Brazil 2 Italy 0: Londoners Treated to Top Football

Brazil ended 2008 with a powerful 6-2 spanking of Portugal and have started 2009 putting on yet another scintillating display with an impressive 2-0 victory over current world champions Italy.

Playing at their so-called home away from home, the Emirates Stadium, Brazil put on quite a show, with light touches and surgical finishing.

The first 30 minutes of the match saw Italy struggle to find themselves as they were clearly outplayed.

Against the run of play, Italy did find the net first, only to see their effort adjudged offside.

Brazil finally struck through a well worked play which started and ended with Elano.

The lead then became 2-0, when on 26 minutes Robinho stole the ball from a bewildered looking Pirlo.

Robinho stole the ball near the area and proceeded to put three Italians to do a little dance before slotting it past a beaten Buffon.

After this moment of Zen, there were other chances for Brazil but 2-0 the first half ended.

Brazil consolidated and ran the clock down in the second half with Italy looking a lot better, especially Luca Toni, who came on and posed a constant threat up front, making Julio Caesar work hard.

Luca Toni did find the net, but coming off a NFL catch, which he then proceeded to poke in.

The English referee was keen on letting the goal stand, but the linesman quickly put things in order pointing out that in this kind of football, catching the ball with the hands is very much frowned upon.

The clock ran down and Brazil could celebrate a historic victory, which puts them ahead statistically against Italy in a long history of encounters which had stood dead even before the match.

Worth mentioning that Brazil was without regular striker Luis Fabiano and another player called Kaka.

Young stars like Douglas Costa, Walter and so many others back in Brazil must also be hungry for a spot on the squad with Dunga insisting on players like Juan, Gilberto Silva and Josue.

Dunga insists on having experience on the squad. Others might argue that these players are like suitcases that Brazil carries around every match.

The veteran Ronaldinho did manage to keep up for the entire 90 minutes and showed moments of deft skill.

The talented Daniel Alves was pushed into a midfield position and the young Pato given a brief run.

So Dunga’s experienced and sometimes defensive mixed age squad will go on for now. As long as he keeps winning he surely will not be replaced.

However, Portugal and Italy victories are a far cry from the tough South American qualifiers which await Brazil back home. He is more likely to be judged based on those upcoming challenges.