Guillermo Del Torrid for Brazil as Hero Ochoa single handedly blanks the unsinspiring World Cup hosts.

In a tournament that has been woeful for goalkeeping so far, Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa bucked that trend by single- handedly (and not eleven fingered-ly as Twitter would have had you believe) keeping Brazil at bay in Fortaleza.  The cult hero keeper pulled of a raft of saves to hold the Selecao to a 0-0 draw with his national team, in a game that was bereft of the action and drama that this match promised. Indeed his performance was the highlight of a  game that was interesting only for it’s lack of entertainment.

                                            NOT REAL

Being an already drab encounter, the BBC seemed intent of draining all colour from the occasion for British viewers, by putting Mark Lawrenson on co-comms duty for it. Putting it on in black and white is the only way the game could have been viewed any more drearily, as Lawro remained unenthused by anything that went on for the whole ninety minutes. Granted, the game itself wasn’t the most entertaining, but when Jonathan Pearce, a man who seems oblivious to social media the majority of the time, starts looking up Daniel Sturridge’s Twitter feed just to create small talk with you, you should know that you need to liven things up.

Having commentated on my fair share of SPL bore fests in the past, I know how much turd polishing needs to be done to make the most wretched of games sound appealing to the listener. Vivid description, over egging of simple plays and decent storytelling are vital in keeping your audience gripped, however poor the fare may be. Lawro however fails to adopt or adapt to that way of thinking.

When a Brazil move broke down for offside, the replay, which would normally garner some sort of analysis, was greeted with a grumpy “There you go”, allowing the picture to tell us the thousand words he couldn’t be arsed to give. When describing one of Ochoa’s fine first half stops, he discredited by saying “ he’s hit it straight at him”, while begrudgingly describing a similar save later in the game as a “top stop”. The cherry on his dog –food cake of an attempt at  commentary was referring to Chicarito - a player he’s watched and withered on about over the last few years on Match Of The Day – as “Hernando”.

It was as if he wasn’t even trying.

Which is something that could perhaps be levelled at Scolari’s side, as they struggled for rhythm, fluency and everything else that they should have been showing in bucketloads. With the expectations of a nation on their shoulders, the pressure is perhaps playing on their minds, but that shouldn’t stop them from minding how they play in front of their noisy and expectant home fans. When they did huff and puff enough to break down a sturdy Mexican defence, they found Ochoa to be in unbeatable form.

The first of his heroics came when Dani Alves rifled a cross from deep on the right, on to the newly tinted head of Neymar. His header had all the power, direction and accuracy needed to direct the ball inside Ochoa’s right hand post, but didn’t bank on the keeper’s right hand, er, hand clawing it out acrobatically. The missed chance for Neymar had  the Brazil cROwd on it’s feet, sensing IT wouldn’t be long until they made the breakthrough, and it looked like they may just get it before half time. Neymar this time lofted  a free kick in to the box from 40 yards, which was awkwardly yet skilfully chested in through a ruck of Mexicans by Thiago Silva. With three yellow shirts in yards of space, Fred and David Luiz fought for the loose ball. PSG’s new signing won and toe poked goalward only to be denied by Ochoa making himself big, like all good goalies should.

                                            UNREAL

The second half followed much the same pattern, as Mexico offered little going forward, absorbing lots of Brazilian frustration for the most part. Ochoa then made it a hat trick of great saves to deny Neymar, as a ball in form the left was expertly controlled by the home number 11. A half volley was smacked towards goal form eight yards, but the former Ajaccio stopper positioned himself sturdily enough to repel the shot, before it was hacked to safety. Moments later, Neymar turned provider, whipping a free kick right on to the forehead of the unmarked Thiago Silva. The Selecao skipper smashed the ball at full pelt with his forehead but was denied by a lightning quick right hand, reacting superbly to block the ball on the line.

It may not have been as spectacular as his stop from the Neymar header, but that save may just have secured Mexico’s place in the next round. With Ochoa a free agent after leaving relegated Ajaccio at the end of last season, this game may have set him up for multiple job offers at the end of the tournament.

If Brazil are to make it to the end of the tournament they will need to perform much better going forward. Their back line was barely breached, with Julio Cesar only forced in to two saves of note. Hector Herrerra’s 25 yard blast was safely and spectacularly tipped over in the first half, while Jimenez’s late angled volley from the edge of the box brought out Cesar’s strong wrists late in the game. Defensively there wasn’t much to do, but they should have done much more going forward.

Oscar had shone against Croatia, but barely glistened in Fortaleza. Fred again provided very little up front, while Dani Alves and Marcelo were poor on either flank. Perhaps too eager to make up for his own goal in the opener, Marcelo was slaughtered universally for going down in the box as the game neared it’s end. In a World Cup where soft penalties do seem to be the in thing, it was a shock that he didn’t get the spot kick for feeling a defender’s hand on his shoulder, but with space in front of him and full control of the ball, there was no need for him to take a dive like he did. It summed up his night.

                                            TYPICALLY REAL

The Mexicans will be much happier with that result than the Brazilians, even though they didn’t do much to cause the hosts a threat. At times it felt as if they had parked a bus that the locals weren’t to keen to get on to, and even if they had, the driver would have palmed them away.

It sets up both side’s third group matches quite nicely, where the pressure will all be on Brazil to perform against Cameroon.

Elsewhere in Brazil, Belgium came from behind to beat Algeria thanks to the inspirational super sub Merouane Fellaini, a tag not afforded to him at old Trafford last season. In the other game , Russia drew 1-1 with South Korea in a game where both goalkeepers forgot they had hands.