It was a high profile clash between England and Brazil last night when some of the world’s best young and senior stars played out an exciting friendly match. The hosts beat Brazil 2-1 for the first time in almost 23 years courtesy of goals from Manchester United’s target man Wayne Rooney and Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard who scored the winning goal.
The line-ups included rising talents like Oscar, Wilshere, Neymar, Cleverley, Welbeck and also some of the legends and particular it marked the return of Ronaldinho in the International stage. The victory to England came through some hard work in the midfield and defence and Arsenal’s Wilshere was in particular impressive, pulling strings in the midfield along with Gerrard and Cleverley.
Wilshere returned to the International stage after almost 2 years and immediately dictated what is one of England’s most amazing triumphs to date in recent times. Wilshere zipped from end to end of the pitch with superb stamina, dictating the tempo of the play for both sides. Breaking down any attacks Brazil had with his determined effort to close down every ball within 20 yards of him. After initially taking time to settle his nerves, he was cruelly penalized for a handball in the penalty area 18 minutes, but thanks to Joe Hart’s astounding double save from a Ronaldinho spot kick the game remained 0-0.
Keen to make up for his mistake, Wilshere was quick to recover and when England broke through with a counterattack in the 26th minute, Wilshere played a perfectly weighted pass to Walcott who then had his shot cleared by the keeper but fell perfectly into the path of Rooney who slotted it in the opening goal of the night.
At 1-0 England were in control and Wilshere was ‘bossing’ the Brazilian midfield with Gerrard and Cleverley helping each other to deliver for their front men. Though Walcott was poor in the first half, he steeped up in style in the second half and was a constant threat on the right-wing. Walcott’s sheer pace was way too much for Brazil to handle as he blasted past their defence each time he received the ball, mainly from Wilshere. Equally Welbeck was on the left-wing (out of position), however, had a decent game, which Chamberlain would have exceeded nonetheless.
Without doubt the Arsenal duo who started the match were the spark that gave England their drive to defeat the Samba boys.
Koscielny
Koscielny, who started the game with full back Sagna had an excellent 45 minutes for France in their match against Germany, but was subbed off with a calf injury, which Arsene Wenger, on French TV, said “was not good”. It is feared that the defender may be sidelined for as long as 3 weeks, however nothing has been confirmed as of now.
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