Introduction

FIFA dates are excellent times for national teams to adjust their tactical schemes and try out new players. During this period, the Brazilian national team faced England in their first friendly match, and we're going to analyze the teams' performances and the main highlights of the match.

England x Brazil

On this FIFA World Cup date, the Brazilian national team faced an even greater challenge, with a new coach, injured key players and the weight of a poor season last year. This is a short period of training and adjustments, but the importance of playing a friendly against a top team and the need for victory spoke louder, and even with all these obstacles, Brazil created chances and managed to beat England by the minimum score, with a goal from Endrick, who was one of the highlights of the match.

On the other side, England, who have been working harder with a longer-serving coach and a more settled team, but who also had a lot of injured players, were unable to beat the Brazilian national team. The English national team hadn't lost a game since 2022, when they were knocked out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals by France.

Match Analysis

Brazil’s first game with a new coach and only 5 days of training managed to excite Brazilian supporters, with a solid defense and creative offensive power, made possible by the genius of Lucas Paquetá.

The almost equal ball possession (53% / 47%) shows what a back-and-forth game it was, with intensity and changes of control that could be one of a World Cup game. Despite that parity, Brazil's dominance is shown by the 12 (!!!) shots from inside Pickford's zone, with only 2 being shot from outside. And England, even though having lost offensive power with Harry Kane's being injured, still managed to shot 14 times, 7 being from inside Bento's zone.

Highlights

The game was very close for both teams. The midfield of both sides had to work a lot more than the others. For comparison, we brought Lucas Paquetá and Declan Rice with very similar statistics, both in the offensive and defensive actions of the midfield. But, Lucas led anyway with the most Key passes (3x2), tackles (3x2) and correct passing rate (94% x 91%), living up to the title of MOTM.

On the offensive side of the field, Rodrygo and Anthony Gordon were the highlighted players of both teams, with the Brazilian leading the successful dribbles rate duel (100% to 80%) and an almost perfect passing rate (96%). However, when it comes to shots on target, posing more threats for the opposite team, Gordon leads with 2 Shots on target against 1 Shot by the Real Madrid’s player.

The Defensive brazilian sector was led by Danilo, who had incredible 7 Clearances, 4 duels won and 2 shots blocked. On other hand, Ben Chilwell, despite being a defensive player, participated a lot in the offensive and the midfield sectors, with 2 shots on target, same as Anthony Gordon, and 100% long balls accuracy, materializing as an incredible player involved in all sides of the field.