vs. Location: Wembley Stadium, London, England Brazil roster: Goleiros Alisson (Roma) Cássio (Corinthians) Ederson (Manchester City) Laterais Daniel Alves (PSG) Danilo (Manchester City) Marcelo (Real Madrid) Alex Sandro (Juventus) Zagueiros Miranda (Inter de Milão) Marquinhos (PSG) Thiago Silva (PSG) Jemerson (Monaco) Meias Casemiro (Real Madrid) Diego (Flamengo) Fernandinho (Manchester City) Giuliano (Fenerbahçe) Paulinho (Barcelona) Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool) Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan) Willian (Chelsea) Atacantes Douglas Costa (Juventus) Diego Souza (Sport) Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City) Neymar (PSG) Taison (Shakhtar) Immediately after its first confrontation – and victory, by a 3-1 score – against an Asian opponent, Tite's Brazil will close its 2017 season squaring off against, at last, what many pundits in Brazil viewed as the first real test for this side: a European squad. And perhaps there is no more fitting Old World football opponent than England, the creators of the Royal Game – the Game which Brazil made Beautiful – in none other than the hallowed and legendary venue of Wembley Stadium. While England is a former World Cup champion, it has often been criticized as being "beneath" other perennial superpowers, as it never won the European Championship and as unlike Italy or Germany or the Spain of 2008-2012, it did not dominate. But this England is a resurgent squad with young blood replacing the generation of Michael Owen, David Beckham, and Rio Ferdinand – names Brazil fans will remember from the two teams' confrontation in Korea/Japan 2002. The Three Lions blasted their way to a berth in Russia, as the first UEFA team (outside hosts Russia) to "co-secure" a direct spot on October 5 (on the same day, defending champions Germany also booked their tickets to the World Cup). En route to this achievement, the English built a perfect 5-0 record at home in Group F, with a combined 10-1 scoreline against Slovakia, Scotland, Slovenia, Lithuania, and Malta. Only against Slovakia did England trail, before scoring two goals to win it. Overall, England went unbeaten in 10 matches, winning 3 away and drawing 2. England has however experienced mixed results against tougher opposition. In a 1-year-period between November 2015 and November 2016, England lost 0-2 and then drew 2-2 with Spain. Between March 2016 and March 2017, England defeated Germany in Germany 2-3 only to lose 1-0; and in November 2015, England beat France 2-0 only to lose 3-2 this past June. In fact, just this afternoon, England played against its archrival Germany - a game which ended in a goalless draw. The English will be somewhat depleted as 6 players have removed themselves from Gareth Southgate's call-up list: Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph, Jordan Henderson, as well as the Tottenham trio of Harry Kane, Dele Alli, and Harry Winks in pulling out of Gareth Southgate's selection. It remains to be seen if their substitutes will test Brazil equally. Brazil vs. England is one of the most famous confrontations in the history of the sport. Whether friendlies – with a 2-0 English win at Maracanã and a 3-1 Brazilian win at Wembley in the 1995 Umbro Cup – or epic matches in the World Cup, the game's biggest stage – the historic 1-0 by the magical Brazil of Pelé, Jairzinho, and Carlos Alberto Torres over the defending champions led by Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, and Gordon Banks – this match promises to be a very special treat for true aficionados of good football. Tradition and fame borne by two teams currently boasting promising young squads with an eye towards the future – the 2018 World Cup and beyond. For me personally, this is going to be a match I will look forward to. I have always had a great deal of respect for English football and I love the incredible history it contains. And it is impressive that the Football Association will likely be fielding against Brazil, as it did today against Germany, a competitive team with players who all play in the country's top division, the Premiership (including the six aforementioned absences). Brazilian fans would need to go back many years if not 3 decades or even more to find a World Cup contender-level team with players who all played in Brazilian clubs. Brazil has an overall favorable record against England, with 11 wins, 10 draws, and only 4 defeats – but since Ronaldinho Gaúcho & Rivaldo sent England packing in 2002, Brazil has only beaten England once, in a 1-0 friendly in Qatar 8 years ago. A 2007 friendly ended 1-1, and England beat Brazil 2-1 in February 2013, which was then followed by a 2-2 draw in Rio 4 months later. The following is England's roster: Goalkeepers: Jack Butland (Stoke City), Joe Hart (West Ham - loan from Manchester City), Jordan Pickford (Everton). Defenders: Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Michael Keane (Everton), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Danny Rose (Tottenham), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur), Kyle Walker (Manchester City). Midfielders: Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Jake Livermore (West Brom), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Crystal Palace - loan from Chelsea), Ashley Young (Manchester United). Forwards: Tammy Abraham (Swansea - loan from Chelsea), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Jamie Vardy (Leicester City).
I want to know what the hell was up with that staged crying ass press conference Tite and Neymar did?
In 2007 Brazil and England opened Wembley with a 1-1 draw and 10 years later I'm predicting another 1-1 draw!! I will even go as far to predict that Diego will score the tying goal again!!
A lot of this is driven by his own behavior. So he brings it on himself. Lets not forget Dorival once lost his job because of him. And every where he goes there is some sort smoke. So I don't buy this victim crap. I'd say there is more stuff going on besides the media in France piling in on him. And his performance vs Japan was another self centered performance bad performance. If his goal is accumulate fouls against him, he is succeeding ... but he is not playing for the team.
Southgate seems to be taking the opportunity to blood young players who struggle to get a chance with their super rich parent clubs but who have dominated European and World youth football this summer. The previous game against Germany debutant Ruben-Loftus-Cheek was the standout player on the pitch, I guess not getting a chance at his parent club Chelsea isn't the end of the world and he's actually in rather good company. The sudden injuries to players is an imposition every England manager has to cope with, when it comes to friendlies. It's a weakened team unless certain players step up and rise to the occasion an embarrassment may occur. They are playing with a back three, which has now become the vogue in England, they have an array of good wing backs, but apart from Stones no centre-backs with the ball playing qualities which you'd hope for in a defender in a modern backline. I hope Brazil are back to their best and I see some dazzling play from players I've never even heard of. Football is a much richer sport when Brazil are at their best, they raise the sport to new levels and I wish to see that again soon.
The Potter, thanks for chiming in. We Brazilian forum members are biased (obviously!), but your post added value to this discussion as it stands to reason that an Englishman would know the current form of England's better players. Please do stop by later during and after the match. Believe me, we have wanted a confrontation with a top-tier European team for quite some time to truly test the mettle of Tite's Brazil and we're glad it's happening at last.
The manager always seems to be a topic of debate when it comes to the English NT. I don't think Southgate has shown enough yet to dispel any of those conversations. Do the FA see him as the guy beyond 2018 are is it going to be about results at the World Cup like it normally is.
Kind of sucks that they are not fielding a full strength team. Sort of beats the purpose of the game.
This is something we need to face. England has good defense even undermanned, but even at full strength its defense might not be the toughest we'd face in the World Cup.
The only thing we lack and would complete the team IMO is a midfield maestro. Someone with creativity and passing ability.