It took a moment of magic from Kaka for Real to draw level with 17 minutes to play, as the Brazil midfielder curled in a right-foot shot to bring back memories of his days as one of the world's best players.
Four years later he was not fully fit after suffering a broken metatarsal in his foot in the build-up as England went out to 10-man Brazil in the quarter-finals in Japan and South Korea.
The northern part of South America has been sporadically or endemically affected by foot-and-mouth outbreaks in the past year, with northern areas of Brazil, especially, recently in the spotlight.