Alves and Pato on target as Brazil down Ukraine

Published>Tue, Oct 12 10 02:57 AM

Brazil continued their renaissance under new coach Mano Menezes when they beat Ukraine 2-0 in the unlikely setting of Derby County's Pride Park on a chilly Monday night in the English midlands.

A superb volley by Dani Alves after 25 minutes and a shot on the turn from Alexandre Pato in the 64th gave the 2014 World Cup hosts a deserved victory over the co-hosts of Euro 2012.

Brazil, rediscovering the flowing, expansive game the world loves to watch, showed flashes of magic against a resilient Ukraine side who gave a better account of themselves than they did in Friday's 2-2 draw against Canada.

Brazil's victory, following their 3-0 win over Iran in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, was no classic but with Robinho, Ramires and Pato combining well it was another pleasing performance for Menezes after the unpopular counter-attacking game favoured by previous coach Dunga.

The five-times world champions began to turn on the style when Alves fired over the bar after 10 minutes following a slick build-up and David Luiz went close when his shot on the turn went just over 13 minutes later.

Brazil's dominance finally paid dividends after 25 minutes when Robinho's perfectly measured cross-field pass found Alves, whose angled volley took a slight deflection before rebounding off the far post and into the net.

They should have doubled their lead after 35 minutes when Pato seized on a poor back pass from Anatoliy Tymoschuk but shot against the post.

Ukraine thought they had equalised when Olexandr Aliev's shot whistled past Brazilian goalkeeper Victor and into the net but the goal was ruled out for an earlier infringement.

Ukraine went close again just after the break when Ruslan Rotan hit the same post at the same place as Pato in the first half, before Brazil sealed the victory.

Eduardo set up the goal with a perfect pass for Pato who turned defender Vitaliy Mandzyuk and fired into the corner giving goalkeeper Andriy Dykan no chance.

The match was originally due to be played in the Middle East but was switched to England when the plans failed to materialise.

It was not played in London because of England's Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro at Wembley on Tuesday.

Source: Web Search