 |
| Frank Lampard celebrates his winning goal with a trademark point to the sky. |
England
recorded an unlikely 2-1 victory over Brazil at Wembley thanks to a stunning
winner from substitute midfielder Frank Lampard.
A Brazil
side boasting world famous stars Neymar and Ronaldinho alongside Premier League
favourites Ramires, Oscar and Julio Cesar were tonight’s prestigious opponents
in a celebratory friendly match held in order to commemorate 150 years of the
FA, the governing body of English football.
Manchester
United striker Wayne Rooney calmly steered home the opener through a crowd of
Brazilian bodies after goalkeeper Julio Cesar had done well to originally deny
Theo Walcott’s low effort. Only moments before, England goalkeeper Joe Hart had
made a brilliant double save from a Ronaldinho penalty, awarded by referee
Pedro Proenca when Jack Wilshere was deemed to have blocked a cross with his
hand.
Much was
expected of sought-after 21-year-old Santos striker Neymar who is attracting
interest from a host of European clubs, including Barcelona, but he failed to
impress on a disappointing night for Brazil as he wasted his only notable
chance, firing wildly over the crossbar after a dangerous cross from Oscar.
Brazil made
several changes at half time, including veteran Fluminense striker Fred whose
first touch brought a classy equaliser and duly punished the hesitant Gary
Cahill who was caught in possession by Lucas Moura.
England
pushed for a winner and looked threatening on the counter attack as the pace of
Arsenal midfielders Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere continued to cause problems
for a Brazilian defence captained by Chelsea centre-half David Luiz.
It was on
the hour mark, that Luiz’s Stamford Bridge team-mate Frank Lampard, brought on
to replace Tom Cleverley at the heart of England’s midfield curled home a
superb winner following an inviting touch from Wayne Rooney, as he continues a
fine run of goal-scoring form for both club and country.
The result
was just one of several positives during a successful night for English
football, as ever-present left-back Ashley Cole became the seventh Englishman
to reach a centurion of caps as he started the one hundredth match of his
International career. Jack Wilshere impressed in midfield alongside Captain
Steven Gerrard and played a full 90 minutes on his return to International
football after a lengthy fifteen month lay-off with an ankle injury.
Roy Hodgson
becomes only the fourth manager in history to mastermind an England team to
victory over Brazil as he looks to build on his side’s strong performance ahead
of the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers against San Marino and Montenegro.
The newly
appointed Brazil coach and former Chelsea boss Luis Felipe Scolari will know
his squad didn’t play to their full potential during his first game back in
charge. The Brazilian Football Confederation hired Scolari with hopeful
expectation after he lead the nation to a record fifth World Cup victory in
2002. With media and public pressure already intense, his team will need to improve
if they are to have a chance at the 2014 finals next summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment