Close menu

England 2-1 Brazil

By Phil McNultyChief football writer at Wembley

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments677

Frank Lampard

England secured their first win over Brazil for 23 years as Frank Lampard's spectacular strike gave them victory at Wembley.

Brazil returned to Wembley as part of the Football Association's 150th anniversary celebrations - and played their full part in a highly entertaining friendly.

Wayne Rooney steered England into a first-half lead with his 33rd goal for his country, after goalkeeper Joe Hart had earlier saved Ronaldinho's penalty.

Fred punished Gary Cahill's mistake to put Brazil level just after the interval but Lampard, on as a half-time substitute for Tom Cleverley, gave Roy Hodgson's side a confidence-boosting win with a precisely curled effort from the edge of the area on the hour.

It completed a satisfying night's work for Hodgson and England as Ashley Cole won his 100th cap and Arsenal's Jack Wilshere delivered a display rich in promise as he started alongside captain Steven Gerrard in midfield for the first time.

Arsenal's Wilshere, particularly in the first half, was outstanding on only his seventh England appearance and looked intent on making up for time lost with club and country after an ankle injury sidelined him for 15 months.

England looked potent going forward with Rooney as the main point of the attack and Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck on the flanks, which will give Hodgson food for thought before the crucial World Cup qualifiers away to San Marino and Montenegro next month.

Cole received a warm reception from England's supporters inside Wembley as he completed his century of international appearances.

The visitors' own centurion, Ronaldinho, received a commemorative shirt from the Brazilian federation to mark his 100th cap - but he was unable to celebrate it with a goal as he missed a penalty after 19 minutes. The award of handball against Wilshere from Ronaldinho's cross appeared harsh, so a measure of justice was done as Hart saved his spot-kick then recovered superbly to scoop away the rebound.

The hosts took advantage of Hart's good work to move into the lead eight minutes later. Wilshere was once again at the heart of it with a fine ball to release Walcott and when keeper Julio Cesar saved bravely at the Arsenal forward's feet, Rooney steered home the rebound in composed fashion from the edge of the area.

Little had been seen of the much-celebrated Neymar and his first serious contribution was hardly distinguished as he steered Oscar's cross well over the top at the far post when he should have scored.

England made two changes at half-time, sending on Lampard and Leighton Baines for Tom Cleverley and Cole, while Brazil replaced Ronaldinho, Ramires and Fabiano with Fred, Lucas and Arouca.

The Brazilian changes reaped instant reward as Fred equalised three minutes after the restart. Cahill took the blame with a careless concession of possession that ended with Fred powering his finish past Hart.

And he almost put Brazil ahead seconds later when Hart's poor clearance caused problems and the Fluminense striker glanced another effort off the bar.

England's response, however, was in keeping with the rest of their performance and they were in front again on the hour. Julio Cesar had saved well from Cahill's header but he was helpless as Lampard's fine first-time shot from the edge of the area went in off the upright.

Comments

Join the conversation

These comments are now closed.

677 comments

  • Comment posted by SJC961, at 22:22 6 Feb 2013

    Wilshere, first game back on the international stage after 17 months on a treatment table and looked like he belonged.

    Fantastic to see a player driving at defenders before getting his head up and picking the right pass, he looked class tonight.

    Yes there were some defensive frailties and Brazil had a weakened team, but watching England tonight was the first time in a while I've felt encouraged.

  • Comment posted by SixFootFive, at 21:56 6 Feb 2013

    I wonder how long it takes before the doom-and-gloomers start plastering "meaningless friendly" all over this.

    The funny thing about it is they wouldn't be calling it "meaningless" if we'd lost.

    Fantastic performance and a fantastic result for England. I'd like to see more of this in the future please. :)

  • Comment posted by U14030836, at 22:51 6 Feb 2013

    Wilshere is real class and gives us hope....... I can't see him freezing at World Cup Finals like the others have.

    But Welbeck is not even good enough for United let alone England.

  • Comment posted by U14277922, at 22:15 6 Feb 2013

    Lets talk about the spirit of '66 again ?!

    Where's Motty when you need him.

    Hopefully the beaks who run the top clubs realise Neymar is rank, nothing more than a prancing horse.

