Brazil 1-0 Belgium
A sensational 79th minute strike from Hernanes was the difference as Brazil opened their Olympic Games campaign with a tight 1-0 victory over Belgium at the Shenyang Olympic Stadium...
The opening stages were bereft of any kind of passion as both sides concentrated on avoiding mistakes and rarely threatened each other.
As the half progressed, though, Brazil began to dominate their opponents in the midfield, while Belgium looked to break on dangerous counterattacks.
Carlos Dunga's side were restricted to long range shots and tested Belgium goalkeeper Bailly with efforts from Ronaldinho and Diego in a very uneventful first forty-five minutes.
After the break the match livened up a touch. Alexandre Pato came close to putting Brazil ahead within seconds of the restart, but his fine effort flashed wide of the right post.
As the minutes ticked away the Brazilians were almost completely dominating their lacklustre opponents and would come close to scoring when captain Ronaldinho dazzled his way into the box and had a cross blocked by Bailly. Alexandre Pato couldn't reach the rebound.
A few minutes later, Belgium had an opportunity of their own to score on a swift counterattack only for Mirallas to shoot wide of Renan's left post.
In the 72nd minute, Vincent Kompany reduced Belgium to ten men after a second bookable offense when he brought down Werder Bremen midfielder Diego. Brazil looked to take advantage of their numerical advantage and pushed forward in large numbers.
Ronaldinho, who was relatively quiet during the match, tested the Belgium goalkeeper with a good free-kick as Brazil went in search of a late winner.
They finally broke the deadlock in the 79th minute when Diego won a ball in the area and assisted Sao Paulo midfielder Hernanes who blasted the ball into the left-upper corner of the net.
Three minutes before full time Belgium's day got worse when Fellaini received his marching orders after a second yellow card.
In second half injury time substitute Jo appeared to double Brazil's advantage when he found the back of the net from close range. However, his effort was disallowed for offside.
Team Line-ups
Brazil: Renan, Rafinha, Breno, Alex Silva, Marcelo, Hernanes, Lucas, Anderson (Thiago Neves), Diego (Ramires), Ronaldinho and Alexandre Pato (Jo). Coach: Carlos Dunga.
Belgium: Bailly, De Roover, Kompany, Vermaelen, Pocognoli, Fellaini, Vertonghen, De Mul (Vanden Borre), Martens (De Smet), Mirallas (Simaeys) and Dembele. Coach: Jean-Francois De Sart
Goal: Hernanes (79')
Red Cards: Kompany (72') and Fellaini (87')
Hernanes gave Brazil their only goal to win their starting match of Beijing 2008. The match also saw two red cards given to Belgium players.
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Part 2
