BERLIN: Brazil kept up their resurgence since last year’s World Cup by beating Chile 1-0 in an ill-tempered friendly on Sunday while Alexandre Lacazette scored his first international goal to set France on the way to a 2-0 friendly victory over Denmark.

Substitute Roberto Firmino’s second-half goal at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in London clinched an eighth straight victory in Dunga’s second spell as coach.

Firmino lit up a physical game with a rare moment of class, running onto Danilo’s through-ball and rounding the goalkeeper before slotting the ball into an empty net in the 72nd minute.

It was one of Brazil’s few sights on goal in a scrappy performance in the last match of its global tour before the Copa America, which will be played in Chile over June and July, and capped an impressive few days for Brazil, who won 3-1 against France in Paris on Thursday.

France recovered from that defeat when Lacazette and Olivier Giroud earned a second-string victory over Denmark at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in St Etienne.

Lacazette, who was booed by the crowd before kickoff because he plays for St Etienne’s bitter rivals Olympique Lyon, was then loudly cheered when he scored in the 14th minute with a powerful shot after Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel parried Antoine Griezmann’s effort.

Giroud doubled their tally with a shot under Schmeichel from Geoffrey Kondogbia’s through ball before the interval as Les Bleus, the Euro 2016 hosts, cantered to a win that showed their strength in depth.

In other friendlies on Sunday, Ivory Coast’s African Cup honeymoon was cut short as they had to fight for a 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea in Abidjan.

Iban Edu broke away for Equatorial Guinea’s goal in the 13th minute, forcing the new African champions to scramble for an equaliser, which eventually came in the 72nd from substitute Max Gradel.

In another high-profile friendly involving African teams, Bongani Zungu scored in the final minute of stoppage-time as hosts South Africa snatched a 1-1 draw against Nigeria after Ahmed Musa had scored a stunning goal five minutes from time at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

Zambia spoilt the debut of young Northern Ireland-born Rwanda coach Johnny McKinstry with a 2-0 victory, Tanzania and Malawi drew 1-1 and Mozambique also scored late to win 2-1 in Botswana.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2015

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