Russia were on top of Brazil for most of their friendly encounter at Stamford Bridge, but the Brazilians turned on the style in the dying minutes. Viktor Fayzulin’s second half goal, combined with Hulk’s entrance into the game, sparked a Brazilian resurgence and allowed them to score a late equalizer in a 1-1 draw.
Brazil vs. Russia: Final score 1-1, Fred equalizes in stoppage time
An evenly matched game ended with a just result, as Viktor Fayzulin and Fred both scored in the second half.
From the opening kick through the first 15 minutes of the game, Russia were dominant and unlucky not to score. Their first big chance came in the 3rd minute, when Julio Cesar saved a free kick from Fayzulin. The Russians could have had a penalty in the 10th minute when a ball hit the hand of Fernando, but the referee allowed play to continue. During that same move, Roman Shirokov set up Alexander Kerzhakov in the penalty area, but the Zenit striker missed wide.
Brazil got a foothold in the game after that and looked like the better of the two sides from then until the end of the first half, but never looked too much like scoring. Their best chance came mid-way through the half, when Neymar failed to control a cross and Fred botched a follow-up effort. Russia just about scored an opener in the 41st minute, but Kerzhakov once again failed to hit the target on a good chance set up by Shirokov.
The second half was less lively than the first, but Russia eventually caught Brazil napping in the 73rd minute. Brazil was unable to clear on a mad scramble in the penalty area, which featured one save by Julio Cesar and a block off the line by Marcelo. On Russia's third attempt on goal during the sequence, with Fayzulin taking the shot after a lay-off from Shirokov, they finally found the back of the net to take a surprise lead.
Brazil had looked a bit better just before that goal following the introduction of Hulk, who would play a key part in Brazil's equalizer. In the 90th minute, he took a pass from Marcelo, turned his defender and played a great return pass to the left back. Marcelo, unmarked, had all of the space in the world to play a square ball which was comfortably tapped in by Fred to salvage something for the Brazilians.
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