Brazil beat Ecuador 1-0 in an international friendly in New Jersey

Brazil beat Ecuador 1-0 in an international friendly in New Jersey on Tuesday with a first-half goal from Willian enough to give coach Dunga his second successive victory. The win came four days after Brazil beat Colombia, and the result over a spritely Ecuador side delighted the new manager. “There weren’t any negative points,” he said. “You learn, you evolve. So for me it was all positive.”

Brazil’s winner came on the half-hour from a well-rehearsed free-kick. Oscar hit a short pass to Neymar who lifted a curled pass over the defence to Willian, who slipped it into the net with the outside of his right foot. Ecuador almost equalised six minutes later but Enner Valencia’s right-foot shot hit the base of the post after beating goalkeeper Jefferson. The West Ham striker also had a looping header cleared off the line by Filipe Luís 16 minutes into the second half as Ecuador enjoyed their best spell of the game.

Brazil’s best chance of the second half fell to Neymar in the 47th minute but the Barcelona striker missed an open goal from four yards out with the keeper on the ground. Although Brazil were not at their best, the two wins lifted those players who were trying to impress the new coach. “I feel like I did everything I had to do,” said defender Marquinhos, who made his first international start. “It is always good to win. We have to get into our heads that there are no easy games, there are no friendlies, they’re all battles. These are games that we need to prepare for our objective and that is our mentality as we go forward.”

Ecuador fielded a young team but they were quick and fearless and frequently stretched a Brazilian back four that had never played together at international level. The quartet of Danilo, Marquinhos, Miranda and Filipe Luís defended well, however, and a midfield featuring the Chelsea trio of Oscar, Willian and Ramires hassled and harried from the start. Brazil had the best of the first half but they made several changes after the break, giving debuts to the Cruzeiro striker Ricardo Goulart and the Corinthians defender Gil and allowing Ecuador to get back into the game.