Brazil played better yesterday than in its previous two matches and controlled the action at the Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes. Ecuador didn't make it easy, however, and threatened when it had the ball in attack, especially with Caicedo.
"We leave hurting a little," Caicedo said. "We had the character to equalise two times, but we lacked focus at the end. We gave too many spaces to Brazil and that can't happen." With right back Maicon playing well in his debut in the Copa America after replacing Daniel Alves in the starting lineup, Brazil was able to keep the ball for most of the match and created more scoring opportunities.
"The plays happened and we had some very good moments during the match," left back Andre Santos said. "We have to build on what worked and improve even more for Sunday (against Paraguay)."
Neymar, who had struggled in the first two matches, fired a dangerous long-range shot over the crossbar just two minutes into the match, and a minute later defender Thiago Silva's header off a corner just missed wide.
Pato's header opened the scoring. Left back Andre Santos crossed the ball into the area and the AC Milan striker came rushing in to firmly nod it into the right corner of Ecuador goalkeeper Marcelo Ramon Elizaga's net.
Robinho, back in the starting lineup after being benched against Paraguay, had a chance to increase Brazil's lead after a perfect pass by Maicon in the 36th, but his hard shot from inside the area hit the right post.
PTI