Paris: Neymar scored a hat-trick as World Cup hosts Brazil routed South Africa 5-0 while bitter rivals Argentina laboured to a 0-0 draw in Romania with Lionel Messi struggling with illness.
On a bumper night of friendly internationals on Wednesday, just 99 days out from the start of the World Cup, Brazil were too hot for an outclassed South Africa at Soweto’s Soccer City, the venue for the 2010 final.
Chelsea’s Oscar opened the scoring on 10 minutes, Barcelona ace Neymar struck once in the first half and twice in the second, and Manchester City’s Fernandinho marked his first start with a goal as well.
It was the final warm-up for the 2014 World Cup title favourites before the May announcement of the 23-man squad.
South Africa, who stunned world and European champions Spain 1-0 at the same stadium last November but have not qualified for the World Cup in Brazil, were overawed and outclassed.
“It was not an easy game. The scoreline does not tell the story. South Africa played well – they moved the ball well,” said Brazil coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari.
“The difference was that Brazil have very special players. We are happy with what we saw, but there are one or two things we need to work on, and that will be done at training sessions. The players worked hard for the team and not themselves.”
In Bucharest, Argentina could only draw 0-0 against Romania in a friendly which saw Neymar’s Barcelona team mate Messi play the whole of the match despite being physically sick seven minutes in.
Argentinian coach Alex Sabella started with pretty much his first choice side with Messi in the playmaking role while Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain were the strikeforce and other regulars such as Angel di Maria, Javier Mascherano and Pablo Zabaleta also featured.
But the two-time world champions toiled to create any serious openings.
In Barcelona, Colombia drew 1-1 with Tunisia as the South Americans’ lack of a cutting edge in the absence of knee injury victim Radamel Falcao was exposed.
With Los Cafeteros’ World Cup opener against Greece just over three months away, coach Jose Pekerman gave a number of his fringe players the chance to shine as Christian Zapata, Fredy Guarin, Jackson Martinez all started on the bench.
Falcao’s Monaco team mate James Rodriguez opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Tunisian keeper Farouk Ben Mustapha had felled Victor Ibarbo after 20 minutes.
Tunisia responded well, though, and were level 15 minutes later when Wahbi Khazri drilled home Yassin Mikari’s cross.
Jurgen Klinsmann’s United States team lost 2-0 to Ukraine in a game switched to Cyprus because of the worrying security situation in the troubled European country.
Other World Cup finalists were also handed pre-tournament reality checks with Ghana going down 1-0 at Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, who’ll be making their tournament debut, slipping to a 2-0 home loss to Egypt.
Copa America champions Uruguay, who were semifinalists at the 2010 World Cup, were held 1-1 by Austria.
In later matches, Germany were booed off after failing to impress in a fortunate 1-0 win against fellow World Cup finalists Chile in Stuttgart.
With Barcelona’s Alexis Sanchez in the thick of things, the enterprising Chileans showed why they finished third in the South American qualifying group for the World Cup.
Jorge Sampaoli’s side had the Germans under pressure for long spells and created 17 shots to the Germans’ seven.
The corner count of Chile’s 14 to Germany’s four told its own tale and the hosts enjoyed only a brief period of pressure in the first-half which led to Mario Goezte’s 16th-minute winner.
England beat Denmark 1-0, but midfielder Jack Wilshere will be sidelined for at least six weeks after sustaining a hairline fracture to his left foot, his Premier League club Arsenal announced on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo broke Portugal’s scoring record in a 5-1 win over Cameroon.
Ronaldo made the most of shambolic Cameroon defending by scoring twice to become Portugal’s all-time leading scorer.
Ronaldo took his international tally to 49, two more than the previous record set by Pauleta, as Portugal ran rings around the Indomitable Lions in a meeting of two World Cup finalists.
“I don’t worry about breaking records, it something that happens naturally, with lots of dedication,” the 29-year-old told RTP television.
Spain forward Pedro scored the winner in Spain’s 1-0 victory over Italy. (AFP)