Brazil cruised to a comfortable four-goal victory at Hindmarsh Stadium as they found their rhythm in front of a partisan crowd to ease to the top of Group F and set the challenge to France and Jamaica to match them for style and sass.
A fantastic Ary Borges hat-trick, who also set up Beatriz Zaneratto for a goal in a five-star performance, was just enough to eclipse the second-half introduction of superstar Marta as the Brazilian fans sang, danced and drummed their way to an emphatic win against unfancied Panama.
A beautiful welcome to country enchanted a cosmopolitan crowd at Hindmarsh Stadium, dramatic music accompanying both teams onto the field to rapturous applause. The upbeat Brazilian national anthem continued long after the music stopped and ended with a huge roar as the players and fans completed the anthem in style.
The words of the Panama anthem were almost silent in comparison, but the tears in the eyes of the fans and players told the story of this first foray into World Cup football.
Marta was named on the bench for Brazil, and judging by the songs in the streets beforehand she was the main drawcard tonight. The Brazil players said their final words gathered as a squad, Panama had only the starting line-up involved in their huddle, and there were hugs and final words of encouragement all round.
The fans clad in yellow and green were in great voice as the now-traditional countdown brought the game to life.
The Panama team looked to press as one from the opening whistle, but in an instant Brazil carved through the middle, Adriana denied by a marvellous close-range save by Yenith Bailey. It was women against girls for the opening five minutes as Brazil toyed with their opponents and made the most of the insane amount of space afforded to them by the Panama defence.
Antonia slashed a long range shot just over the bar when given time outside the penalty area. The crowd responded with cries of ‘Brasil, Brasil’ – this was definitely a home game for the Selecao.
Zaneratto tried again from the other side of the field, a long-range shot that flew over the corner of post and bar and the noisy Brazilian fans responded with their drums and cries. Debinha should have scored when she cut in from the right, but failed to shoot and ran into a relieved Panama defender.
The mesmerising samba beat was the background music to some stylish play, so much that this felt like a movie about the game rather than a game itself.
Panama tried to get the ball away, but it kept coming back, although at one point they found themselves in a three-on-two situation after hassling in midfield, but they didn’t seem to know what to do with the ball.
Zaneratto was brought down centrally for a free-kick; a smiling Marta appeared on the big screen to get the biggest cheer of the night so far. Debinha fired just wide. The respite wasn’t long though as a raking cross from Debinha found Borges in space and she placed her header beautifully, low into the ground and past the unlucky Bailey.
Kerolin struck the bar from distance but the whistle had gone for a foul, the crowd still bouncing following the opening goal. There looked like no escape for Panama, this could be a long evening unfolding.
The Central Americans showed good feet, stringing together two and three passes, but too often the move broke down with a misplaced pass or loose control. Brazil were letting Panama have numbers up front, but it was Brazil who kept up the pressure, and Zaneratto took a heavy touch when she should have scored easily.
Bailey then made an astonishing save moments later, tipping over a strike from the edge of the area by Luana.
Borges played a pass out on the wing while fixing her hair, such was the comfort of the Brazil team, and she popped up a moment later in the penalty area after Bailey had saved her header from close range to tuck the rebound in for 2-0.
The end of the half saw Brazil still on the attack, winning a corner, but the urgency had gone. The referees, who normally wait until the players have exited the field before following them down the tunnel, waited for the Panama team, but they were deep in conversation; there was much to talk about at half-time, and 2-0 was as good a result as they could have hoped for after being thoroughly outplayed for the entire half.
The play was all in the Panama half at the start of the second half, Brazil switched from right to left and back again to try and find the way through. A moment of absolute magic unlocked the Panama defence to get Brazil on the scoresheet again.
Debinha raced down the left, played a neat one-two with Adriana and teased in a delicious ball to Borges. She had the composure to roll the ball nonchalantly behind her into the path of Zaneratto who fired into the roof of the net for three.
The party was really going off in the Brazil corner, and Borges almost completed the hat-trick soon after, stretching to reach an impudent flick through from Kerolin.
To their credit, Panama kept trying to play football. Not once did they play an aimless ball, and when Carina Baltrip-Reyes raced down the left onto a slick ball by Riley Tanner, she cut inside and curled in a shot that Leticia Izidoro did well to catch.
A clash of heads sent Aldrith Quintero and Luana from the field as the players took a breather; by now both teams had made substantial changes to their line-ups, Gabi Nunes straight into the action and looking alive.
A moment that could have changed the context of the game then saw Tanner in a foot race with Leticia; the Brazilian goalkeeper got there first, but appeared to handle the ball, albeit unintentionally. Despite a brief stoppage to let the VAR bunker run the rule over the incident, the referee was not asked to take the walk to the monitor.
As is often the case, that VAR non-decision then led to a goal; Brazil scored again, Borges left with acres of space to head substitute Geyse’s wicked cross under Bailey to complete her hat-trick and make it four.
(Photo by Sarah Reed/Getty Images)
Marta appeared on the big screen. She was stripping off to take the field followed a lengthy ‘Marta Marta’ chant; the public had what they wanted, and the script was written for the perfect night. Kerolin advanced, beat three players but sliced her shot wide as the fervent crowd roared on the Brazilian team.
The Mexican wave had a Brazilian flavour, accompanied by an almighty roar. Nunes was on fire, lifting the ball over her defender before rolling the ball unselfishly into the six-yard box when she had every right to shoot.
Panama took the sting out of the game with a pleasing period of pressure, a handball providing them a free-kick on the right, Katherine Castillo delivering into the area, but that just left Panama exposed at the back, Marta racing after a through ball with the eagerness of a budding teenage prodigy.
Geyse was terrific down the left for Brazil, Marta had a chance to deliver a corner from in front of her adoring fans, and soon after raced through again to win herself a second chance at a corner right in front of the yellow and green pack singing her name.
The game was over as a contest, Brazil were doing all of the attacking, and the nine minutes of additional minutes seemed unnecessarily long given the context of the second half.
When Nunes was upended on the edge of the area, the script looked to be reaching its final scene: Marta from 20 yards. However, as we’d seen from the previous two set-pieces in the Marta corner of Hindmarsh Stadium, the delivery was a fizzer and the ball sailed into Bailey’s arms with no hint of a career-defining goal.
Straight up the other end, Tanner forced Leticia into a good save to hand Panama their first corner of the game. Tanner herself then fired over from the corner.
There was time for Duda Sampaio to flash a shot past the post, most of the crowd thinking the ball was in, and we saw a series of Ronaldinho-esque step-overs from Marta that wooed the crowd once more.
Brazil had won easily here, Panama had been valiant and played their part in an exciting game, and their players were as excited as their illustrious opponents at the final whistle.
There was a touch of the Harlem Globetrotters about this occasion, and the Brazilian fans brought their fervour and hypnotic beats to create a wonderful atmosphere for a Women’s World Cup game.
Ary Borges was quite rightly the player of the match, but she had plenty of pretenders to the crown; she was quick to leave her post-match interview though, her teammates racing across to the crowd to get the party started.
Brazil off to a winning start, no issues with dispatching the minnows of the group, and stand by for more fascinating Group F action in just a few days.
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