England 2 Brazil 1

Match 50/12/1003 - Wednesday, 6 February 2013 - International

England (1) 2 Rooney 26, Lampard 60
Brazil (0) 1 Fred 48
Att. 87,483

Entrance: £30
Programme: £6.00
Mileage: 100/3,818

Match Report

For once, it was nice to walk away from Wembley feeling that, from the game, I had had my thirty quids worth and not only from the satisfaction of a fine England victory over the most celebrated of visitors.

This Brazil are no vintage, but they counter-attacked with speed and precision only to finish wastefully in front of goal, no more so than the superstar of the future, Neymar.

As England produced their best performance at Wembley since the demolition of Croatia in 2009 the crowd responded producing the best atmosphere heard for a very long time.

Whilst Chelsea's Oscar weaved a little magic in midfield for the South Americans, one Englishman was not to be outshone, the outstanding Jack Wilshere.

The evening had begun with a warm reception for one of England's unloved, Ashley Cole, on the achievement of his 100th cap but then was sullied by the brain-dead that chose to break the silence in respect of the victims of the Santa Maria nightclub fire, remembering the Munich air disaster and most disappointingly, the memory of Bobby Moore who died 20 years ago this month.

Both sides showed their attacking intentions from the outset with Julio Cesar producing the first save of note when he tipped over the bar a Wayne Rooney header after 10 minutes. On 18 minutes Brazil where awarded a penalty for a questionable handball by Wilshere. Ronaldinho, also making his 100th appearance, saw his initial spot kick and the follow-up saved by Joe Hart before Tom Cleverley steered the ball to safety.

Rooney opened the scoring on 26 minutes following a superb through ball from Wilshere to Theo Walcott, whose shot was saved by Cesar only to fall to Rooney who drove the ball into the empty net from about 15 yards.

Neymar should have equalised before the break when he failed to get on the end of a cross by Oscar, who had got past his Chelsea teammate Cole to get to the bye-line.

The Brazilians were level within three minutes of the start of the second half, not through stunning samba-football, although Fred’s finish was pretty emphatic, but a mistake from Gary Cahill, who had a decent first half alongside Chris Smalling reducing the threat of Adriano to nothing. Cahill attempted to dribble the ball to safety after a Brazilian attack broke down but was caught in possession by Lucas and Fred finished from the edge of the box with a powerful shot. It almost got instantly worse for England when a Smalling mistake allowed Fred another effort that clipped the bar.

Credit to England in that they bounced straight back and Cahill was close to making amends with a header that was saved by Cesar before Frank Lampard restored the home nation’s lead on the hour with a shot that went in off the post. Lampard, as he has done for much of this season, giving a gentle nudge to the Chelsea owner that he is a long way from the knacker’s yard.

The game continued its entertaining path to the finish and, albeit the friendly nature of game, a first win over Brazil in 23 years. A very satisfying evening, why can’t it be like this every time at Wembley?