Football
ESPN staff 9y

Brazil rally to win in France while Radamel Falcao brace lifts Colombia

Oscar and Neymar scored as Brazil rallied past France 3-1 in a friendly on Thursday.

Raphael Varane scored following a corner kick in the 21st minute to give France the lead, but Oscar equalised shortly before half-time by poking home after a one-two with Roberto Firmino.

Brazil took full control after the break, and Neymar provided the lead in the 57th minute with a blast from the corner of the six-yard box following a counter-attack.

Luis Gustavo made the lead comfortable in the 69th minute by heading in a corner kick.

Radamel Falcao scored two goals and set up another as Colombia cruised to a 6-0 win over Bahrain.

Falcao headed down a ball down to Carlos Bacca for Colombia's opener, then the Manchester United striker got behind the defence twice in a five-minute span to strike with single touches and give the visitors a 3-0 lead at half-time.

Falcao has drawn criticism for his recent play for Manchester United, where he has not started since February and has scored just four goals in 22 appearances while on loan from Monaco.

Adrian Ramos, Johan Mojica and Andres Renteria all scored for Colombia in the second half to complete the rout.

Chile slumped to a 2-0 defeat against Iran in their second-to-last warm-up game before hosting the Copa America in June.

Iran captain Javad Nekounam scored from short range in the 21st minute, and Vahid Amiri rounded off a counter-attack five minutes into the second half in Iran's first match since losing to Iraq on penalties in the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup in January.

With a friendly against Brazil in London in three days, Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli rested several key players, including Arturo Vidal and Alexis Sanchez, though the striker came on to replace Fabian Orellana in the second half.

In other friendlies on Thursday, a first-half goal from Ali Assed helped Qatar defeat World Cup veterans Algeria 1-0.

Algeria didn't create much and Qatar could have had more goals, with Ismail Mohamed hitting the post just before Assed's strike.

African Nations Cup champions Ivory Coast defeated Angola 2-0 on goals from Ousmane Viera and Salomon Kalou.

Viera scored in the 23rd minute at Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, and Kalou added the second by earning and converting a 90th-minute penalty.

A heavy rainstorm left the field waterlogged in places in the second half but didn't dampen the spirits of the Ivorians, who ended a 23-year drought when they clinched their second African title last month in Equatorial Guinea.

Goals in the final five minutes from Bassin Morsi and Mahmoud Hassan allowed Egypt to defeat Equatorial Guinea 2-0.

Late goals from Suttinan Phuk-hom and Pokkhao Anan allowed Thailand to see off rivals Singapore 2-0, while Oman thrashed Malaysia 6-0.

Syria won 1-0 in Jordan on Hamdi Al-Masri's goal, and Tajikistan defeated Maldives 2-0.

The final friendly of the day saw Costa Rica and Paraguay play to a goalless draw. Scoring chances were hard to come by for either team, who were both playing their first match of 2015.

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