Republic of Ireland 0 Brazil 2

The international friendly match between the Republic of Ireland and Brazil at the Emirates Stadium, London on Tuesday March 2, 2010.

Robinho marked his return to England with a stunning goal as Brazil defeated Republic of Ireland, but the World Cup 2010 favourites did little to strike fear into the watching Fabio Capello at the Emirates.

Manchester City forward Robinho, currently on loan at Santos after failing to impress at Eastlands this season, created Brazil’s first and scored their second in a hard-fought victory against the Irish.

Despite his goal, Robinho also highlighted his frailties by spurning a series of chances.

And Capello, whose England team cannot face Brazil until the semi-final stages in South Africa, will have left the Emirates believing that the South Americans are anything but invincible.

For all the kudos that comes with facing the five-time World Cup winners, Ireland would much rather be playing the Brazilians in Nelspruit in June than in north London in February.

But the left arm of Thierry Henry has ensured that the Irish will not be in South Africa this summer, so this glamour fixture is pretty much as good as it is going to get for Giovanni Trapattoni’s team.

A Dublin friendly against Algeria in May will give Ireland a first-hand look at England’s Group C opponents, but it will be no substitute for the real thing.

The priority now for Trapattoni is to prepare his squad for the Euro 2012 qualification campaign, when Ireland will have to overcome Russia and Slovakia if they are to play in their first major tournament since the 2002 World Cup.

The fact that veterans of that World Cup campaign, such as Shay Given, Kevin Kilbane, Robbie Keane and Damien Duff, started this fixture emphasised that the Italian will be relying on the same old faces in the Euro qualifiers.

But they showed in the early stages against the Brazilians that they retain the ability to trouble more celebrated opponents.

Ireland were certainly not overawed by the World Cup favourites, with Keane and Paul McShane testing goalkeeper Julio Cesar.

Brazil, in contrast, flattered to deceive, but in Robinho and Adriano they possess perhaps two of the most over-rated forwards in world football. Little wonder that Dunga’s team continues to rely heavily on Kaka.

Robinho, now attempted to resurrect his career in Brazil with Santos after fading from the scene at Manchester City, can at least claim an assist on Brazil’s opening goal, however.

Having sprung the offside trap to latch onto Maicon’s 44th minute pass, the £32.5m forward crossed into the penalty area, only to see Ireland midfielder Keith Andrews divert the ball into his own net with his attempted clearance.

Despite handing them the lead, Brazil showed little charity to Andrews.

Early in the second-half, the usually placid Kaka became embroiled in a shoving match with the Blackburn midfielder, who he perceived to be operating rough-house tactics to stem his creative flow. Andrews was doing nothing of the sort. His tenacity was merely frustrating Real Madrid’s £56m signing, who was not having one of his better nights.

Maybe Ireland were taking out their lingering World Cup frustrations on Brazil. They certainly did enough to suggest that they would have merited a place in South Africa and, on this evidence, the leading nations will be relieved that they will not have to overcome the obdurate Irish this summer.

As the missed chances began to stack up, with Kaka, Robinho and Adriano all guilty of spurning opportunities, Ireland appeared destined to escape with a one-goal defeat.

But Brazil took advantage of tiring Irish legs in the closing, with Robinho rounding off a slick three-man move with Kaka and Grafite to double their lead on 76 minutes.