This was the first international game at the new Wembley and something like 88,000 people filled the impressive stadium. Seven years is a heck of a long time to wait, but I guess it was worth it!
McLaren had done the decent thing and recalled Beckham to the side - I'm sure I was not the only one who was calling for his return since the poor form England have shown recently. However, he still still stuck with the partnership of Lampard and Gerrard in midfield which DOESN'T WORK! Lampard is so overrated in my opinion - I'm hoping when Hargreaves is fit again, he will be the replacement for Lamps. Shorey, the feft back for Reading was a surprise addition to the team; he has never played for England before.
Team line-up: Robinson, Shorey, King, Terry, Carragher, Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, Cole, Smith, Owen.
Although not a lot of goal scoring opportunities were created by England, the shape of the team, the passing and general play was 100% better than in the last two Euro qualifiers. I feel Beckham was the real difference. England always seem to play better when playing better teams anyway so it was nice to see Brazil not getting the better of us. Kaka didn't really get a look in, Ronaldinho had good spells but not enough to trouble us - our defence was solid. Ledley King (my Spurs man) had a very good game and I would hope that he becomes the regular first choice ahead of Rio Ferdinand.
The first half was goalless. England stepped it up a bit in the second but it was Brazil who came closest. Paul Robinson had hardly been called upon but when he was, it was with some brilliance. Ronaldinho first-time shot from Kaka`s pass took a deflection off King and Robbo somehow managed to react quick enough to pull off a stupendous save. Great work from the Spurs' duo there!
Just after the hour mark, Dyer and Downing came on for Cole and Smith. On 68 minutes a long free kick from Becks found the head of John Terry at the far post and in it went for a 1-0 lead. However, he had to be replaced by Wes Brown due to a slight hamstring injury. Brown's first contribution was a howler, stumbling on the ball just outside the box and giving away the ball to Alfonso Alves. Fortunately, Robbo did a good job of putting him off his shot which went wide.
Becks was substituted 15 minutes from time to a warm ovation, replaced by Jermaine Jenas, the third Spurs player to make an appearance.
Brazil were edging back into it, and it was in injury time that they equalised from a Diego header, which couldn't have been more frustrating. Still, it was a good warm-up for Wednesday night's game against Estonia in the Euro qualifiers. This is a game we must win.
(Posted 3 Jun 2007)
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