Seven players from the team, which handed out a four-nil drubbing to China in South Korea at last year's World Cup, featured in the starting line-up, but they were unable to find the same spark of inspiration.

The result was a major morale boost for China's new Dutch coach Arie Haan who in December took over the helm of a team whose fans have increasingly high expectations after their World Cup debut.

Real Madrid superstar Ronaldo did not reappear after the half-time break after failing to shake off the impact of a heavy tackle by Everton's Li Tie early in the first half.

His knock will further fuel the anger of several of Europe's top clubs about the friendly, who have complained about the demands being placed on their star players during a hectic period of the season.

The Brazilians were reportedly paid US$1.25 million to appear in the most prestigious match ever played in China.

The tackle on Ronaldo was the main talking point of an opening period which left many of the fans in the packed 70,000-capacity Olympic Stadium yawning.

But they were on their feet in the 20th minute when a Samba-style bicycle kick from Lu Yunling flew just over the bar after a cross from the left by Manchester City player Sun Jihai.

Sun then caused further problems for the Brazilian defence when he whipped in a cross which Li Yi glanced over the crossbar from just six yards.

Brazil's first real attempt on goal came on the half-hour mark when Chinese keeper Liu Yunfei pushed a 25 freekick from AC Milan's Rivaldo just around the post.

Despite the non-appearance of Ronaldo, Brazil started the second half with more purpose and almost took the lead on 47 minutes when a shot by Ronaldinho flashed inches wide of the far post.

They kept on pressing and almost took the lead when a 20-yard trademark Roberto Carlos free kick curled just over crossbar.

And only desperate defending from Zhen Zhi prevented Amoroso bundling the ball into an unguarded net some 10 minutes from time after a Cafu cross shot eluded Liu.

Parreira admitted that his superstars were not at their peak after their long journey from their European teams.

"The result is not surprising as the Brazilian players have traveled a lot recently and it is very difficult for them to keep playing to such a high level with such a busy schedule," said Parreira who had earlier described the match as the first step on the long road to defending Brazil's world title in Germany 2006.

Haan said he was pleased both with the result and the performance of his new charges.

"This is the first game for China after the World Cup and it was a very good game and a very good result for both teams," said the Dutchman.

"I think for Brazil every game is a difficult game to play as everyone wants to play well against the world champions and we have seen our team also wanted it."

(China Daily February 13, 2003)