Japan vs. Brazil: Winners and Losers from International Friendly

Brazil's latest prestigious international friendly ended up in a 4-0 demolition of Japan in Singapore on Tuesday, with new boss Dunga enjoying another win to back up the victory over Argentina at the weekend.

Neymar will take all the headlines after an exemplary display saw the captain net all four goals and move to 40 international strikes in total, at just 22 years of age. But as always, we look to delve deeper into the heart of the match and look at where the positives and the negatives for both sides fell.

Here are our winners and losers from the friendly fixture.

Winners: Willian and Coutinho

Uncredited/Associated Press

The first nod of approval has to go to Brazil's attacking midfield options.

Oscar and Willian started the match, and Philippe Coutinho came on at the break with Everton Ribeiro making an entrance, too. None played exactly as a No. 10, nor as a wide player, but instead roved around the channels looking to make space to receive the ball in, threading through passes to the front players and even dropping deep between the central midfielders to instigate attacks.

Willian in the first 45 and Coutinho in the second were the most impressive out of the quartet, with Coutinho claiming an assist and almost a goal for himself.

Losers: Gil and Filipe Luis

Wong Maye-E/Associated Press

At the back, Brazil kept a clean sheet but were nowhere near as convincing as when going forward.

Danilo was solid and Miranda played his part with some aggressive clearances, but his central defensive partner Gil was nervous to start with, skewed a number of clearances and let forwards move away from him far too easily.

At left-back, Filipe Luis didn't play well either, but rather than looking uncomfortable, he simply looked off the pace. A spell out of the team at Chelsea doubtless contributed to this. After the break, Mario Fernandes came on at right-back and initially started well before fading.

More, much more, is needed from these new full-back options for Brazil.

As for Gil, he doesn't look anything like threatening a Thiago Silva-David Luiz-Miranda triumvirate of first-choice centre-backs.

Winner: Total Recall

Wong Maye-E/Associated Press

Dunga has to be pretty happy with how his return has gone.

In four games since the World Cup ended, Brazil have won them all, haven't conceded a goal and have looked solid if unspectacular throughout, with the Japan game showing glimpses of potential excellence going forward.

One slight worry might be that only three different goalscorers have contributed in that time (Willian, Diego Tardelli x2 and Neymar x5), but other than that, it has been rather plain sailing so far in terms of results and headlines for the head coach.

His every decision will be questioned, but even his recalls to Robinho and Kaka have come off just fine; both contributed to an exciting last 20 minutes for Brazil and combined with each other to set up Neymar's fourth and final strike against Japan.

Loser: Javier Aguirre's Experimentation

Shuji Kajiyama/Associated Press

While Dunga leaves Singapore smiling, Japan boss Javier Aguirre will certainly have more questions than answers right now.

Japan are in something of a transition after performing poorly at the World Cup, with Aguirre including a full dozen players in this squad with single-figure tallies of caps to their names. He is trying to find the right individuals to be included in a new-look side going forward, but they looked too open at the back, lightweight in midfield and without a final ball in attack against Brazil.

They might not play that kind of opponent all the time in the upcoming Asia Cup, but they'll need more from their experienced players than they received in Singapore.

Winner: The Neymar-Tardelli Partnership

Wong Maye-E/Associated Press

We cannot leave, of course, without a word about the exceptional talents of Neymar, but his class hasn't been in question.

Instead, we'll focus on a great positive for Dunga and Brazil in general: just how well he played off and linked up with No. 9 Tardelli, a goalscorer against Argentina and a creator this time out against Japan. Tardelli set up Neymar's first goal with a fine through pass, and the two linked up again and again in the first 45 minutes as they exploited gaps and showed great movement around the Japan defence.

Neymar scored two with Tardelli on the pitch and two without him, but some of the finest team moments of the match came with both involved.

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