YUICHI NISHIMURA, the Japanese referee who showed Felipe Melo a red card as Brazil crashed out of the World Cup quarter-finals four years ago, will officiate tomorrow's opening fixture of the 2014 edition between the hosts and Croatia.
FIFA announced the match officials for the first four matches on Tuesday, handing the honour of blowing the opening whistle in Sao Paolo to Nishimura, who will be assisted by compatriots Toru Sagara and Toshiyuki Nagi.
Nishimura also doled out the first red card of the 2010 finals, to Uruguay's Nicolas Lodeiro.
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