RADAMEL FALCAO, Manchester United’s latest big-name signing, was just a bit-part player for Colombia as Brazil started their resurrection after a disastrous World Cup campaign. A superb 83rd-minute free-kick from Neymar, in his first match as captain, gave his side a 1-0 winning start under their new coach Dunga.
Falcao, 28, who signed for United in a £6m loan deal two-and-a-half hours after the deadline day transfer window officially closed, came on for only the last 13 minutes, his coach, Jose Pekerman, indicating either his mind or his body were not ready for the full 90 minutes.
“He wasn’t really able to play more than those minutes,” Pekerman said. “After such a complicated week with all the stress of his move to Manchester United, it would have been a risk to play him more minutes especially ahead of a season where he is going to have a lot of tough games with a new club, with a lot of responsibility. But the few minutes he did have were important and he was even close to the goal. He gives this team a lot. They are confident with him and he gives us different options.”
As Roy Hodgson can testify, a win is sometimes more important than the performance after a horrendous summer, and that was the case for Brazil, whose last matches were a 7-1 defeat in the World Cup semi-final by eventual champions Germany and a 3-0 loss to Holland in the third-place playoff game. Those defeats were under the spotlight of their own supporters, but in the less tense atmosphere of Miami, most of the 73,429 crowd at SunLife stadium were cheering on Colombia.
They had to wait until the 77th minute to get a glimpse of their returning hero Falcao, who missed the World Cup because of an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Ironically, the man he replaced proved to be the star of the summer tournament, James Rodriguez.
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By that stage Colombia were down to 10 men after the 49th-minute dismissal of Juan Cuadrado for a second yellow card.
Neymar struck the winner for his side, who included the Chelsea quartet of Willian, Oscar, Ramires and Filipe Luis, with seven minutes remaining. He sent a curling 25-yard free-kick from into the top corner past Colombia’s Arsenal keeper David Ospina.
“It is always good to win, especially with the criticism after the World Cup, some of which was very strong,” said Dunga, who is in his second spell as Brazil coach after replacing Luiz Felipe Scolari. Before the game both sides embraced in a public display of reconciliation. Their previous meeting was Brazil’s 2-1 defeat of Colombia in the World Cup quarter-finals, during which Neymar received a knee in the back from Camilo Zuniga, which ended his tournament.
Zuniga became a hate figure in Brazil, but he and Neymar hugged each other before kick-off.