MANCHESTER (Sporting Alert) — Brazil held off a second off rally from Egypt to take a 3-2 win victory in their opening Olympic Games fixture at the Millennium Stadium on Thursday.
There were also wins for Belarus, who beat New Zealand 1-0 and Japan, which stunned medal favourites Spain by a similar score.
Rafael, Leandro Damiao and Neymar all netted in the first half to give Brazil a 3-0 half-time lead before Egypt fought back with two goals for themselves in the second.
Mohamed Aboutrika scored in the early minutes of the second half before Mohamed Salah guided home another for the underdogs to push Brazil all the way to the final whistle.
Meanwhile, ten-man Spain suffered a 1-0 defeat to Japan in the day’s upset game, while Gaston Ramirez and Nicolas Lodeiro scored for Uruguay in their come from behind 2-1 win over the United Arab Emirates.
Dmitri Baga netted a first half stoppaged time winner for Belarus in their 1-0 win over New Zealand for the day’s other win.
Elsewhere, Team Great Britain were held 1-1 by Senegal, Mexico played to a 1-1 draw with South Korea, Honduras and Morocco ended 2-2, while Gabon and Switzerland finished 1-1 in their match.
