Hulk stars as Brazil down Danes

A young Brazil side stepped up their preparations for the London Olympics by beating Denmark 3-1 in a friendly in the northern German city of Hamburg on Saturday. The Danes were using this encounter as part of their own preparations for Euro 2012, where they will face the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal in a testing Group B. However, they were taken apart in the first half by the Selecao as they found themselves 3-0 down at the interval. Powerful Porto attacker Hulk gave Brazil the ideal start, his powerful left-footed shot from distance beating a suspect Thomas Sorensen to open the scoring inside 10 minutes. Brazil had doubled their lead soon after when Niki Zimling turned an Oscar cross into his own net under pressure from that man Hulk. And Hulk, who is a contender to go to the Olympics as a designated over-age player, further increased Brazil's lead five minutes before the break with a neat finish at the end of an excellent run. Brazil, who were missing the likes of Neymar, Paulo Henrique Ganso, Dani Alves and David Luiz, took their foot off the pedal in the second period, and Denmark did give their large support something to cheer when Nicklas Bendtner pulled a goal back. Morten Olsen's Danish side have one more friendly, against Australia next weekend, before beginning their Euro campaign against the Netherlands in Kharkiv on June 9. Brazil now travel back across the Atlantic for a friendly against the United States on Wednesday.