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France's unbeaten run after World Cup snapped in Brazil friendly

Xinhua, March 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

France were handled their first defeat since the World Cup in an international friendly hosting Brazil at Stade de France here on Thursday.

Goals from Neymar and Luiz Gustavo after the interval earned Dunga's side a comeback 3-1 triumph in a repeat of the 1998 World Cup final.

Raphael Varane headed the hosts into an early lead, but the more confident Selecao answered with an equalizer from Oscar before a perfect mastered second half.

"It's hard," commented France coach Didier Deschamps after the game. "We were punished for our mistakes. The game turned on us in favor of a very fast Brazil side."

World Cup quarterfinalists France enjoyed a great start as Varane opened the scoring by rising high to meet a Mathieu Vanlbuna's corner in the 21st minute.

Brazil Leveled it on 40 minutes when Chelsea midfielder Oscar pushed the ball between goalkeeper Staeve Mandanda's legs after playing a one-two with Firmino and nicely setting himself up in the box.

Eight minutes into the second half, Neymar fired home a superbly tight angled shot after being played in by Willian, before Luiz Gustavo's header from Willian's corner sealed the victory for the visitors.

The five-time world champions have now won all seven games since Dunga took the helm from Luiz Felipe Scolari, conceding just two goals while recovering from their disappointing World Cup on home soil where they lost 7-1 to Germany in the semifinals.

A minute's silence was held before Thursday's friendly in memory of the 150 victims on the Germanwings plane crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday.

The French and Brazil teams stood arm in arm in the middle of the pitch while the whole stadium remained in silence for a minute with former French great Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Marcel Desailly and Patrick Vieira presented to the crowd.

Les Bleus, who only have friendlies to play until France host the Euro 2016 finals, will face Denmark in Saint-Etienne on Sunday.

"The game can be a positive thing for us, but we have to be fair and more effective in future," said Deschamps after losing to Brazil for the first time since 1992.

"Brazil are preparing for the Copa America in June, our aim of Euro 2016 is more distant," he added. "It's good to have these sort of difficulties, it allows us to learn from our mistakes." Endi