Neymar and Roberto Firmino scored first-half goals, and Brazil overwhelmed the United States 2-0 on Friday night in a friendly before a sparse crowd at MetLife Stadium. Firmino scored in the 11th minute after a cross from Douglas Costa, who burst down the flank and past 21-year-old left back Antonee Robinson. Neymar converted a penalty in the 44th-minute for his 58th goal in 91 international appearances, third in Brazilian history behind Pele (77) and Ronaldo (62). The US have two wins, two losses and three draws under interim coach Dave Sarachan, who took over last October after the Americans failed to qualify for the World Cup. New general manager Earnie Stewart said this week a permanent coach will be announced later this year. Just 32,469 attended the match at MetLife Stadium, a possible site of the 2026 World Cup final, and Brazilian supporters outnumbered Americans. When Brazil beat the US 2-0 at Metlife Stadium in August 2010 shortly after the venue opened, the game drew 77,223. Brazil, in their first match since a quarter-final loss to Belgium at the World Cup, improved to 18-1 against the US and have won 11 straight since a 1-0 loss in the 1998 Concacaf Gold Cup. 01:06 Brazil's Neymar responds to being labelled a 'diver' - video Playing in New Jersey for the first time since their 2-0 loss to Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifier at Red Bull Arena last September, the US did not force a save from goalkeeper Alisson until the 71st minute. All the US starters were 25 and under and the average of 23 years, 117 days was under 24 for the fifth straight match. The section of American Outlaws behind one goal held up photos of Clint Dempsey before the match in honor of the US star, who announced his retirement last month. Brazil went ahead when Firmino split defenders Matt Miazga and John Brooks and directed the ball past goalkeeper Zack Steffen for his eighth goal in 26 international appearances. The US didn’t threaten until a sequence of three corners just past the half-hour mark. Neymar converted a penalty after a debatable call by Mexican referee Fernando Guerrero, the fourth official for the US loss at Trinidad and Tobago last October that eliminated the Americans in World Cup. Fabinho played a one-two with Firmino and cut into the penalty area. Wil Trapp appeared to give him the slightest of pushes and Fabinho tumbled past Brooks. Neymar stutter-stepped in his run-up, Steffen dove to his right and the forward softly kicked the ball in the other way. Arthur, Lucas Paqueta and Richarlison made their Brazil debuts in the second half, and Dede made his first appearance in five years. The best US chance was Weston McKennie’s left-footed shot off a Kellyn Acosta pass in the 66th, which went wide. Sarachan will run the team for Tuesday’s friendly against Mexico in Nashville, Tennessee, and possibly for friendlies on 12 October against Colombia at Tampa, Florida, and versus Peru four days later at East Hartford, Connecticut. The US also play England and Italy in November.<doc-sep>If you watch professional soccer, you've seen Brazilian star Neymar play. He's one of the best in the world and can change a game with a moment of magic. And while he is so darn skillful, he made plenty of headlines this summer at the World Cup for his dives, exaggerations and the amount of time spent on the ground, from dives and fouls. Now, to be fair, there are times where he gets some really tough knocks, but on the other side, it's pretty evident he takes it a bit too far on occasion. U.S. men's national team defender DeAndre Yedlin knows that, and he let the ref during the USA-Brazil friendly match on Friday night at MetLife Stadium know after he fouled the Paris Saint-Germain superstar. Check this out: Here's another look. Watch Yedlin's lips closely: Three times he appears to say, "Did you see the World Cup?" That's hilarious. What a funny moment, and Yedlin has certainly picked up some more fans as a result. It wasn't harmful and seemed more in good fun than anything else, so let's not make it into something more. He spoke his mind, the cameras caught it, and many of us enjoyed it.<doc-sep>The U.S. men's national team is a work in progress–one that was no match for an experienced Brazil side. The Americans officially kicked off a new cycle that started in practice months ago with a 2-0 loss to Brazil at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Friday night. Roberto Firmino's 11th-minute strike and Neymar's penalty kick at the end of the first half were all the Seleção needed, and Douglas Costa was a constant thorn in his 60 minutes on the field, as the world's third-ranked team controlled the proceedings against a young U.S. side in the midst of turning the page. With the end of the 2018 World Cup, the road to 2022 starts with the September international fixture window, but the U.S. got an undesirable early advance on that when it failed to qualify for Russia. As such, a young core continues to make up the nucleus of the team under interim coach