VIDEO Brazil 2-0 Great Britain: Highlights of the Pre-Olympic Friendly

Great Britain warmed-up for the start of the Olympics next week with a 2-0 defeat to Brazil at Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium.

Brazil showed just why they are favorites to take gold with a dominating performance against a lackluster GB side. First-half goals from Sandro and a penalty by Neymar were enough to send the Selecao to a comfortable win.

Led by Stuart Pearce, GB looked every bit an outfit that have been thrown together with little preparation. After a fairly bright beginning, Brazil looked a class apart as they controlled possession for large parts of the contest.

Their attacking quartet always looked threatening and Neymar almost got an early goal before getting his finish badly wrong from the edge of the area.

Disappointingly for Pearce it was a set-piece that broke the deadlock.

Neymar whipped in a low free-kick and some lax defending allowed the ball to reach Sandro at far post, who stooped to aim a looping header back over goalkeeper Jason Steele and into the back of the net.

GB came close to equalizing almost immediately with a similar effort, but Micah Richards' header failed to find its way past Rafael in the Brazilian goal.

Brazil were clearly in the ascendency, though, with GB also appearing to suffer from a lack of match sharpness. It was little surprise when Brazil took a 2-0 lead just past the half-hour mark.

Hulk provided a perfect illustration of his power and pace to burst past Richards down the inside right and as the Chelsea-target looked to move the ball onto his left foot for a strike on goal, the Manchester City defender brought him down from behind. It was a clear penalty and had it been a competitive match, Richards would surely have seen red.

Neymar picked up the ball and coolly slotted the ball into the bottom-left corner past Steele.

The second period saw a host of substitutions from both sides that all-but removed any competitive element from proceedings. Craig Bellamy thought he had forced a fine save from Rafael from close range after a cross from Danny Rose, but the Welshman was flagged for offside.

There continued to be more action at the other end, though, and it took some good saved from substitute keeper Jack Butland top keep the score down.