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England national football team
International Friendlies
Feb 6, 2013 at 7.30pm UK
 
Brazil national football team

2-1

Live Commentary: England 2-1 Brazil - as it happened

Read how England edged out Brazil in an entertaining international friendly at Wembley this evening.
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England welcomed Brazil to Wembley for an international friendly that was part of the Football Association's 150th anniversary celebrations.

The FA would have been hoping for an entertaining match and they certainly got one as England ran out 2-1 winners for their first success against Brazil since 1990.

Read how it all unfolded in our minute-by-minute live coverage below.


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Evening all! England vs. Brazil has a great ring to it and I'm sure we're all hoping for an action-packed encounter. Let's get to the teams...

TEAM NEWS! Ashley Cole earns his 100th England cap as both managers put out star-studded XIs.

ENGLAND: Hart; Johnson, Cahill, Smalling, Cole; Wilshere, Gerrard, Cleverley; Walcott; Welbeck, Rooney
BRAZIL: Julio Cesar; Alves, David Luiz, Dante, Adriano; Paulinho, Ramires; Oscar, Ronaldinho, Neymar; Luis Fabiano

Kickoff is at 7.30pm, by the way.

Looking at those two lineups there's so much talent on show, especially in the visitors' XI. Ronaldinho has made a surprise comeback to the international fray and has a chance of cementing a place under Luiz Felipe Scolari. It's the former Chelsea manager's first game back in charge of the Selecao. When he was last in charge he led them to the 2002 World Cup. Everyone remembers the England vs. Brazil quarter-final that time don't they? Ronaldinho's free kick over Seaman!

That success in 2002 was one of five World Cup wins for Brazil. They also have an excellent record against England, having not lost against the Three Lions in their last three meetings.

In fact, the last time that England overcame Brazil was back in March 1990 when Gary Lineker found the net in a 1-0 victory.

Chelsea's David Luiz is captaining the Brazilians tonight and he exchanges a handshake with England skipper Steven Gerrard in the tunnel.

England's centre-back pairing of Chris Smalling and Gary Cahill is the fifth different centre-back partnership Hodgson has used in the last six matches.

FA chief David Bernstein is introduced to both sets of players and he's alongside the great Bobby Charlton as well.

Ronaldinho has been presented with a a shirt with the number 100 on it as the Brazilian FA think it is his 100th appearance. However, it is apparently only his 95th official appearance.

Steven Gerrard is also presented with a special golden cap to honour his 100 caps. The Liverpool man reached that milestone in Sweden in November. That game will be remembered for a certain player's overhead kick. His first name begins with Z. Remember?

Twitter UK's Lewis Wiltshire tells us: "This England v Brazil game features 3rd, 4th, 5th most-followed footballers in the world on Twitter: @Njr92 @WayneRooney @10Ronaldinho." (That's Neymar, Rooney and Ronaldinho.)

We will now have a minute's silence to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster. It's also 20 years since the great Bobby Moore passed away.

The silence was disrupted regularly there, awfully disrespectful. We're ready for kickoff though. Here we go...

Almost a hairy moment for Hart as Ronadinho closes him down but the Manchester City stopper manages to sidestep the former two-time world footballer of the year.

Walcott clips over a cross for Rooney and David Luiz has to head it out for a corner. Gerrard swings it in but it's too high for Cahill.

Beautiful one-two between Neymar and Oscar on the right. The latter breaks clear down the right but is dispossessed by a sliding Cahill challenge.

CHANCE! Neymar and Oscar link up once more. The Chelsea playmaker lifts it over the top for the Santos superstar but the can't bring it under control as Cahill gets the better of him again.

It looks for all the world that Rooney is about to head home Gerrard's corner but Julio Cesar pulls off a ridiculous save! It turns out that Rooney pushed Ramires so it wouldn't have counted anyway.

Brazil counter and Neymar lays it to Oscar. The Chelsea man should perhaps give it once more to Fabiano but he goes for a shot and hits it too high.

