BRASILIA (Reuters) – Neymar’s stunning early strike set Brazil
on the way to a 3-0 win over Japan in the opening match of the
Confederations Cup on Saturday although the occasion was marred by
trouble at a protest outside the stadium.
Brazil's
Jo (C) celebrates scoring a goal against Japan with teammates Marcelo
(R) and Oscar during their Confederations Cup Group A soccer match at
the Estadio Nacional in Brasilia June 15, 2013.
REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker
More than 30 people were injured and 22 arrested as police used
rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protestors angry at the amount
of public money being spent on stadiums for the tournament and next
year’s World Cup.
President Dilma Rousseff and FIFA president Sepp Blatter were jeered
before the match at the Mane Garrincha National stadium as the public
showed their discontent.
Some fans in the 67,000 crowd had to be treated for the effects of
tear gas fired by riot police at about 500 protesters outside the
rebuilt stadium, which like many other venues has been plagued by
delays.
On the field, it was plain sailing for five-times world champions
Brazil as second-half goals from Paulinho and substitute Jo completed a
comfortable win in Group A of the eight-team tournament.
Boosted by Neymar’s early strike, Brazil, playing their first
competitive match since the Copa America nearly two years ago, dealt
competently with the Asian champions who created some nice moves in
midfield but lacked punch.
"What mattered most was the result and this continued the tactical
evolution of the team," said Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, whose
side beat France 3-0 in a friendly last Sunday.
"I thought Neymar played very well, he ended a run without scoring,
and I only took him off as he had a slight injury, added Scolari. "I’ve
no idea what happened outside the stadium, I have to focus on my team
and I can’t comment on that."
FICKLE FANS
The game, featuring the only two countries already sure of a place in
next year’s World Cup, came alive after three minutes when Neymar
smashed home a right-foot shot from the edge of the area after a long
cross from Marcelo was chested down by Fred.
That lifted the spritis of the fickle yellow-shirted home fans but
they began to show their impatience soon enough as Brazil failed to
build on the early goal and Japan came into the match with Keisuke Honda
making inroads in midfield.
Japan, who started with only Shinji Okazaki as the nominal front man,
began to look increasingly dangerous with some incisive moves through
the middle but they never seriously troubled goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
Japan’s Italian coach Alberto Zaccheroni was surprised at the way his
team performed, saying: "Normally we play with a different approach and
we make fewer mistakes and take the imitative much more and this did
not happen today".
"Either we were so shocked by going one down so early that this
worried us and we did not play our normal game, or we were tired
following our recent flight back from Qatar and we did not have time to
regain our full fitness," he added referring to the return from Doha
after beating Iraq in a World Cup qualifier.
"Either way, I’m not that upset but I’m disappointed because we can
play much better than that. And to be honest, I haven’t learnt that much
about my team that I didn’t know already – the truer test will come in
the games against Mexico and Italy."
Despite allowing Japan the room to indulge in some clever passing play, Brazil also showed flashes of flair.
Neymar, who told reporters afterwards he was fit and had only
suffered a slight knock, produced a little shimmy on the left, but
failed to get past his marker, while Hulk, working up the right wing,
fired into the side netting.
Impressive striker Fred forced Eiji Kawashima into a fine one-handed
save with a low snapshot after a floated cross from Neymar two minutes
before the break.
Three minutes after the interval, Brazil did find the net again when Paulinho met Dani Alves’s cross and blasted home.
In a largely uneventful second half, Brazil coped easily with the
limited danger Japan created before Jo finished off a counter-attack to
wrap up the victory nine minutes after replacing Fred.
The match was the first international to feature goal-line technology although the technology was not called into action.
The Star online
Sunday 16 June 2013.
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