Dave Sarachan, whose time with the team is likely ticking, with new general manager Earnie Stewart set to make a coaching hire by year's end. That team allowed Brazil to possess from the opening whistle and play through some high early pressure, which resulted in Neymar creating trouble from the start. He went at Matt Miazga in the U.S. box only to have a trailing Wil Trapp get a foot on the ball as Neymar was cutting back to prevent a chance on goal in the second minute. It didn't take much longer for Brazil to get on the board. Costa burned left back Antonee Robinson with his pace and then served a delightful cross to the far post, where Firmino one-timed home the go-ahead goal. Costa was at it again in the 31st minute, beating Robinson 1-v-1 before delivering a dangerous cross intended for Neymar. It never reached his target, but it was another instance of the Juventus winger enforcing his will with ease. The USA's first moment of danger came a moment later, off a combination between midfielders Weston McKennie, Trapp and Tyler Adams. It wound up with McKennie hitting a bounding volley from the center of the box that was blocked and put out for a corner. Off the ensuing corner kick, John Brooks had a clear header that he couldn't direct on frame. A couple of minutes later, with the USA feeling momentum, Brooks again caused trouble off a corner, with the ball eventually squeezing out toward McKennie. A sliding Casemiro and on-rushing Alisson came up with the block to prevent the equalizer. Brazil responded with a dangerous spell in the 38th minute. Zack Steffen was called into action for the first time to make a big save off a Fabinho blast after Neymar and Coutinho had combined on the left-hand side to put the U.S. defense on its back foot. Brazil doubled its lead in somewhat controversial fashion in the 43rd minute. Trapp was whistled for a penalty after it appeared there was minimal contact, if any, made with Fabinho is he cut into the U.S. box. The call stood, though, and Neymar rolled home the spot kick with his 58th career international goal to make it 2-0. It was in the same stadium against the USA where Neymar, eight years ago, earned his first senior cap and scored the first international goal of his career. The lead very nearly became 3-0 in the 52nd minute off another sequence sparked by Costa. He took down a ball and then threaded a perfect diagonal to a streaking Neymar, whose shot from the left was saved by Steffen. The rebound trickled toward the goal line, but Miazga pounced to clear it off the line to safety. The USA's best chances of the night came off set pieces, and the Americans threatened again in the 65th minute. Kellyn Acosta, off the bench as a substitute, curled in a dangerous free kick behind the Brazil back line, where McKennie was first to meet it. He steered his first-time chance wide of the goal, though, spurning the opportunity. Six minutes later Trapp forced a diving save from Alisson on a long, low blast after Tim Weah, also off the bench as a substitute, created the opportunity for him cutting in from the left. Brazil saw out the result from there, improving to 18-1-0 all-time against the U.S., with the lone loss coming 20 years ago. Here were the lineups for both sides: Here are the full rosters for both teams: USA GOALKEEPERS: Alex Bono (Toronto FC), Ethan Horvath (Club Brugge), Zack Steffen (Columbus Crew) DEFENDERS: John Brooks (Wolfsburg), Cameron Carter-Vickers (Swansea City), Eric Lichaj (Hull City), Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls), Matt Miazga (Nantes), Shaq Moore (Reus Deportiu), Tim Parker (New York Red Bulls), Antonee Robinson (Wigan Athletic), DeAndre Yedlin (Newcastle) MIDFIELDERS: Kellyn Acosta (Colorado Rapids), Tyler Adams (New York Red Bulls), Paul Arriola (D.C. United), Marky Delgado (Toronto FC), Julian Green (Greuther Fürth), Weston McKennie (Schalke), Cristian Roldan (Seattle Sounders), Wil Trapp (Columbus Crew), Tim Weah (Paris Saint-Germain) FORWARDS: Andrija Novakovich (Fotuna Sittard), Bobby Wood (Hannover 96), Gyasi Zardes (Columbus Crew) BRAZIL GOALKEEPERS: Alisson (Liverpool), Hugo (Flamengo), Neto (Valencia) DEFENDERS: Alex Sandro (Juventus), Dedé (Cruzeiro), Fabinho (Liverpool), Fagner (Corinthians), Felipe (Porto), Filipe Luís (Atlético Madrid), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Thiago Silva (Paris Saint-Germain) MIDFIELDERS: Andreas Pereira (Manchester United), Arthur Melo (Barcelona), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Fred (Manchester United), Lucas Paquetá (Flamengo), Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona), Renato Augusto (Beijing Gouan), Willian (Chelsea) FORWARDS: Douglas Costa (Juventus), Éverton (Grêmio), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Neymar (Paris Saint-Germain), Richarlison (Everton)<doc-sep>The U.S. men's national team is looking to improve, and one way to do that is by playing better teams. A busy second half of 2018 calendar began on Friday as it welcomed Brazil in an international