Niko Kovac rages against the referee after Croatia's loss to Brazil in World Cup opener

NIko Kovac

Croation national football team manager Niko Kovac launched a vicious attack on Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura after his performance in their 3-1 loss in the World Cup opener against Brazil in Sao Paulo.

Kovac was fuming when Brazilian starlet Neymar escaped a red card for his blatant elbow on Croatian midfielder Luka Modric. The drama did not end there as Neymar then went on to score the penalty awarded to Brazil for a challenge on striker Fred which Kovac feels was a ‘soft decision’. The penalty changed the course of the game when match was evenly balanced at 1-1.

Kovac, a former Croatian player himself who played in the 2002 World Cup, spoke at the press after the game and said: "If that's a penalty, we don't have to play football no more, we should play basketball. It's a disgrace. We work hard, we come to the World Cup only to get a referee not good enough for a game like this. It makes no sense to play anymore because this is a disgrace."

The disappointed coach added that he felt his team deserved at least a point from the match, praising his players for their performance in front of passionate support for the home side.