Brazil beat Zimbabwe 3-0 in friendly

Brazil forward Robinho celebrates after scoring with teammates during their friendly match against Zimbabwe at Harare's National Sport Stadium yesterday. Brazil won 3-0. Pic/AFP

It was easy in the end for the team ranked first in the world against one that does not even feature among the top 100, but the South Americans stamped their authority only after surviving several goalmouth scares.

There will be one more African safari for the Brazilians, against Tanzania in Dar es Salaam next Monday, before they face likely Group G whipping boys North Korea on June 15 in Johannesburg.

Left-back Michel Bastos converted a free-kick on 41 minutes, Robinho snatched an opportunist second three minutes later and Elano grabbed a soft third goal 11 minutes into the second half.

President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai were among a capacity crowd as Brazil faced African rivals for only the fifth time in their history after matches against Cameroon, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa.

The 'Warriors' should have taken the lead on 19 minutes when shambolic Brazilian defending presented France-based Ovidy Karuru with a glorious close-range chance he blazed over.

Zimbabwe, who have never qualified for the World Cup, were stroking the ball about with the same aplomb as the five-time winners in warm, overcast weather at the 60,000-capacity National Stadium.

They came close again when livewire striker Knowledge Musona won a goalmouth aerial duel only to be denied by a diving parry from goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who had replaced Julio Cesar a few minutes earlier.

Warm-up games do carry the risk of injuries and Brazilian hearts pumped a little faster 10 minutes before half-time when star midfielder Kaka briefly clutched his right leg after a hard but fair challenge.

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