Hulk scored in the 10th minute after an early stretch of Brazilian dominance and the five-time world champion beat Costa Rica 1-0 in a World Cup qualifying tuneup match.
Despite Costa Rica employing five defenders, Brazil clearly had the better of play throughout, with the Ticos only occasionally managing to get forward on counters.
"It's normal after a long time off," Brazilian manager Carlos Dunga said through a translator. "You can't have a perfect game. Lot of things we practiced in training came out well and we can do them even better. I liked how this team performed.
"We created a lot of chances. We would have liked to score more goals, but a lot of times in soccer, one is enough. It's still three points."
Brazil used a somewhat experimental lineup with Hulk as the lead striker. Manager Dunga stayed with his starters until the middle of the second half. He used six substitutes, sending in Orlando City forward Kaka in the 67th and Neymar in the 82nd, both to large ovations from the crowd of 19,146 at Red Bull Arena.
Neymar only last week returned to Barcelona's lineup after a case of the mumps and reportedly limped out of training Thursday after grabbing his knee.
Brazil took the lead when Hulk and Costa Rican defender Giancarlo Gonzalez raced to get to a ball from Danilo out of the back. Gonzalez overran the ball and slipped as Hulk lost his footing and fell.
Hulk recovered first and put a left-footed shot past goalkeeper Patrick Pemberton. Brazil dominated from the opening kickoff, generating two chances in the first five minutes that Pemberton needed dramatic efforts to save.
He tipped Hulk's free kick from 30 yards over the bar and less than a minute later knocked down David Luiz's shot at the right post that he scrambled to cover.
