First-half goals from Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and Diego Tardelli saw Brazil beat Mexico 2-0 in Sao Paulo on Sunday in their first home game since last year’s World Cup.

First-half goals from Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and Diego Tardelli saw Brazil beat Mexico 2-0 in Sao Paulo on Sunday (Jun 7) in their first home game since last year’s World Cup.

With the Copa America coming up later this month, Brazil were looking to get into gear for the continental championship by reconnecting with home fans after an eight-match run of friendly wins under coach Dunga.

Dunga, Brazil’s 1994 World Cup-winning skipper, led the five-times world champions to the 2007 Copa title. He began a second spell in charge last July replacing Luiz Felipe Scolari who stepped down following the Auriverde’s World Cup semi-final thrashing by Germany.

Sunday’s game was Brazil’s first back on home soil since they went on to lose Scolari’s last match at the helm, 3-0 to the Netherlands, in the World Cup match for third place. Since taking over, Dunga has overseen eight friendly wins abroad as he looks to rebuild the squad.

With Neymar absent from the encounter in Sao Oaulo after his Champions League-winning exploits with Barcelona in Berlin on Saturday, it was left to Coutinho to put their hosts on the road to victory.

The midfielder netted the opener after 28 minutes and Shandong Luneng striker Tardelli bagged the clincher nine minutes later before a 35,000 crowd at the Allianz Parque.

Brazil face Honduras in their final warm-up on Wednesday before they head to Chile to face Group C rivals Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.

Source AFP / AP