By N.D. Prashant
Football fanatics, be there at the Khalifa Stadium tonight as the mighty Brazilians take on the Englishmen in an international friendly under lights.
Another fierce battle between the two great footballing nations is on the cards as they battle it out for supremacy in the heat and humidity of Doha with Qatar aiming to showcase its credentials as the potential World Cup host in 2002.
Fabio Capello’s men have shown tremendous resurgence this season, but the biggest question is whether the injury-hit English side has the extra determination to pull off a shock victory against the five-time world champions.
Although England qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa by winning seven of their ten matches played so far, their success against Brazil has always been rare. Out of the 22 outings against the Brazilians, they have won just three, drawn nine and lost ten. This in itself speaks volumes of the Latin American country’s dominance.
Gulf Times chronicles the history of the clashes between the two teams.
1956
Egged on by a packed home crowd at Wembley the hosts handed the Brazilians a 4-2 defeat. Even before the Brazlians could get their footing right they were trailing by a brace of goals. Man United striker Tommy Taylor opened the flood gates in the third minute and Colin Grainger followed suit two minutes later. The Brazilians came back strongly in the second session to draw level through Paulinho and Didi but Taylor and Grainger struck back twice in the 65th and 83rd minute to trigger wild celebrations in the English camp.
1958
Both teams clashed again in the group stages of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. However, this time they were without their star player Taylor. He was one of the 20 players who lost their lives in the Munich plane crash that also killed David Pegg, Duncan Edwards and Roger Byrne.
Still recovering from the shock England managed to hold the Brazilians to a goalless draw. Though Pele did not play in this match he became the star of the tournament as Brazil went on to win the Jules Rimet trophy for the first time.
1962
England and Brazil met this time in the quarterfinals and Brazil’s Garrincha, the ‘little Bird’, scored in the 31st minute to put them ahead. The lead did not last long as Inter Milan striker Gerry Hitchens drew level seven minutes later for England. The Brazilians struck twice in the second half through Vava and Garrincha in the 55th and 59th minutes respectively to dash England dreams. Brazil convincingly defeated Chile 4-2 in the semis later and went to defend their title thrashing Czechoslovakia 3-1 in the summit clash.
1964
Though until now the defeats were marginal, the worst blow was handed to the English during the 50th anniversary tournament of the founding of the Brazilian Football Confederation at Maracana, in 1964.
With Pele at his peak, England were outplayed 5-1. Brazil failed to win the tournament losing 3- 0 to Argentina in the final but England suffered the most finishing joint at the bottom of the table with Portugal.
With Brazil not getting past the first stage of the 1966 World Cup, their worst performance ever in the biggest sporting showpiece, England went on to win the title in their own backyard beating West Germany 4-2. That remains England’s only World Cup victory in history.
1970
Being the reigning world champions, England were the team to beat in the 1970 World Cup. Under the watchful eyes of Sir Alf Ramsey a star-studded England team with players like Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, and goalkeeper Gordon Banks took on Brazil who were looking for their third World Cup win.
However, Brazil stole victory through a lone goal by Jairzinho. Banks kept England in the match with some brilliant saves, but the England forwards failed to deliver the goods. With Jeff Astles and Alan Ball wasting some good chances, it was curtains for England.
With a 4-1 victory in the final against Italy, Brazil fulfilled their dream of a World Cup hat-trick.
1981
In a friendly at Wembley in 1981, the hosts suffered another blow when they lost 1-0 with Zico being the match-winner. This was Brazil’s first win at Wembley. That loss was the beginning of the slide for the English team.
They struggled to reach the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain, and their last home match against Romania in the qualifiers ended in a goalless draw.
1984
However, England registered their biggest win on Brazilian soil when the individual brilliance of John Barnes saw them steal a 2-0 victory at Maracana in 1984. This result also ended the 28-year long unbeaten streak of Brazil against England in 11 outings.
1990
Thereafter, the only time the English crowd celebrated a win over Brazil was in 1990; once again at their cherished venue Wembley. Gary Linker scored the lone goal for the hosts.
1995
Brazil took the revenge of their last loss at Wembley with a 3-1 comeback victory. This was England’s biggest loss in their own backyard. The match saw the rise of Ronaldo who scored his first international goal. Juninho Paulista and Edmundo Alves were the others to get into the scoresheet. For England, the early lead was provided by Graeme Le Saux.
2002
After 32 years of their last World Cup meeting, England, under Swedish coach Sven-Goran Ericsson, took on Luis Felipe Scolari’s Brazillian side in the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup in Shizuoka, Japan.
Once again, Brazil rallied from a goal deficit to eventually win 2-1. Michael Owen provided the early lead for England, but it was Brazilian star Ronaldinho who stole the show as he set Rivaldo with a beautiful through ball and the later obliged with a brilliant finish.
Ronaldinho then got into the act himself with a sensational free-kick that left custodian David Seaman shocked.
The most recent meeting between the two was again at the Wembley stadium in 2007. The match ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
Captain John Terry headed home a David Beckham free-kick but Brazil were saved the blushes by an injury-time equaliser from Diego.
England’s overall
record vs Brazil
P22 W3 D9 L10 GF19 GA30
England ’s record vs
Brazil on neutral ground
P7 W0 D2 L5 GF3 GA9 |
