England fail to impress as teenage prodigy gives Brazil Wembley win

England 0-1 Brazil (Endrick 80′)

WEMBLEY STADIUM — The first paper aeroplane hit the pitch before the 30-minute mark, sent down from Wembley’s middle tier to great undue hilarity – that isn’t always a good sign.

England have lost their first match since the 2022 World Cup. It means Gareth Southgate will face the type of noise that no pre-tournament schedule welcomes. Still, at least we stopped talking about flags for two hours. 

For all the talk of England’s nascent heroes and heroes-in-making – Kobbie Mainoo made his debut – Saturday night will be remembered for the first Brazil goal for Endrick. Not only is he Neymar’s heir apparent, he was born after the 2006 World Cup final. They’ve been remembering the name for almost half a decade already.

By full-time, England were frankly ramshackle. This squad has been hit by injuries before and after Southgate named it: no Harry Kane, no Trent Alexander-Arnold, no Bukayo Saka and captain Kyle Walker lasted 20 minutes. By the end, England’s defence contained Joe Gomez, Lewis Dunk and Ezri Konsa, as if auditioning all the back-ups at once. It was Dunk’s mistake that assisted England’s defeat. 

Should we worry? Perhaps. England have a new midfield shape, by accident, design or necessity. Much has been written – and a lot more posted, angrily – about Southgate’s supposed weakness for a defensive outlook that begins with his fetish for two holding midfielders.

Here was something different. Jude Bellingham was advanced far beyond a central midfield role. Conor Gallagher is the supposed Duracell bunny who runs and tackles and harries and hassles. 

Eighteen months ago, that would have left Declan Rice as the natural holder, the protector of a central defence widely regarded as our weakest suit.

But that too has shifted. At Arsenal, Rice delights in driving forward with the ball more than he stops others doing it. He has a swagger at club level that you can tell he’s desperate to replicate with England. When Phil Foden and Bellingham are in front of you, who wouldn’t want to get involved?

That creates opportunity and risk in roughly equal measure. Brazil were dangerous at Wembley when they were able to counter and when they turned over possession. More than once those dashes came against a home team that had all of their midfielders within 40 yards of their opponents’ goal. 

This is the debate that has defined Southgate’s last two years in charge and will, surely, become the battleground of his final tournaments, success dependent. The longer his tenure continues, the greater the quality gap between England’s attack and defence. Do you, as the armchair optimists insist, submerge yourself in the shimmering brilliance of those attackers and attacking midfielders? Or do you protect the defence and hope that the brilliance produces enough moments to win tight matches?

This friendly threatened to break out into a fun time because Brazil had a similar problem that they dealt with via an entirely different method. The absence of Casemiro produced a three-man Premier League midfield that used extreme physicality focused largely on the shins of Bellingham. Get used to that sight; it might make a tour of western Germany this summer. 

In the first half, Lucas Paqueta was playing prison rules. He made three yellow-card tackles, got booked and then made one more. Paqueta also had the wherewithal to moan about the card he did get, for which you have to offer utmost respect for the chutzpah, if nothing else. 

Is this a compliment, on some level? England looked wistfully at the small-sided football of Spain, Portugal and Brazil and sought to undergo their own technical revolution, their grab at a glorious new future.

Yes it would be nice to win a major tournament. In its absence, Brazil resorting to casa de merda-ing England’s dancing-footed No 10 is enough to at least raise a smile. 

If so, it is caveated by the uncomfortable truth that England are becoming mightily, overly reliant upon Bellingham and Kane. Ollie Watkins held up the ball gamely but doesn’t find the space and time that Kane forever will.

Foden got lost more than he was found, too often caught in the same space and Bellingham and as such merely the closest witness to his excellence. Anthony Gordon was bright on debut, but didn’t actually beat a player when England were desperate for exactly that.

The noise will rise; it was ever thus. Southgate is now in a vortex of criticism and there are only two possible endings: Euro 2024 victory or an England manager banished to fraud island to serve his penitence. There is no such thing as a friendly, only meaningless wins and meaningful defeats. Questions, questions, everywhere; it’s hard to even stop and think.