Four-star Brazil stroll past Panama, Swiss win

FIFA World Cup™ hosts Brazil strolled to a 4-0 win over Panama in their penultimate warm-up on Tuesday, goals from Neymar, Daniel Alves, Hulk and Willian securing the victory margin.

After a tentative opening, the Selecao easily saw off limited opponents as Neymar, with his 31st international goal, set the ball rolling, rifling in a free-kick for the opener on the half hour. Alves drove in the second five minutes before the interval and a cheeky Neymar backheel was enough to pave the way for Hulk to dispatch the third early in the second period before Willian put the icing on the cake 17 minutes from time.

With only Friday's friendly against Serbia to come before the Brazilians meet Croatia in their 12 June World Cup opener in Sao Paulo, 2002 title-winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari seized the chance to use several second string players.

Afterwards, he indicated he saw room for further improvement. "I am still concerned. We are getting better - but we know we have a fair way to go," indicated the man who lifted Brazil's fifth Cup in Japan 12 years ago and who now wants to deliver first success on home soil.

"The run out was worthwhile but we must up our rhythm and be a lot better for the Croatia game," prior to further group games against Mexico and Cameroon.

Scolari explained the opening minutes of Tuesday's game had concerned him. "We were a bit off beam in the opening minutes and it could have been different had we been playing a superior opponent. Afterwards, we improved."

The run out was worthwhile but we must up our rhythm and be a lot better for the Croatia game.

Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari

With Neymar scoring one and making two - he also earned a yellow card - Scolari said of his star man: "Everyone knows Neymar's talent. But he always comes up with something new to surprise."

Scolari added that with the striker having missed a chunk of Barcelona's run-in to the end of the Spanish league campaign through injury he planned to give him another full 90 minutes against the Serbians.

Scolari had called on his side to pull their socks up after a slovenly training session on Sunday and they responded after a quiet opening quarter of an hour. Luis Tejada picked up a yellow card for the visitors with a foul on Neymar and Brazil's star man swiped his free-kick high into the net to delight a 30,000 crowd.

The Barcelona starlet then crossed for Fred but the Scolari favourite directed a header off target. Alves then smacked home the second with a low effort to all but break the visitors' sagging resistance and allow Scolari the luxury of six changes.

Neymar's superbly weighted backheel allowed Hulk to slot in a cool third with the outside of his boot. Panama tried to respond with a Roberto Nurse header which Julio Cesar, finally called into action, tipped over before Brazil scored again on 72 minutes with Neymar feeding Maxwell, who found Willian for a routine finish.

In an earlier fixture, Ottmar Hitzfeld's Switzerland secured a 2-0 home win in their World Cup tune-up against Peru thanks to second-half goals from Juventus defender Stephan Lichtsteiner and Bayern Munich winger Xherdan Shaqiri.

Algeria

Profile

How they qualified
After a so-so South Africa 2010 and a poor 2013 CAF Africa Cup of Nations, Algeria missed very few beats on their way to Brazil 2014. They won five of their six group matches to easily top what might have been a tricky section over Mali, Benin and Rwanda. Once in the final play-off round, they were unlucky to draw one of the continents form teams in Burkina Faso, who shocked Africa by finishing second at the 2013 AFCON. In that tie, they lost the first leg 3-2 to a late penalty, but just claimed the place in Brazil with a professional 1-0 win at home that gave them the advantage on away goals.

FIFA World Cup finals history
Algeria have played in a total of three FIFA World Cup finals. They got off to the best possible start at the 1982 edition in Spain, beating West Germany 2-1 in their opening game. Despite a 3-2 victory over Chile in their final group game, an earlier 2-0 loss to Austria meant that while level on points with the latter, they were eliminated on goal difference. Mexico 1986 was less memorable for the north African side. Drawn in Group D with Brazil, Spain and Northern Ireland, two defeats and a draw left them bottom of the table and on the first flight home. Nor were things much better at South Africa 2010. Pitted against England, USA and Slovenia, they lost twice and drew their other fixture, departing the competition without a goal to their name.

The key players
Madjid Bougherra is a key figure at the back, and he scored the all-important winner in the second leg against Burkina Faso. Sofiane Feghouli is an exciting attacking midfielder, while Medhi Lacen holds things down in front of the defence. Islam Slimani emerged as the most prolific option in attack during qualifying.

Coach: Vahid Halilhodzic
Best performances in a FIFA competition: FIFA World Cup Spain 1982, Mexico 1986, South Africa 2010 (Group stages)
Former stars: Lakhdar Belloumi, Rachid Mekhloufi, Mustapha Zitouni