Brazil surge back to beat Portugal

FIFA World Cup hosts Brazil came from behind to beat Portugal 3-1 in a friendly played in Boston, United States, on Tuesday night.

Raul Meireles gave the European hopefuls the lead but Thiago Silva's header and a Neymar solo effort had Luiz Felipe Scolari's in front by half-time, and Jô wrapped up the scoring soon after the interval on the night that FC Porto forward Licá made his international debut for Portugal.

Portugal responded well to early Brazilian pressure; Raul Meireles hit the post on 12 minutes and then pounced on a misplaced Maicon back-pass to break the deadlock six minutes later. However, Paulo Bento's side were soon on the back foot, Paris Saint-Germain FC defender Thiago Silva producing a fantastic header to dispatch Neymar's 24th-minute corner into the net.

FC Barcelona summer signing Neymar then turned on the style on 35 minutes, taking up the ball in midfield and storming through the Portuguese rearguard before beating Rui Patrício with a shot from inside the box.

Hopes of a second-half rally for Portugal were soon dashed when Maxwell set up Jô to score Brazil's third from close-range five minutes after the break, and while Nani and Raul Meireles went close, the only real celebrations were for Licá, who came on for the last six minutes to make his first international appearance. "This is real football," the 25-year-old enthused. "Playing in a full stadium with an incredible atmosphere is everything I could have wished for."

"We took the lead and created more chances against a great team, but I wanted to see more aggression, in defence and attack," said Paulo Bento, whose side are second in qualifying Group F, a point adrift of Russia ahead of their final fixtures, at home against Israel and Luxembourg in October.