International friendly: Sweden 0 Brazil 3

Rasunda: Brazil rose from their Wembley disappointment and were completely dominant as they defeated a well-organised Sweden 3-0 in Stockholm.

The Rasunda Stadium venue, which is due to be demolished in November, was the site of the 1958 World Cup final in which the two sides went head-to-head - that game finished 5-2 to the Selecao but the re-match did not quite scale such prolific heights.

Leandro Damiao opened the scoring in the first half before substitute Alexandre Pato netted a late double to cap an impressive and commanding performance for the South Americans.

After Pele, who scored two goals in that 1958 final, had placed the ball for kick off, neither side forced themselves on the other but the Brazil held an advantage due to their far greater retention of the ball.

In the 18th minute, Neymar tapped home after an effort from Oscar had rattled the post. However, the assistant referee had raised his flag and dubiously declared the Santos man offside.

Sweden were offering very little going forward, with just Christian Wilhelmsson offering one positive, purposeful outlet.

Brazil could have been two up with 24 minutes played but Alves` free kick flew narrowly wide of the bottom corner, but had goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson beaten.

The 2014 World Cup hosts continued to up the ante and after Thiago Silva fell narrowly short of a tap-in from Neymar`s pass, Damiao added the finishing touch to the 20-year-old`s next delivery. A wonderful ball in from the left was met by the in-demand Internacional forward, who headed in his second international goal.

The Swedes, who had not created an opportunity for most of the opening 45 minutes, had two opportunities to equalise on the stroke of half time. After some lovely interplay, Marcus Berg was denied by Gabriel and then, from the resultant corner, Andreas Granqvist volleyed wide of the goal.

Within 10 minutes of the re-start Brazil could well have run away with the game. Alves had a booming shot palmed away by Isaksson and moments later Neymar poked wide after attempting to be too clever. Damiao then completed a hat-trick of missed chances as he found Paulinho`s flick on agonisingly out of reach at the back post.

There was little Erik Hamren`s men could do to resist the Samba Boys but some impressive organisation was maintaining a one-goal margin. However, after some off-target attempts from Damiao, it was his replacement who managed to finish off the resilient Swedes.

Pato was brought on in the final 15 minutes and he polished off the win with two goals in quick succession. After tapping home Alves` little dink over Isaksson, the AC Milan striker won and converted a penalty in the 85th minute to give the scoreline the gloss it deserved.

Sweden sorely missed talismanic forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic and they will expect a much better result when he returns for their World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan next month. Brazil, meanwhile, will be seeking further improvement when they continue their non-competitive fixture list with another friendly in September against South Africa.

BDST: 2150 HRS, August 16, 2012