  • Comment posted by rickard, at 22:51 6 Feb 2013

    How good is Frank Lampard? Such a legend. Wilshere really is going to be a world great at this rate, his acceleration is outstanding and his tenacity sets apart from most players in his position. Another solid performance from Glen Johnson, who, in the past got unfair amounts of stick from those who no nothing about football. England looked class tonight, even with players like Defoe missing.

  • Comment posted by Angus, at 22:37 6 Feb 2013

    Credit to Jack Wilshere. Was worried the hype before the game would be too much but the lad stepped up to the challenge. Quality performance.

  • Comment posted by James_AFC, at 23:12 6 Feb 2013

    I remember a time when this country was united and got behind England. I'm surprised that people are bickering over players because of their club - we beat Brazil and yet you want to argue over nonsense. These youngsters are exceptional - give them a chance.

  • Comment posted by U15336461, at 22:27 6 Feb 2013

    The most confident, fluid, optimistic and generally capable England display I've seen in ages. Glen Johnson was superb, and great to see Lampard get another goal this season, adding further ridicule to Chelsea's utterly ridiculous decision not to keep him for next season.

  • Comment posted by rickard, at 23:02 6 Feb 2013

    I agree that Welbeck is not international standard, especially at LW. Pretty strange selection there. Surely Chamberlain is far more threatening in that position.

  • Comment posted by Welling 4 Promotion, at 23:00 6 Feb 2013

    Lampard did so well in 2nd half. Chelsea are crazy to want him to leave. Team better off without Terry and Rio.

  • Comment posted by Chip the Duck, at 23:35 6 Feb 2013

    Really good to see such a great performance from an England team. Chasing every loose ball and fighting in every tackle - brilliant moves as well.

    Willshere was good but what about the performances from Johnson and Walcott!

    Class at last!

    A pat on the back is due to our manager too!

  • Comment posted by Dizzee69, at 23:12 6 Feb 2013

    Yeah, yeah, England are rubbish. That's why we always get thrashed at world cups.

    Except we don't.

    Knocked out on pens in 90, 98, 04, 06, and 2012 after having 3 goals disallowed (98, 04, 10). Real cannon fodder... Just there to make up numbers... We're just another North Korea, New Zealand and Honduras, right?

    What's our FIFA ranking again? Must be in the 60s the way some people go on

  • Comment posted by meercatboldy, at 22:44 6 Feb 2013

    What surprised me was how many long balls Brazil played compared to England who played it out from the back- was impressed with the team and can see it improving

  • Comment posted by U15345456, at 22:18 6 Feb 2013

    Promising. Like most England fans I don't expect us to win the World Cup, it's the tabloid press that suggest that. But I want to see young players with passion and hunger try and play the game in the right way and that's what we did tonight. Wiltshire looked a class act and Walcott is improving all the time and his pace caused problems. Just wish the England haters would give it a rest.

  • Comment posted by U15127342, at 21:57 6 Feb 2013

    Well done England. Play like that in the future, and learn the national anthem and we will have a team that the nation can get behind once again.

  • Comment posted by U14764744, at 10:20 7 Feb 2013

    A good win against a great opponent.

    But the morons who dissrespected the minute's silence were a disgrace.

  • Comment posted by U15484190, at 07:32 7 Feb 2013

    Scolari makes 6 substitutions to give his players a run out & to see what they can do, RH makes 4 substitutions because his players are knackered, speaks volumes. Also glad to see rio ferdinand was not called up he's more trouble than his worth.

  • Comment posted by Littlefork, at 23:06 6 Feb 2013

    genuine pace will always trouble a team; Walcott scared them to death; as did the pace and running of Welbeck. I think we can safely say that in the company of his team mates tonight Milner has probably had his day. Cahill needs to sort his lapses in concentration out if he's going to make it on the big stage. Rio managed to do that so he should too. Good performance and result from England.

  • Comment posted by SteveP, at 13:36 7 Feb 2013

    @Moderators - can't you just turn off comments when the thread inevitably descends into big team bickering by the school kids. Some of us come on to read what people thought about the article topic, but will have to wade through umpteen pages of off-topic bleating.

  • Comment posted by whatyousay, at 10:15 7 Feb 2013

    Well done to England for their victory against Brazil, relatively this is not the Brazil of what we have known of in the past of Ronaldo, Cafu, Lucio, Kaka, Rivaldo etc... I do not not think Brazil will win the world cup 2014, not because they lost against England but i think that there are better team out there then the current Brazilian side. Argentina, Spain or Germany for me as favourites.

Top Stories