France captain Patrice Evra and Florent Malouda were both banished to the bench for the vital Group A game against South Africa at the Free State Stadium.

Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni handed some of his fringe players the chance to play themselves into World Cup contention in tonight’s friendly clash with South Africa.

SUBSTITUTE Daniel Alves broke South African hearts with an 88th-minute free-kick for Brazil that dumped the hosts out of the Confederations Cup with a narrow semi-final victory in Johannesburg.

South Africa 0 Brazil 1