Dunga lauds match-winner Neymar

6 September 2014 07:13

Brazil coach Dunga heaped praised on Neymar, who inspired a 1-0 victory over 10-man Colombia in an international friendly on Friday.

With the match at Sun Life Stadium seemingly petering out to a draw after Juan Cuadrado saw red early in the second half, Neymar stepped up and curled a free-kick past Colombia goalkeeper David Ospina in the 83rd minute.

The win gave Dunga a winning start to his second spell in charge of the national team, while the result ended a run of back-to-back defeats for Brazil.

Speaking post-game, Dunga highlighted the performance of the 22-year-old star, who took his international tally to 36 goals from 55 appearances.

“The ball sticks to his feet, he does things with a naturalness that others cannot do,” said Dunga.

“The most difficult things seem simple for him, is a naturalness that makes everything look easy.”

The fixture in Miami was a repeat of the pair’s quarter-final meeting at the World Cup in July, which Brazil won 2-1.

And it was Brazil who emerged victorious again thanks to a helping hand from Cuadrado, who received his marching orders for a second bookable offence just four minutes into the second half.

The victory came at the perfect time for Brazil, having been embarrassed 7-1 by eventual world champions Germany and 3-0 by the Netherlands.

“Playing against a team that has been together for four years, well trained, is always difficult,” the 50-year-old Dunga said.

“We were a little scratchy and needed a response.

“It was a game very similar qualification: many faults, garbled but the players behaved well and had many positive points.

“They understood well in practice and repeated it in the game.”