Jesus brace helps Brazil to 7-0 rout of Honduras

Gabriel Jesus struck twice as Brazil fine-tuned their preparations for the Copa America with a 7-0 win over Honduras on Sunday.

Thiago Silva, Philippe Coutinho, David Neres, Roberto Firmino and Richarlison also netted for the hosts at Estadio Beira-Rio in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.

The visitors were forced to play most of the match with only 10 men after Romell Quioto was shown a straight red card for a two-footed tackle on Arthur just before the half hour mark.

Barcelona's Philippe Coutinho earned his second consecutive man of the match award following his impressive display in Brazil's 2-0 win over Qatar last Wednesday.

Most of the South American team's best attacking moves involved the former Liverpool playmaker, who again relished a central midfield role with the Selecao.

"We feel like we're improving with every match and today's performance was better than the one against Qatar," Coutinho said after the match.

Brazil didn't appear to miss talismanic forward Neymar, who was ruled out of the Copa America after suffering an ankle ligament injury against Qatar.

The Selecao will kick off the continental tournament against Bolivia in Sao Paulo on Friday.

It took just six minutes for Brazil to open the scoring against the Central American team, with Jesus heading in after Dani Alves and Richarlison combined skilfully on the right flank.

Former Selecao captain Thiago Silva doubled the hosts' advantage by glancing in a header following Coutinho's corner to the near post.

Richarlison was then trampled upon by Emilio Izaguirre and referee Andres Cunha did not hesitate to award a penalty. Coutinho coolly converted from the spot as Brazil took a 3-0 lead.

Manchester City striker Jesus netted his second goal on the stroke of halftime, latching onto Richarlison's headed flick and lashing in with his left foot from a tight angle.

Neres scored his first goal for Brazil, poking in from close range following Felipe Luis's precise through ball. Firmino, a 55th-minute replacement for Jesus, then deftly lofted a shot over goalkeeper Luis Lopez to make it 6-0.

Richarlison completed the rout in the 70th minute by turning in Everton's cross from the right with 10 minutes remaining.