Goals from Eleazar Rodgers and Erwin Isaacs were enough to see Santos take the spoils in their international friendly against Swedish side Helsingborg, which was played at the Athlone stadium in Cape Town.
The visitors — managed by Stuart Baxter of Bafana Bafana — played against the wind in the first-half and struggled to come to terms with the conditions, and seemed to find the speed of Rodgers and Isaacs disconcerting.
Santos’s fluid passing saw them open the scoring in the fourth minute. A swift exchange of passes between Rodgers and Isaacs cut the Helsingborg defence apart, with Rodgers finally outrunning the defence to cleverly lob the ball over the head of the advancing the goal keeper, Daniel Anderson.
Half-an-hour later the home side made it 2-0 with Thembile Kanone and Isaacs combining to run the visitors’ defence ragged.
The move ended with Isaacs drilling home a pile-driver into the back of the net.
Playing with the wind in the second-half the visitors were able to show their skills, which brought them fourth place in their first division.
Andreas Dahl often showed the home side’s defence a clean pair of heels, but they were unable to apply the coup-de-grace when it mattered. – Sapa