Brazil fired by Neymar hat-trick as Spain, France, Germany win

Friday, 7 March 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Reuters: Neymar’s hat-trick lit up a powerful Brazil performance as the 32 nations taking part in this year’s World Cup tested out their squads on a busy night of friendlies on Wednesday which also brought victories for Spain, Germany and France. Barcelona forward Neymar was unstoppable for tournament hosts Brazil as they demolished a poor South Africa side 5-0 in the Soweto Soccer City stadium which hosted the 2010 final between Spain and the Netherlands. It was also a good day for Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo who scored twice in Portugal’s 5-1 win over Cameroon, making him his country’s all-time leading scorer with 49 goals.

But Neymar’s Barcelona team mate Lionel Messi had an off-colour night for Argentina in Romania, vomiting on the field early in a dull 0-0 draw in Bucharest. Home advantage makes Brazil slight favourites to win a sixth World Cup this year, but a host of usual suspects will travel to the south American country with genuine hopes of gate-crashing the Samba party which starts in 99 days. World and European champions Spain are chief among them and they underlined their pedigree with a 1-0 victory over Italy in a repeat of the Euro 2012 final. Pedro scored the game’s only goal in Atletico Madrid’s Calderon Stadium. Germany, also bidding to become Europe’s first winner of a World Cup in south America, edged past Chile 1-0 and 1998 winners France, who struggled through qualifying, beat the Netherlands 2-0. World Cup dark horses Belgium drew 2-2 with African qualifiers Ivory Coast, for whom Didier Drogba was on target, while Switzerland and Croatia also shared four goals. Uruguay, who are in a World Cup group with fellow former champions England and Italy, were held 1-1 in Austria. Ukraine and Russia, the two countries involved in a tense military standoff in Crimea, were both in action. Fabio Capello’s Russia beat Armenia 2-0 in Krasnodar and Ukraine, who missed out on qualification, enjoyed a morale-boosting 2-0 victory over the United States in a match moved from Kharkiv to Larnaca in Cyprus. First-time World Cup finalists Bosnia suffered a jolt as they were beaten 2-0 by Egypt in Innsbruck. Asian qualifiers Japan and South Korea enjoyed victories against New Zealand and Greece respectively.

Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event including Valentine ’s Day. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Flower Bouquets, Clothing, Watches, Lingerie, Gift Sets and Jewellery. Also if you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.