friendly in New Jersey. It was the young pups of American soccer, without the injured Christian Pulisic, along with some established players, welcoming Neymar and company. Brazil pulled away with a comfortable 2-0 win. Here's how it went down: Fast start Brazil had its stars like Neymar and Philippe Coutinho showing off their skills and at times making it look easy against the young USA defense. But early on, it was Douglas Costa and Roberto Firmino that made the biggest impact. Costa made a lovely run down the right and drilled a lovely ball into the box to give Brazil the opening goal 11 minutes in: Yedlin complains about Neymar to referee One of the more memorable moments of the match came in the first half when DeAndre Yedlin fouled Neymar. The American defender received a warning by the ref, and he responded by referring to Neymar's time spent on the ground during the World Cup. Take a look: Putting it away ... with controversy Later in the first half, Fabinho got into the box and a penalty was awarded when he went down. It looked like a really soft call with very little contact, but a penalty was given. Take a look: And that goal went to Neymar, who on Brazil's Independence Day, moved to 58 goal for the team in his career, four away from tying Ronaldo for second and just 19 away from tying Pele. Here's his calm finish: What the result means for both For Brazil, it was an expected result and just lets this team continue to gel with eyes on hosting the Copa America next summer. For the U.S., it will likely use quite a few of its tough friendlies coming up, taking on Colombia, Italy, England and others. But the results don't matter -- they are great experiences for this young team to play against the best and improve, with the Gold Cup coming up next summer. Relive updates from Brazil vs. USA If the live blog tool doesn't load properly, click here.<doc-sep>
Julio Cortez/Associated Press The United States men's national team suffered a 2-0 loss to Brazil on Friday night at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Roberto Firmino and Neymar scored the goals. The defeat marked the first of six Kickoff Series friendlies for the U.S. before the end of 2018 against a group of high-profile opponents, including Mexico, Colombia, Peru, England and Italy. Interim manager Dave Sarachan called up a young roster for the fixtures with Brazil and Mexico. While the inexperienced Americans put together a gamely performance against the star-studded Selecao, who featured Neymar, Douglas Costa, Philippe Coutinho and Thiago Silva in their starting XI, it wasn't enough to earn a result against the 2018 FIFA World Cup quarterfinalists. Youthful U.S. Back Line Must Learn from Mistakes vs. Brazil Firmino opened the scoring for Brazil in the 11th minute, but Douglas Costa did most of the work by taking advantage of a mistake by U.S. left back Antonee Robinson. Video Play Button Videos you might like The Juventus winger accepted a pass along the sideline and used his blistering pace to ease past the 21-year-old Robinson, who overcommitted on his effort to close down the space. Costa then whipped a perfect cross into the running lane of the Liverpool forward for the simple finish. Neymar increased the lead just moments before halftime after a controversial foul call on American midfielder Wil Trapp inside the box. The Selecao captain made no mistake with the ensuing penalty, as he did his trademark slow jog to force USMNT goalkeeper Zack Steffen to make the first move before calmly slotting the shot into the open half of the net. All told, facing a foe with as much firepower up front as Brazil was an immense challenge for the American defenders. The USMNT will need to work on cleaning up their errors over the next couple months of friendlies. Lack of Attacking Chances A Concern for New-Look USMNT After missing out on the 2018 World Cup, the next couple of years are about growth and development for the American squad. Although every match must be viewed through that lens, the inability to create any consistent offensive pressure remains a concern. The U.S. has long relied on a grind-it-out mentality against top-flight opponents. That eventually must change in order to compete at the highest levels. Alas, it was more of the same Friday night as an attacking group led by Bobby Wood, Julian Green and Paul Arriola struggled to make inroads against a stout Brazil back line. The United States finished the match with just two shots on target. When the Kickoff Series ends in late November, it will be intriguing to see whether the squad has made any progress in creating more chances in the attacking third. It's not the only key to long-term success, but it's likely the biggest one. What's Next? The United States returns to action Tuesday night at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, for what will likely be another heated matchup with Mexico. Brazil is also back on the pitch Tuesday, when it takes on El Salvador at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.