Sandro and Hernanes seal Brazil win in Gabon
Reuters - Thursday 10 November 2011, 20:27
Goals from Sandro and Hernanes gave
Brazil a comfortable 2-0 win over Gabon in a friendly in
Libreville on Thursday but the five-times world champions will
be more pleased their players avoided serious injury on a
treacherous surface.
The risk was high on a pitch rendered virtually unplayable
by a heavy tropical downpour before kick-off and some wild
tackling by an aggressive home team.
Capitalising on hesitation in the Gabon defence after
goalkeeper Didier Ovono had to push an awkward clearance on to
the crossbar, Sandro opened the scoring in the 12th minute by
pouncing on the rebound.
Hernanes doubled the lead 10 minutes before half-time with a
flying header after Ovono palmed a long-range shot from Jonas
straight into the Lazio midfielder's path.
Defender Fabio was fortunate to escape unscathed from a
studs-up tackle in the first half but did not appear again after
the interval. His replacement Alex Sandro was the victim of a
two-footed lunge that brought strong protests from the Brazilian
players.
Puddles on the newly-laid pitch made playing difficult and
the start of the match was delayed by almost 20 minutes after
the lights at the new stadium went out twice before kick-off.
The Sino-Gabonese Friendship Stadium in Libreville will host February's African Nations Cup final. Gabon are co-hosting
tournament with Equatorial Guinea.
Brazil were returning to Africa for the first time since
elimination at the quarter-final stage of last year's World Cup.
They next play African champions Egypt in Doha, Qatar on Monday.