Match Summary

England Team

Brazil Team

England followed up their attractive friendly with Germany with another match against high calibre opposition. Of course, with several top England players unavailable, it would not be a true test for the home side. However, Gareth Southgate's makeshift line-up were very determined and in the end they gained a very honourable draw. Brazil came to Wembley with Neymar, Philippe Coutinho et al, so they were out to win against England for the first time since 2009.

The match started as predicted, with Brazil having all the possession, but apart from a fourth minute off target shot by Daniel Alves, Joe Hart was more troubled by his own kicking than by the opposition. Brazil immediately showed the swagger and arrogance that we come to expect from them, but England held firm with some good organisation and some excellent defending. England did make a couple of swift breaks but they came to nothing. Then on nine minutes a long ball from Harry Maguire almost found Marcus Rashford, but the Manchester United forward was not positive enough to win the ball. Two minutes later Neymar fired in a shot that went way over the bar and then Gabriel Jesus headed goalwards but Hart saved with ease. The first quarter of an hour was poor with England easily holding a lacklustre Brazil attack. The expectation of the crowd towards the South Americans was not matched by the performances on the pitch of the players. It is all very well keeping possession and pass, pass, pass, but if it gets you nowhere then why not try something else?

England's first shot on target came from Rashford on 18 minutes, but his effort was easily saved by goalkeeper Alisson.  The star of the German game, Reuben Loftus-Cheek, was rarely in this match and rarely touched the ball.  Brazil retained possession as effectively as usual but there was little penetration, although Paulinho did shoot well wide on one occasion.  On 22 minutes Neymar showed a glimpse of his undoubted talent with a wonderful pass to Jesus, but the Manchester City striker was ruled offside.  The Brazilians are adept at winning cheap free-kicks and several times their players went down very easily when English challenges came in.  Neymar had another shot, which again went way over the bar, and this time much higher!  After 34 minutes Loftus-Cheek was taken off with an injury and replaced by Jesse Lingard.

England's back three, superbly marshalled by John Stones, were all having splendid games, with Joe Gomez particularly impressive.  Maguire was also effective and he is certainly settling in to international football well.  Lingard was soon in the action and won a free-kick for England.  But this came to nothing and the game meandered along with very little incident to warm the big crowd.  If this wasn't England v Brazil, it would have been rated a very poor game, but Brazil are always seen through rose-coloured spectacles whenever we play them.  Quite frankly though, this was poor entertainment for the crowd.  Before the half ended Paulinho headed woefully wide and Neymar's pull back from the byeline was easily saved by Hart.  And that was it for a half that won't linger long in the memory.

Unfortunately, the second half continued very much in the same vein.  It took until the 53rd minute for any semblance of a chance for England, but Maguire was pulled up for a foul when heading Rashford's free-kick at goal.  Jake Livermore was then booked for tripping Neymar, as was Alves, following a late challenge on Ryan Bertrand.  Just before the hour mark Coutinho shot from an angle, it was actually more of a hard cross, but Hart easily saved it anyway.  There was no doubting the work going into the play of both England and Brazil but from a spectacle point of view, play was scrappy and there was little goalmouth action to excite the fans.  Gomez continued to shine at the back for England, and his quick and decisive defending really caught the eye.

A raft of substitutions then started with Brazil bringing on Willian and Fernandinho, whilst for England Dominic Solanke and Tammy Abraham came on for Jaime Vardy and Rashford.  Fernandinho was soon in the action as his good shot from 20 yards clipped the outside of the far post.  Solanke, too, was soon making his mark with a powerful run into the Brazilian penalty area, and then Eric Dier curled a free-kick wide.  These goal attempts makes it sound like the game had livened up, it hadn't.  Bertrand was then replaced by Ashley Young and the Old Trafford star did really well to track back and block Willian as the Brazilian threatened the England goal.

Gomez then also made a couple of fine interceptions and Stones was very dominant alongside him.  When England played the ball forward though, it was easy for the Brazilian defenders, with not enough being done by the home attackers to put those defenders under pressure.  Two late chances then almost settled the match.  On 85 minutes, following their most penetrative attack of the game, Paulinho fired in a fierce shot from an angle, for which Hart stood tall.  Strangely, Hart saved it with his chest as he deflected the ball wide.  Four minutes later, at the other end, England nearly snatched it.  Young put in a tantalising cross which flicked the head of a defender and landed at Solanke's feet.  The Liverpool player couldn't quite react quickly enough and Allison was out smartly to smother the shot.

The final half-chance fell to Neymar, the man the bulk of the crowd had come to see.  But on the night he certainly didn't bring his shooting boots with him as this final shot went well wide of Hart's goal.  And that was it.  A very poor game overall, with the plusses being the performance of England's defence, and the display of Gomez in particular.  And who knows, the next time we play Brazil it might be in the World Cup Final next year?

I can dream can't I?
     

TheFA.com BBC Sport

Andre do Nascimento Pereira and Dennis Wood Mike Payne - football historian and contributor