Heavyweights Brazil, Germany open with wins

Wellington: Brazil were tested, while Germany were rampant as the two marquee sides triumphed in their opening games at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand on Monday.

Five-time winners Brazil recovered from 1-2 down to beat Africa’s champions Nigeria 4-2, while Germany cantered home 8-1 against Fiji.

To complete the first-up matches for the 24 teams, Hungary finished too strong and beat North Korea 5-1, while Honduras held off Uzbekistan 4-3.

Brazil and Nigeria put defence aside and ploughed everything into an attacking game that produced some stunning goals.

It took just five minutes for Brazil to get on the board with a close-range shot by Gabriel Jesus but it was a short-lived lead.

Nigeria had no trouble getting in behind Brazil’s back four resulting in a sensational strike for Success Isaac who stepped around the keeper and slammed the ball into an open net.

A flurry of shots at both ends of the field resulted in Musa Yahaya putting Nigeria 2-1 up inside 30 minutes.

Judivan equalised just before half-time for Brazil and Boschilia regained the lead on the hour mark with a long-range shot that deflected in off the right-hand post.

Judivan bagged his second and wrapped up the game with a tap-in off a goalkeeping error.