It's been a really open game so far with Brazil edging it slightly. I'd be very surprised if it's still goalless in half an hour's time when we reach the break.

Welbeck almost makes a hash of his run down the left but manages to recover the ball and find Gerrard. The skipper looks to reverse it to Cleverley but he's shepherded out by Dante.

PENALTY TO BRAZIL! Wilshere penalised for handball.

SAVED!

Remarkable sequence of events! Ronaldinho's penalty was weak and Hart actually overdived past the ball. It popped out for the veteran but he couldn't quite slide it in from a few inches, with Hart somehow scrabbling back to claw it away. Neymar comes in to tap home but Cleverley slides in and does enough to put him off. Amazing.

MISS! England almost make Brazil pay but Welbeck skies his toepoke. It was lovely interplay between Wilshere and Rooney beforehand but Welbeck couldn't get his shot on target from the left of the area.

Really, really good passing from England. Another crisp one-two sets Wilshere free but he can't quite pick a pass.

GOAL! England 1-0 Brazil (Rooney)

The hosts take the lead and it's another lovely move. Wilshere threads a pass through for Walcott and with his finishing of late, you're expecting the net to bulge. However, Cesar makes a good save but the ball slides out to Rooney and he sidefoots it through a tight gap into the net.

CHANCE! It's almost a quick double for England but Walcott, after beating Dante, doesn't get enough on his reverse pass for Rooney.

As I mentioned earlier, Gary Lineker scored the only goal last time England beat Brazil and here he is on Twitter talking about the goal: "Great play, superb finish from Rooney."

Walcott is up against Dante and just has to beat the Bayern Munich man to earn a shot on goal but he overruns it. He's got so much potential, has Walcott, but when he does things like that it's so frustrating.

Cleverley dinks a pass into Rooney and the England goalscorer takes it down on the chest but has the ball stolen away.

WHAT A MISS! Neymar hasn't really turned up and he's just squandered a wonderful chance. Oscar won the ball down the right and picked out the Santos man at the back post with a perfect cross. Neymar had to slide in to reach it but somehow put it over Hart's crossbar from a few yards.

If you give this page a quick manual refresh you'll be able to see a picture of Rooney celebrating the goal.

CLOSE! Brazil are pushing and pushing. Oscar's cross goes through the legs of Cole and Fabiano collects with his back to goal. He manages to loop it to the back post and Johnson has to clear it off the line.

A loose ball pops out to Rooney about 25 yards out and he just has a whack first time. It's a lovely hit but a few yards off target.

Walcott is being given plenty of space down the right and once again he just has Dante to beat. He goes on the outside this time and gets a shot away but it's easily parried by Cesar. Brazil go up the other end and Ronaldinho tries a scoop over the top for Fabiano but overhits it.

One minute added on at the end of the first half.

HALF-TIME: England 1-0 Brazil

England lead thanks to Rooney's goal but that's not the only tale of this half.

It's been a really open game and exactly what the FA would have wanted for their 150th anniversary celebrations. Brazil have missed a penalty and there's been chances aplenty at both ends.

Hart's double save from Ronaldinho - first saving the penalty and then clawing away the rebound - was a display of how good the Manchester City man is, surely one of the world's best keepers.

England have showed flashes of delightful passing, especially Gerrard and Wilshere in midfield. Walcott has also had plenty of space down the right but hasn't quite found his shooting boots yet.

Looking back at the penalty decision, it was an extremely harsh decision on England. Ronaldinho's cross did strike Wilshere's arm but he was only a couple of yards away. The Arsenal man couldn't have done much else as he was trying to move his arms away.

I'd be surprised if Brazil don't get a goal in the second half but I'd have to say the same about England. The visitors' best player so far has been Chelsea's Oscar, by a long way too. He's looked composed on the ball and at the heart of all good things the Selecao have conjured.

Away from Wembley it's going awfully well for the other home nations currently in action. Wales lead Austria, Scotland lead Estonia and the Republic of Ireland lead Poland. Find our live coverage of all of those games, and the Africa Cup of Nations semi-final between Burkina Faso and Ghana which has gone to extra time, by clicking here.

