If we were to find a word to sum up the night, it has to be… “Neymar”.
Neymar was obviously the one who received the loudest cheer for the night. To think that his involvement in the International Friendly against Japan could be minimum, the striker defined all odds. He played full 90 minutes and led Brazil to a 4-0 victory by netting all 4 goals to the delights of all 51,500pax at the Singapore National Stadium!
The Selecao’s Captain & Striker opened the scoring as early as 17th minute when he rounded Japan’s custodian, Eiji Kawashima and scored after receiving a through pass from Diego Tardelli! 3 minutes later, Neymar nearly double the lead for Brazil as he saw his shot sliced across the goalmouth.
Although Japan was losing balls at the attacking third half, their counter attacks were threatening. Striker, Kobayashi Yu nearly volleyed home an equalizer but his shot just went above and over in the 23rd minute. As the Japanese continued to search for the equalizer, Neymar continued to terrorize the Japanese defence on the other side of the pitch.
Similar to Neymar, VfB Stuttggart’s full back, Sakai Gotoku was equally active in the game. In the 34th minute, he put in a timely cross for Okazawa Shinji after some good work but only to find Okazawa’s glancing header missed the goal by inches! Eventually, the score line of 1-0 remained till second half.
Another crowd favorite, Honda Keisuke was brought on during the half time break. Before Honda could do anything to salvage the situation for the Japanese, Neymar sinked the Samurai Blues’ morale further by breaking the offside trap and slotted home Brazil’s and his second goal of the night! The confidence level of Dunga’s team surged as they started to play more short passes within the Japanese’s half with no intention of stopping at just 2 goals.
In the 58th minute, Brazil should be 3 goals up but Neymar’s shot could only find the side netting. However, it certainly did not take the star of the night long to complete his hattrick. Kawashima parried off a long range shot from Philippe Coutinho into the on running path of Neymar’s and he tapped in the easiest goal of the night to complete the feast!
To ensure he would be bringing back the match ball, the Barcelona’s Striker headed home the fourth goal of the night, floated in by Sao Paolo’s KaKa to give Singapore an unbelievable night! Japan’s Kakitani Yoichiro was close in scoring a consolation for Japan in the 88th minute but Brazil’s Jefferson Oliveira tipped his lopping header away to safety easily. With 3 minutes of additional time given, the man in black from Singapore blew for full time. Final score, Japan lost to a far more superior side Brazil 4-0.
Despite deploying a young squad to face Brazil, Japan’s head coach, Javier Aguirre had no intention of finding excuses for the scoreline. Instead, he said that by playing against such a top team, it showed them how far apart they were with the top teams. And with Asian Cup coming up, they were going to put in more effort to make the team clicked. However, when presented with the question if the ill condition of the pitch affected their play, Aguirre refused to blame the pitch for his team’s defeat.
Undoubtedly, it was Neymar who made the night for all beautiful game lovers in Singapore last evening. All your earlier hesitations on spending the money on the game tickets to catch the game were all justified and worth it. Not only you, but the whole lot of 51,500 pax.
More photos of the game, please Click Here.
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