England manager Roy Hodgson lamented a win that got away after his side gave World Cup hosts Brazil a fright on Sunday, holding the five-time world champions to an entertaining 2-2 draw in a prestige friendly in Rio de Janeiro.
The visitors, victorious on their last visit back in 1984 when John Barnes famously clinched the win with a solo effort, were on the ropes in an absorbing first half which Brazil largely dominated, but held their own until 12 minutes after the restart when Fred scored for the South American giants.
However, a neat strike from England substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and then a rasping drive from Wayne Rooney turned the match on its head, before Paulinho volleyed in eight minutes from time to level a contest held to mark the multimillion-dollar refurbishment of the Maracana.
Photo: EPA
“Some draws can be labeled victories and some draws can be labeled defeats,” Hodgson said. “We played so well in the second half I thought we might hold on for the win, but we were scotched by a wonder strike. We didn’t play anywhere near like we wanted to in the first half and Brazil did, so it was a fair result.”
England beat Brazil in a Wembley friendly back in February which marked the return to the Auriverde dugout of Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazil’s 2002 World Cup-winning coach, but the pressure has been heaped on Scolari, who has managed only a win over Bolivia in half a dozen matches during this second spell in charge, while the World Cup hosts have slid to 19th in the FIFA world rankings — an all-time low.
In addition, Brazil have been embarrassed by a series of glitches in preparations for not just the World Cup in 13 months time, but also the Confederations Cup, which starts on June 15 in six venues across the country amid infrastructural problems which have dogged the hosts.
Photo: Reuters
Sunday’s match was even set to be called off after a local judge ruled on Thursday that the game could not go ahead as the Maracana did not, in her view, meet minimum safety requirements. The decision was overturned after city authorities scrambled an appeal, before the Rio State government explained that a mandatory safety report had not been sent to the relevant local authority due to a “bureaucratic failure.”
Once the green light was given, 66,000 turned out to see if Brazil could shine in a dress rehearsal for their Confederations Cup opener against Japan and after failing to make their superiority in terms of possession in the opening period pay off with a goal, the hosts did not disappoint as Fred, also on target at Wembley, latched on to a rebound after Hernanes saw his shoot come back off the crossbar with England goalkeeper Joe Hart beaten.
Hart had already been a busy man in the opening half as he smothered an early chance from close range for Barcelona-bound Neymar and then saved well from Bruno Alves and Oscar, but no sooner had Fred broken the deadlock on 57 minutes than England suddenly sparked into life after their defense had finally been breached.
Ten minutes later Roy Hodgson’s side were level through Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who had barely entered the action as a substitute in place of Glen Johnson.
Frank Lampard combined with Rooney and Oxlade-Chamberlain, whose father Mark Chamberlain played in the 1984 England success, fired in a low effort.
Rooney then struck the second with 11 minutes remaining, his effort flicking off Fernando to leave Brazil facing their first home loss to European opposition since Barnes and Chamberlain’s exploits of three decades earlier.
Indeed, the Samba stars had not lost any match on home soil in a decade and they managed to salvage their record when Paulinho volleyed powerfully home after Lucas Moura had teed him up with a cross from the right.
Oxlade-Chamberlain was a proud man after scoring for England, but his father missed the moment after nodding off back home in front of the TV set.
In the event, neither father nor son could recall much about the neat strike.
“I’m sure my dad will be happy with that. I can’t really remember it,” said Arsenal star Oxlade-Chamberlain, who made sure he got Barcelona-bound Neymar’s shirt after the contest.
“Frank Lampard flicked it on, I got it back off Wayne Rooney and just hit it. I’m just glad I could make a contribution. We wanted to close the game out, so we are disappointed we didn’t, but we showed great passion and fight. Brazil are a great side, but we kept our shape,” he said.
Meanwhile, former Stoke City winger Chamberlain somewhat sheepishly told BBC radio he missed the crucial moment.
“I didn’t see it, I was dropping his mother off at the airport at 6am this morning, so I fell asleep — it was on tape, so I’ll watch it in a minute. I realized when his agent rang me up,” he said.
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