Kolkata: For 27 minutes, India dared to make a contest of an enormous mismatch but by the end of it Brazil reminded just how wide the gulf remains.
The five-time world champions handed Khalid Jamil’s men a 4-0 defeat in their historic first international meeting at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Saturday, with Estevao and Pedro scoring in the first half before substitute Samuel Lino struck twice in the second half.
India, coming off an encouraging 1-1 draw against Panama, retained the compact shape that had served them well in Bengaluru. Khalid, however, did made two changes by bringing Anirudh Thapa and Sahal Abdul Samad into midfield.
Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti, on the other hand, started Vinicius Junior, Estevao and Pedro in attack.
The approach initially worked for the hosts as they remained disciplined, crowded central areas repeatedly caught Brazil offside while right back Abhishek Singh Tekcham had the unenviable task of dealing with the trickery of Vinicius down his flank.
The Real Madrid forward tested Gurpreet Singh Sandhu twice inside the opening 20 minutes but the India captain stood firm.
Things spiced up at the other end as well with Manvir Singh briefly threatening to get behind Brazil’s defence in the 15th minute before Marquinhos recovered superbly.
India’s resistance finally broke in the 28th minute when Estevao collected possession on the right, cut towards the edge of the area and unleashed a powerful left-footer. Gurpreet got a hand to it but could not keep it out.
This had a cascading effect as Brazil immediately began finding spaces that had been unavailable earlier.
Pedro almost doubled the lead as he headed against the post in the 36th minute only to find the target six minutes later. Latching onto Estevao’s through ball, he fired past Gurpreet, who again managed to get a glove to the effort but left a lot to be desired with his keeping.
Khalid responded emphatically at half-time as he took off the experience shot-stopper, along with Akash Mishra and Ashique Kuruniyan. Ancelotti too shuffled his pack, with Vinicius among those withdrawn.
Incoming Prabhsukhan Gill, Jay Gupta and Mohammed Sannan had their impact briefly as India became more adventurous with Ryan Williams and Manvir coming close to score but failed to change the scoreboard.
However, India’s attempt to play out from the back proved costly in the 58th minute, when Bijoy Varghese surrendered possession and Samuel Lino pounced on before curling beyond Gill for Brazil’s third.
With the result secure, both coaches emptied their benches as the game became increasingly stretched.
There was still time for one final Brazilian flourish and that came deep into stoppage time. Samuel Lino, showing his Samba flair, riggled away from Edmund Lalrindika on the left before driving into the box past Gill to complete his brace and a comprehensive 4-0 victory.