Late strikes stun Brazil

Brazil 0 Portugal 2

Two late goals from Portugal stunned Brazil and handed Dunga his first defeat as coach.

After a frantic first half, the second 45 minutes seemed to be petering out after several changes, but Simao’s delightful finish with eight minutes to go gave Portugal the lead.

Ricardo Carvalho then finished off the five-times world champions with a last-minute strike. The win will be especially sweet for Portugal’s Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who led them to the last of those World Cup wins in 2002.

Brazil, seeking a fifth straight win under Dunga, attacked from the start.

Elano went for the spectacular after five minutes, shooting from a tight angle to force a corner from Ricardo.

Ricardo Quaresma’s mis-placed pass allowed Kaka to set up Rafael Sobis, but the striker got his legs tangled 10 yards out and Quaresma atoned for the original error with a well-timed tackle.

Portugal’s first chance came from another error, but Quaresma could not control Helton’s mis-hit clearance and Brazil raced to the other end where Ricardo made a fine save to deny Sobis.

Brazil were already using the party tricks, and Gilberto’s nonchalant flick found Maicon’s run but his first time shot from the wing was just over.

Cristiano Ronaldo, handed the captain’s armband, was not having the best of starts. His every touch was booed by the crowd, and his every move was closely followed by Edmilson who kept him in check in the first 20 minutes.

Ronaldo then switched to the left but, having beat Maicon, he fell under Lucio’s challenge on the edge of the area with referee Martin Atkinson unmoved.

Portugal’s best chance came when Tiago’s deflected pass fell to Helder Postiga, but the Porto striker’s shot was straight at Helton.

Brazil were relentless in their attacking, and more neat play from Maicon and Elano set up Sobis but his header was inches wide with Ricardo stationary.

Carvalho headed wide from Deco’s corner as Portugal began to make their presence felt, but it was Edmilson who left his mark on Ronaldo.

Unimpressed by a string of stepovers, the Barcelona man flattened Ronaldo to earn a booking.

Carvalho somehow evaded a similar fate for a nasty challenge on Fred, and there was another let off for Portugal when Lucio crashed a shot off the bar from the resulting free-kick two minutes from the break.

There was a slower pace to start the second half. Dunga sent on Adriano for the ineffective Sobis while Luisao replaced Juan and Portugal brought on Paulo Ferreira for Marco Caneira.

The changes helped Portugal more but it took 10 minutes for a clear chance to come with Postiga stinging the palms of Helton with a driven shot.

Moments later, the same man should have scored with a free header, but his effort went straight up and Ronaldo’s follow-up was cleared.

Ronaldo, having shown plenty of intent with little end product, was withdrawn in favour of Simao in a second round of changes just after the hour-mark.

Brazil struggled to reignite the spark they had shown in the first half, but a further round of changes and the introduction of Tinga and Diego brought them back to life.

Tinga sent in a great cross which was inches away from both Kaka and Adriano in the box, and the latter then did well to turn and shoot inside the area but saw his effort charged down.

Portugal then made the breakthrough when Helton’s long kick was knocked down by Miguel and Quaresma raced clear to cross for Simao, who scored with an excellent volley as he turned.

Portugal added insult to injury in the final minute, with Carvalho getting onto Hugo Viana’s cross to send a low shot into the bottom corner.

The win for Portugal will act as a huge confidence boost ahead of the Euro 2008 qualifier against Belgium next month.