FOXBOROUGH, Mass. Sporting Alert — Striker Neymar came off the bench to score twice in Brazil’s convincing 4-1 thumping of the United States in a friendly international on Tuesday night.
Neymar, who started the game on the bench, with Brazil head coach Dunga opting to go with the players that will likely start in the next two World Cup qualifiers, scored his goals in the 51st minute from the penalty spot and in the 67th minute.
Earlier, Hulk expertly fired Brazil into the lead after just nine-minutes when he pounced on a ball that fell into his path, cut back to his right foot, and then beat Brad Guzan from just outside the six-yard box.
Neymar then doubled the lead five minutes into the second half before fellow second half substitute Rafinha made it 3-0 one minute after entering the pitch.
The Barcelona forward who will be ineligible for Brazil’s two upcoming World Cup qualifiers, completed his brace shortly after the hour mark.
Daniel Williams scored a superb goal for the United States, but by then the visitors were already trailing 4-0.
Neymar, who was sent off during the Copa America tournament earlier in the summer, will not be available for the CONMEBOL game against Chile on 8 October and Venezuela four days later.
Despite knowing that, he wasn’t happy about sitting on the bench and after playing just seven-minutes against Costa Rica last week, Dunga extended his minutes Tuesday night.
Jurgen Klinsmann Under Fire Again?
USA head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has been the subject of some serious criticisms since before and after the Gold Cup and Tuesday’s result was not a good one for the German, who again continued with his surprise experimentations.
Klinsmann particular will also want to take another look at the performance of Jermaine Jones in the midfield, as despite his admiration for the 33-year-old, he must come to grip that he will need to look to someone else for at least the game against Mexico.
The Americans, especially in the first half, found it difficult to deal with the pace of Bayern Munich’s Douglas Costa and Willian of Chelsea.
Roberto Firmino, Lucas Moura, Philippe Coutinho and Fernandinho also saw minutes during the contest.
