Brazil win pre-Olympics exhibition match in Singapore

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

SINGAPORE - Led by AC Milan star Ronaldinho, Brazil's pre-Olympics preparations were off to a smooth start as the samba kings defeated a stubborn Singapore Selection side 3-0 in an exhibition match on Monday.

The Brazilians dominated possession for most of the first half of the match but failed to find the net as they missed several clear chances inside the penalty box area and faced stiff resistance from the Singapore side.

Werder Bremen midfielder Diego broke the deadlock in the 20th minute with a goal from just outside the penalty box, while newly signed AC Milan star Ronaldinho made his mark with a close range effort in the 27th minute to lift the score to 2-0.

Left-footed Brazilian forward Jo, who recently inked a four-year deal with English Premier League club Manchester City, found the net in the second-half with a close range effort to take his side up 3-0.

Defender Alex Silva was sent off in the closing minutes of the match when he was handed a red card but that was of little consolation to the Singapore side.

Brazilian coach Dunga was satisfied with his team's performance but indicated his men had yet to reach full fitness levels, with many having just joined the Olympic team in the tune-up for next month's Games in Beijing.

"It was a good game so we had a good practice especially (when) we are coming from different time zones, different weather... we have our players in several levels of their fitness," Dunga said in a post-match conference.

"(As) you can see in 15 days, we can't really prepare a team for this competition.

"So what we did was we try to pass the ball around, let the opponent run after the ball... we do that, we get to know each other and we tactically try to impose ourselves."

Brazil head next to Hanoi where they will play a friendly against Vietnam's national side on August 1.

The South American giant won the World Cup a record five times but have come up short at the Olympics, finishing with a silver medal in the 1984 and 1988 Games, and bronze in 1996.