivily started to shine and perfectly served Pelé for the equalizer. In the second half, he was in perfect control of his art - for 25 minutes more. He was replaced by Rivelino (70') who helped at continuing to control the game and was also a potential menace for Senegal with his shooting abilities.

Pelé (7,5) : we expected more from his relation with Garrincha and young fellow Ronaldo but he's been (once again) decisive and delivered a complete performance, also helping at midfield. * Man of the Match *.

Garrincha (4,5) : below the level we expect from him, his duel with Ibrahim Ba "Eusébio" was quite balanced. His crosses were all cleared by the two towers : Koulibaly and Roger Mendy. His replacement Jairzinho (82') did not have really the chance to show much of his talents.

Ronaldo (6) : it would not be fair to judge him only based on "end product" statistics. In this match he quite often exiled himself on the left wing. He apparently gave cold sweat to Koulibaly and Sylva only two times but he was a constant menace. He also send one shoot or two at Mendy in the second half, which were perfectly blocked.

Sylva (4) : the legendary Senegalese goalkeeper knew tonight a cruel destiny. Even not half-faulty on the goal scored by Pelé, he was subbed out at half-time ! His coaching staff possibly thought that it was unforgivable at such a supreme level that is the All-Time World Cup and, with overzealousness, they decided to replace him with French-born Edouard Mendy. The latter shown good things on long-range shots but was also beaten once, by the same man (if he's a human). E. Mendy : 5.

Coly (5) : he did not take advantage of the spaces offered to him as he always feared about the ball distribution of Cerezo or Didi, about the moves of Ronaldo and about the climbs of Roberto Carlos. Had a serious game, but maybe a bit too serious.

R. Mendy and Koulibaly (5,5): they've been good but... Pelé.

Ba (5,5) : the father of "Ibou" Ba shown that his legendary status was not undeserved.

Gueye (4,5) : this very good element, at times, only looked like a sparring partner to Pelé. Gueye had there an opportunity to shine but The King did not miss his first rendez-vous with the All-Time World Cup.

P.B. Diop (5) : he was up there when it came to deal with Falcao but he also had to deal with the offensives of Cafu.

Sène and Fadiga (5,5) allowed Senegal to play in an hybrid formation between a 4-4-2 and a 4-3-3. They spared no effort. But they were facing Brazil.

Salif Diao and El-Hadji Diouf replaced them around the 75th minute. The scoreboard remained identical.

Bocandé 6 : his combination with Mané was sublime. Who turns around who ? We still don't know. But even though they stormed the Brazilian defenders in several occasions, they did not produced that much of clear chances for Gilmar to be really worried.

Mané 6 : he's been the best Mané, tonight. But Brazil won.

A bit earlier in the night... it was the OPENING CEREMONY !