Latest Articles
Mkhitaryan Chase A Test Of Liverpool Ambitions
22 comments
Paul Little thinks that if Liverpool manage to sign Henrikh Mkhitaryan this summer, they will have made it clear they are here not just to play - but to compete as well...
Kinnear's Appointment Proves Ashley Hasn't Learnt
37 comments
Why on earth would Mike Ashley appoint Joe Kinnear as Newcastle's new director of football? The owner's failure to learn will inevitably lead to more problems...
All Articles
For the first time in 23 years, Brazil lost to England. But it was only 2-1 and it is safe to say that conventional wisdom took a rather worse beating.
This season England have played three friendlies and four competitive games. In the World Cup qualifiers there have been two strolls - Moldova and San Marino - and two frustrating draws - Ukraine and Poland, albeit with some mitigating bizarre circumstances surrounding the delayed game in Warsaw. The 'meaningless' matches against Italy, Sweden and now Brazil have been far more enjoyable evenings.
Yes, any England fan would swap the victory in Bern for a couple of shoot-out strikes from Ashleys Young and Cole in Kiev; any Sweden supporter would trade Zlatan Ibrahimovic's memorable night in Solna for victory in that same Kiev ground where Danny did the Welbeck. And, with Montenegro top of Group H and Steven Gerrard raising concerns about the prospect of play-offs, it is certain he would have taken defeat on Wednesday in exchange for a guarantee of qualification for next summer's finals.
Yet this was a bad night at Wembley for those who complain about the existence of such matches. No, it was not full pelt and David Luiz was quick to make the point that his frozen team-mates will greatly prefer conditions in this June's return match (and next year's finals). For the Brazil-based players this game fell in pre-season; this was not a great Selecao and yet still they made England's defence - especially Ashley Cole and Gary Cahill - look shakey. England's first senior match at the new HQ was against the same opponents in 2007, and Steve McClaren's team threw away victory at the last; there was always the danger of a repeat.
But going forward, especially through Jack Wilshere and when Theo Walcott found a cross on the end of his runs, this was a vibrant display from the home side. Wembley struggles for atmosphere - the players have to do the entertaining to get much vocal support - but this was a highly enjoyable occasion.
It frequently gets lost in the general disparagement of England but the national team and their stadium are a major lure for the best sides around the world. Since Ronaldinho won the 2002 World Cup quarter-final, we have faced Brazil three times now: once in Qatar, and twice at Wembley. We have traded matches with Spain, Holland, France, Germany...
Not all classics, by any means, but often of a higher standard than the necessary qualifiers that finance smaller FAs. The non-prestige friendlies are largely staged in preparation for a competitive match against similar opponents.
Internationals take a kicking from the blinkered and self-centred - expect Arsene Wenger to drone on about this week's matches in his Friday press conference - and are ever-more commercial themselves, but this is still a purer form of the game than most grinding league games. There was a sense of occasion around the opening of Sweden's national stadium in November and there was more of the same here, at the start of the FA's 150th anniversary celebrations and with the honouring of centurions Ronaldinho and Gerrard. Football is never a matter of life or death but sometimes it is all the more enjoyable when there is no such pretence.
Especially when England beat Brazil.
Philip Cornwall
Post Comment
