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Monday, June 4, 2012
Brazil 0-2 Mexico: Dos Santos and Hernandez on target against youthful Selecao
Mexico ended a run of eight consecutive friendly wins for Brazil with a famous 2-0 victory at Cowboys Stadium.Giovani
Dos Santos opened the scoring against what is believed to be the
Brazilian side the at will start this summer's Olympic Games with a
fortuitous chip. Javier Hernandez then added the second from the penalty
spot after some slack defending from the Selecao. From then on Brazil
struggled to forge opportunities to score and the Mexicans remained
watertight at the back to secure the win. Brazil assumed control of the ball in the
opening stages with the combination of Marcelo and Neymar looking lively
down the left flank. With 10 minutes played the Selecao got in behind
as Leandro Damiao finished off Hulk's ball over the top, only to see the
goal ruled out for a debatable offside decision. Mexico were
breaking at speed when they won back the ball and it was such a move
that saw them take the lead in the 22nd minute. Pablo Berrera's raking
40-yard pass switched the play to Dos Santos on the
left of the box where he was stood up by Danilo. He worked a yard of
space to clip the ball towards the back post which it ended up bouncing
off of and into the net. La Verde were in the ascendancy as they
continued to threaten on the counterattack and they earned a penalty
soon after. After stray pass in the area Juan was overzealous in his
attempts to retrieve the ball and he brought Dos Santos down. Hernandez stepped up and converted from 12 yards to double his side's lead in the 33rd minute. Brazil
had little to show for all their possession due to some good pressing
and Jose Corona was forced into his first save just three minutes before
the break. Oscar's swerving 25-yard strike was heading for the top
corner but the keeper dived to his left and parried the effort away. Mexico
continued to impress with their high pressing and they forced another
error at the back. A misplaced pass was pounced upon by Jorge Torres but
Sandro got back to make a fantastic block on Jesus Zavala's shot, with
Hernandez was unable to poke in the rebound. In an attempt to add
more attacking guile to his side Menezes brought Alexandre Pato and
Lucas Moura on to replace Leandro Damiao and Sandro. However, La Verde
remained resilient in defence and a deflected volley from Lucas and a
stinging long-range free kick from Hulk were the only threats provided
by Brazil. They continued to gain momentum and after Juan saw his
74th-minute volley saved by Corona, Rafael diverted Hernandez's effort
away from goal after another break. The action continued as Hulk found
space on the left and put it on a plate for Pato to tap in but his
connection was awful as he failed to convert. Clear-cut chances
remained elusive and Brazil will now look towards next week's friendly
against Lionel Messi's Argentina as their last friendly while Mexico
will begin the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign on the same weekend.
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