Pitch-perfect Neymar show

Pitch-perfect Neymar show

When Brazil were stunningly thrashed 1-7 by Germany during the World Cup in July, many declared that samba football was dead.

Last night, the 51,577-strong crowd at Singapore's National Stadium might just have witnessed what could be the resurrection of that romantic, irresistible brand of attacking football.

There were flashes of brilliance from the likes of Oscar, Everton Ribeiro, Kaka and Robinho, but the essence of samba football - the daring, the cheekiness and the creativity - came from only one man.

"Neymar, Neymar," the Kallang faithful chanted, long into the night.

There was much to applaud. The shining, glittering skills that radiated from his orange and crimson boots; the haircut, almost as extravagant as his step-overs; the proof that the cracked vertebrae suffered during the World Cup has all but healed, as the 22-year-old carried his team by scoring every goal in the 4-0 friendly win over Japan.

That masterful display of marksmanship left Brazil coach Dunga gushing: "Neymar was great, and we know that. What we can do as a team is to make him even better in the future.

"The way we won showed the players are playing the right way. Even after battling jet lag, they showed a fight for their place."

The Man of the Match by some distance, Neymar netted the first in the 18th minute when he collected Diego Tardelli's through ball, calmly rounded Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima and booted home into the top of the net.

Three minutes after the break, he showed perfect anticipation to collect Oscar's pass before slotting in his second.

In the 77th minute, Kawashima spilled Philippe Coutinho's stinging shot and the Barcelona striker swooped yet again to tap in with his left foot.

And with nine minutes to go, he went airborne to nod in Kaka's cross from the left, to not only score four international goals in one match for the first time, but also dispatching them with his head and both feet.

Those goals tallied 40 in 58 international appearances for the young forward.

Neymar liberally dished out skills worthy of being gushed over repeatedly on YouTube - the step-overs, drag-backs and even turning his marker inside out with a Cruyff Turn.

Brazil's victory made it four straight wins without conceding a goal in Dunga's second spell in charge of the Selecao, after wins over Argentina (2-0), Ecuador and Colombia (both 1-0).

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Former international midfielder Juninho Pernambucano, now a Brazilian TV commentator, purred: "This is the best match Brazil has played since the World Cup.

"We did well against Argentina, but this performance is better. Japan are a good, organised team, but Brazil completely dominated the game.

"It's still early with Dunga as head coach, but the signs are looking good. Is he the right man? It's still early, but the team (has) scored eight goals and conceded none (under Dunga), and this gives us confidence for the future."

While the sandy and bumpy pitch made ball control a challenge, Brazil coped with the conditions better.

Once in possession, they dragged the Japanese players out of position until gaps opened up for killer balls to be played through.

Samurai Blue coach Javier Aguirre lamented: "Once the second goal went in, our players' confidence was damaged. The midfield made a lot of mistakes."

Goalkeeper Kawashima added: "We didn't play well in the second half; we lost possession too easily but our players are new and young and they will learn from this.

"I'm disappointed with the result but we've got to look forward now and continue building towards the Asian Cup."

One thing is clear to the fans at the National Stadium. They witnessed history.

And they saw a young genius in full flow, with Neymar making a mockery of the poor pitch conditions and declaring himself as the person to rescue Brazil from the doldrums of a bad World Cup outing three months ago.


This article was first published on October 15, 2014.
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