Gareth Southgate made the point to his England players at the beginning of the week. Remember November 2017, the manager said, when the nation last took on Brazil; the only time, in fact, they have done so during his seven and a half years in charge. It was a Wembley friendly, it finished 0-0 and the truth was that it felt more like a win.
What Southgate wanted to highlight to his squad was the world rankings at the time – England were 12th; Brazil second – and how, as another showpiece looms at Wembley on Saturday night, everything has changed. It is now England who can look down on Brazil. They are third on the list; the five-time world champions are fifth.
“Whenever I’m talking to the team, I’m trying to excite them about the game ahead and challenge them,” Southgate said. “And also give them confidence in terms of the progress they’ve made as a group. We have overcome a lot of hurdles and created quite a bit of history in terms of knocking down some fixtures that have been hurdles over the years. I was reading that we’ve only beaten Brazil four times in 26 games so that’s a great challenge for us to put another marker down.”
John Stones remembers the 2017 encounter and especially the mood inside the dressing room. He was one of five players involved who are in the squad for this latest assignment – the others are Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire, Joe Gomez and Marcus Rashford – and Stones talks in particular about the evolution in maturity and belief.
“To some extent, we didn’t realise or believe enough that we were better than them at that point,” he said. “But I feel now with the players we’ve got and the experiences we’ve had – being in finals, winning trophies, having tough experiences – that we go into this game with the most belief we can come away with a win.
“I just feel a real humbleness that we are confident; we’re not arrogant. We are excited and believe we can go and win against the best. We spoke for many years now about getting into that elite group or [being] the world’s No 1 team. So this is a great test for us. We’ve had the final at the last Euros, the World Cup semi-final in 2018 and we had that real belief in the Qatar World Cup in 2022 [when they reached the quarter-final]. I feel now it’s time for us to go past that step and get something.”
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The Football Association lined up the Brazil game – and the one against Belgium at Wembley next Tuesday – to allow Southgate the best possible tune-ups for the European Championship in the summer. There would be little point in breezing past low-quality opposition.
Brazil teem with history and glamour, the iconic yellow shirts synonymous with flair, although they will not wear them at Wembley, preferring their change strip of blue and white. It should be said that England have had the patent on shirt controversy over the past 24 hours and, also, that this is a Brazil at a low ebb.
As Dorival Júnior prepares for his first game as the manager, the Seleção are mired in existential crisis, heavy on questions relating to identity, the Brazilian people struggling to see themselves in the team, a wedge between them and the players.
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The nation’s stars are at European clubs – far away, disconnected – and Brazil have started the slog that is South American World Cup qualification with three defeats in six ties; they are sixth in the table. Dorival has a host of injuries, too – most notably to Alisson, Ederson, Marquinhos, Éder Militão, Casemiro and Neymar.
Southgate would surely have wanted to face a full-strength Brazil and he would definitely have wanted to work with his best XI. Frustratingly, it is not possible, Southgate describing the number of players missing through injury as “the highest we’ve ever had, no question”.
It was hard to escape the focus on who is not available. No Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka means a significantly weaker front three while the absence of Luke Shaw is bad now and likely even worse at the Euros; the left-back is rated touch and go. The loss of Shaw deprives the team of thrust and balance and it has been compounded during this window by Kieran Trippier being out.
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Southgate also faces a headache in midfield where, with Kalvin Phillips not an option because of his poor form, he might have wanted to test Trent Alexander-Arnold alongside Declan Rice. Alexander-Arnold has played six times in midfield for Southgate but never against opposition ranked higher than Australia. He is injured, though, and nor is Jordan Henderson available.
Stones, who has excelled in a hybrid role for Manchester City, was asked whether he would like to play in the England midfield. “One hundred per cent … I’d love to do it,” he replied. “I’ve not spoken about it [with Southgate]. Gareth knows how he wants to play, he knows everyone’s attributes, my attributes and he watches the games quite a lot. So if he’s got any thoughts of that, I’d obviously love to do it. Maybe it’s something that we might speak about in the future, I’m not too sure.”
Southgate needs Stones in central defence and what is plain is that there will be opportunities for other players, with Gomez, Ben Chilwell, Conor Gallagher, Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney chief among those vying for minutes. Southgate wants to clear another hurdle. The bigger picture is unavoidable.
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