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International Friendly; Saturday November 14, 2009. Brazil 1 England 0 Brazil: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Thiago Silva, Michel Bastos, Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo, Elano (Alves 64), Kaka (Julio Baptista 81), Nilmar (Eduardo 81), Luis Fabiano (de Souza 68). England: B.Foster, W.Brown, M.Upson, J.Lescott, W.Bridge, S.Wright-Phillips (P.Crouch 82), J.Jenas, G.Barry (T.Huddlestone 82), J.Milner (A.Young 87), W.Rooney, D.Bent (J.Defoe 54). This game had been bigged up beforehand as a prestige friendly international and was taking place on neutral soil in Qatar but it was hard to work up much enthusiasm, or optimism, when the England team took the field. Of the first choice side you would expect Fabio Capello to pick only two members, Gareth Barry and Wayne Rooney, were fit to start and while the game theoretically offered the fringe players a chance to state their case for inclusion in the World Cup squad it was hard to see a team with so many back up players in it seriously competing with a side rated number one in the world at the moment. The outcome was a game which started in reasonably competitive fashion but which became increasingly a damage limitation exercise. To England's credit they stuck to their task and only lost by one goal, thanks to several large slices of good fortune, but few players managed to make a positive impression overall. Brazil were mainly at full strength but were fielding a makeshift left back and Shaun Wright-Phillips quickly exploited some hesitant defending in that area to whip over a wicked centre that only just escaped the lunging Rooney in front of goal. England kept the ball in the danger area long enough for Barry to smash in a fierce drive which was blocked by a defender. If England hoped that Wright-Phillips would be able to make a serious impression, however, they would be disappointed as the winger gave a typically erratic display in which his passing was generally abject. The weak link in the England defence, initially, was Matthew Upson who slipped up twice in quick succession to gift Brazil dangerous attacking situations. On the first occasion Michel Bastos, quickly ignoring Wright-Phillips and charging forward at will himself, flashed a shot wide and on the second Joleon Lescott produced a smart interception from Nilmar's centre. England were pressing the Brazilians well in the early stages and Rooney was looking in lively form with some sparkling touches which the men in yellow would have been proud of but he then wasted the openings he had created for himself with a series of almost impossible through balls in the direction of Darren Bent when the space available was in the wider areas. Brazil were starting to move through the gears and began ripping holes in England's midfield. Fortunately Upson had recovered from his woeful start and showed good pace to see off Luis Fabiano in a straight sprint and then produced a superb tackle to stop Kaka in his tracks after the schemer had worked a slick one two just outside the England penalty area. In fact with Lescott looking absolutely assured the centre of the England defence was beginning to take on a surprisingly solid appearance. With Brazil attacking from all angles, however, danger was seldom repelled for long. One truly magnificent piece of control in mid air by Rooney allowed England an attacking situation which resulted in a couple of dangerous centres but Brazil dealt with these and were quickly testing Ben Foster at the other end. Felipe Melo sent a cross shot wide before testing the England keeper with a curling effort which was comfortably grabbed. Kaka also tried to curve one beyond Foster but this too was fielded without alarm. England's best attacking situation of the game appeared shortly afterwards when Rooney looked likely to burst completely clear only to be crudely taken out on the edge of the box by Thiago Silva. The ball rolled towards Bent so the referee played advantage but the shot was blocked by covering defenders when the award of a free kick would have offered a better opportunity. England were also able to apply some pressure close to half time following a corner but when the shooting chance came James Milner was way too high with his left footed swinger. Half Time: Brazil 0 England 0 England were probably quite happy with their first half efforts but Brazil had been the side generally looking dangerous and quickly after the restart this threat was confirmed by a splendid goal. Elano picked up possession in an apparently harmless area only to produce a peach of a ball which cleared Upson and found Nilmar moving inside from the left wing ahead of Wes Brown to score with a clever header which arched over Foster's dive into the far corner. Brown, who had started in dominant fashion, was now looking somewhat ragged and made a horrible error which should have had terminal consequences for England's chances. In trying to deal with a similar situation from which the goal came Brown tried to chest the ball back to Foster but was hopelessly short in the attempt and the goalkeeper poleaxed Nilmar in his desperate efforts to retrieve the situation. In a competitive match Foster would almost certainly have been shown a red card but here the referee contented himself with a yellow and when Luis Fabiano then smashed the spot kick at least five yards too high England were still in contention. There was little hint that England could fashion an equaliser by this time but a quickly taken free kick almost brought them back on level terms. Wright-Phillips was released down the right and his centre to the far post was met by a cushioned volley from Milner which only just cleared the crossbar. Brown did well to get his head in front of a goalbound effort from Nilmar and England's goal then enjoyed an even closer escape as Lucio strolled forward to hammer a vicious twenty five yarder that beat Foster all ends up but flew to safety off the inside of the post. Foster also did well to grab a drive from Daniel Alves that spat as it bounced in front of him. With ten minutes left Rooney brought perhaps the first, and only save of the game, out of Julio Cesar from twenty yards and England tried to exert some late pressure but they could not fashion a proper opening and ended the game well beaten. It was asking a lot for this patched up England side to test Brazil and that task became impossible given the fierce heat in which the game was played. Nobody looked comfortable and it was almost painful to see freckly, ginger, baldy Rooney running round in that baking atmosphere. I wished he could have played with a knotted hanky on his head, I would have felt better about his overall well being. This England side desperately needed to be able to press the Brazilians in possession and for twenty or thirty minutes they did so and looked capable of making a fist of it. When they began to run out of energy their task was hopeless and gave another example of why the football (a winter sport) World Cup should not be played in summer. Full Time: Brazil 1 England 0 England: B.Foster 7, W.Brown 5, M.Upson 6, J.Lescott 8, W.Bridge 7, S.Wright-Phillips 6, J.Jenas 6, G.Barry 7, J.Milner 6, W.Rooney 6, D.Bent 3 (J.Defoe 5). Star Man: Joleon Lescott This was an excellent display from Lescott who won his headers and was seldom beaten on the ground either. Read situations well and looked in control of everything he did. Also survived the burning heat without apparent fuss in a long sleeved shirt and took Luis Fabiano out good and proper with an inadvertant headbutt.
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