England subs: Hodgson is making some half-time changes and Lampard is on for Cleverley. Ashley Cole's 100th cap is also over as Leighton Baines comes on.

Brazil subs: There's also three changes for Brazil as PSG's Lucas Moura, Fred of Fluminense and Santos's Arouca replace Ronaldinho, Fabiano and Ramires.

CHANCE! Gerrard lets fly from 25 yards and Cesar can only push it out in front of him. Wilshere gets there first but can't wrap his foot around it under pressure from David Luiz.

GOAL! England 1-1 Brazil (Fred)

It's a terrible goal for England to concede and Gary Cahill will have a sleepless night tonight. The Chelsea defender overruns the ball and Lucas gets a tackle in. The ball breaks to Fred and he smashes it past Hart from 16 yards.

OFF THE BAR! What are England playing at?! Hart has to slide to get to a backpass and the ball falls to Lucas. He reverses it to Fred on the edge of the area and the half-time substitute is a whisker away from scoring two quick goals. He whips a curler over Hart but can't beat the crossbar.

Baines shows off his dribbling ability by beating two men on the touchline before earning a corner.

SAVE! Gerrard swings it over and Cahill beats his Chelsea teammate Luiz to the ball but sees his somewhat mistimed header tipped over by Cesar.

CHANCE! England are all over Brazil right now. Walcott bursts past Alves and fizzes in a low cross that Cesar has to push away. Rooney collects and lays it to Gerrard but he can't keep his shot down.

GOAL! England 2-1 Brazil (Lampard)

Oh yes! Oh yes! Lampard has been on fire for Chelsea recently and he adds this peach against Brazil to his piledriver at Newcastle on Saturday. Walcott again beats his man down the right and Rooney is first to the loose ball once more. He flicks it to Lampard and the Chelsea man curls a sublime first-time effort past Cesar that goes in off the inside of the post. Beautiful goal.

Subs: James Milner is on for Danny Welbeck while Jean Moreira replaces Paulinho for Brazil.

Neymar really has been underwhelming. His latest shot is straight at Hart when a simple pass would have been much better.

And now the highly-rated Santos youngster goes for an overhead kick with his weaker left foot but that's miles over.

CHANCE! Baines whips over a stunning low cross that somehow avoids everyone in the middle.

Brazil sub: Atletico Madrid's Filipe Luis replaces Adriano at left-back.

The attendance at Wembley is announced as 87,453.

England sub: Walcott's impressive second half comes to an end as Aaron Lennon takes his place.

Brazil sub: Brazil's captain Luiz comes off for Miranda.

Away from Wembley briefly, the Africa Cup of Nations semi between Burkina Faso and Ghana is into a penalty shootout! Follow here.

In fact, it's just finished and Burkina Faso have shocked Ghana! Unbelievable.

Back to the game at Wembley and the match has died down a little.

Just as I say that, Brazil have a chance. Lucas lays it inside to Fred but his first touch lets him down and he can't get a clean shot off.

Milner uses Baines's overlapping run as a decoy to open up space for a cross but in the end simply lobs it up for Cesar to catch easily.

Jack Wilshere is named as the man of the match and that's hard to argue with. He's been superb today.

Just as three minutes are added on, Oscar, who has been Brazil's best player, cuts inside from the left but drags his shot a yard or so wide of Hart's right-hand post.

FULL-TIME: England 2-1 Brazil

It's a first win since 1990 for England against Brazil.

A really good game at Wembley it was too. There were plenty of chances for both sides and in the end it was won by Frank Lampard's stunning finish.

England took a one-goal lead into the break thanks to Rooney's accurate finish but started the second half sloppily and the game was level quickly because of Fred's finish.

If you've only just joined us and don't want to wade through all the updates, click here for Jack Prescott's match report full with BIG pictures from the game.

That's about it from me, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. What can we learn from tonight? Well, England are going to win the World Cup yeah? Good night.

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