Goiânia: AFC U23 Championship winners Japan suffered a 2-0 defeat against Olympic hosts Brazil in their final friendly before the tournament begins on Thursday.
Two first half Seleção goals decided the match in favour of a Brazil team fancied by many to claim their first Olympic football gold.
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Led by the game’s outstanding player, Barcelona star Neymar, Brazil controlled the match and hit the woodwork twice in the first half, but it was a current Santos player who gave Brazil the lead on 33 minutes.
19-year-old wonderkid Gabriel received the ball around 45 yards from goal before dribbling through the heart of the Japanese defence and unleashing a shot which deflected past goalkeeper Kosuke Nakamura from 18 yards.
Brazil doubled their lead after 40 minutes when Paris-Saint Germain defender Marquinhos scored an emphatic header from a Neymar corner.
Makoto Teguramori’s Japan side were organised in a 4-5-1 formation, with one of the squad’s three over-23 players – Urawa Red Diamonds forward Shinzo Koroki – preferred in the striker’s role to new Arsenal signing Takuma Asano.
The Japanese squad will now travel over 3,000km to Manaus, where they will meet 1996 gold medallists Nigeria in the opening game of their Olympic campaign.
They will remain in the Amazonas city for their August 7 meeting with Colombia, before re-locating to Salvador for their final group clash against Sweden three days later.
Source: the-afc.com