Brazil 2-0 Ireland: The Daily Mirror match report
Published 00:09 03/03/10 By Darren Lewis
Giovanni Trapattoni and the watching Fabio Capello will not be fooled by this scoreline.
Yes, Brazil were well in command by the end and, yes, Dunga demonstrated the embarrassment of riches at his disposal with his raft of substitutions at the end.
But, until the intervention of a poor refereeing decision on the stroke of half time, the Republic's hard graft more than compensated for the gulf in quality.
And if England were to meet Brazil in the semi-finals of the World Cup in Cape Town, Capello would still fancy his chances.
This was the five-times World Champions' last warm-up game before the tournament begins in 99 days' time.
But during the first half they appeared not to fancy it on a freezing night at the Emirates.
Indeed, had Kevin Doyle done better with his free header on 16 minutes - or Robbie Keane showed more belief ten minutes before that - Trapattoni's men could even have been leading.
Instead assistant referee Simon Beck waved Robinho onside when the Manchester City winger - on loan at Santos - was clearly off.
Keith Andrews stuck out a leg to prevent Robinho's ball going across the six-yard box but succeeded only in turning it into his own net.
WIth officiating like that - Premier League whistler Mike Dean was in charge - its no wonder the South Americans have been beaten just five times in four years under Dunga.
To make matters worse, all three officials failed to see defender Juan's blatant arm around the neck of striker Kevin Doyle in the box as he tried to support Robbie Keane in the fourth minute.
It was a shame also because City keeper Shay Given, together with left-back Kevin Kilbane, had set a new record of 103 appearances for the Republic.
It was also a shame because with no Ronaldinho, no desire and, therefore, no rhythm the Brazillians looked more like an average Premier League side than the all-conquering outfit that should take South Africa by storm in June.
That's not to say that coach Dunga will lose any sleep over the five-time champions' chances in South Africa. Particularly as he could put together three teams with the embarrassment of riches across the world that he has to choose from.
He said afterwards: "I think Brazil has players of great quality in every position and its a question of putting the right players in those positions.
"If there are four we will just choose two. Even in three months' time we will have different options as we have been working for three and a half years to get to this stage."
The Brazil coach also defender Robinho from widespread criticism that the Eastlands winger remains workshy.
Robinho curled in a cracker on 77 minutes after sub Grafite backheeled into his path through the legs of Paul McShane.
Dunga said: "Robinho is someone who has always had big passion for the team. I saw two sets of highlights of his games at the end of last year and in 70 percent of what I saw Robinho was involved."
