A furious Croatia footballcoach Niko Kovac says the Japanese referee in his side's 3-1 defeat to Brazil was out of his depth after a bitterly disputed penalty changed the course of the World Cup opener.
The unfancied European team took a shock lead when Marcelo scored an own goal in the 11th minute before Neymar levelled.
Croatia, ranked 18th in the world, were holding their own in the second half until referee Yuichi Nishimura awarded a penalty after Fred backed into Croatian defender Dejean Lovren and fell.
Kovac branded the spot kick award "ridiculous", saying he blamed himself for not saying during the pre-match media conference he'd be keeping a beady eye on the referee.
The disappointed coach said he felt his team had deserved at least a point from the match.
