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We look ahead to Saturday’s international friendly at Wembley Stadium with our England vs Brazil prediction and preview.
England vs Brazil Stats: The Quick Hits
- Excluding penalty shootouts, England are unbeaten in 20 consecutive matches at Wembley Stadium.
- Gareth Southgate has beaten 39 of the 42 different opponents that he’s faced as England manager but drew his only previous encounter in charge against Brazil.
- Brazil have lost three consecutive internationals – they haven’t lost four in a row since July 2001.
Match Preview
England host Brazil at Wembley on Saturday in the first of their two final warm-up matches before Gareth Southgate names his Euro 2024 squad. The Three Lions also host Belgium on Tuesday night as they look some momentum ahead of a tournament they are expected to do well in.
Southgate’s side have turned Wembley into something of a fortress, going unbeaten in 20 matches there, making it their longest undefeated streak at the national stadium since a 24-game run between 1984 and 1990. Excluding penalty shootouts, their most recent defeat at Wembley was in the UEFA Nations League in October 2020 against Denmark (1-0 loss).
The England head coach has a chance to add another opponent to his list of nations defeated during his tenure. Under Southgate, England have faced 42 different nations and beaten 39 of them. The only three he’s faced but not won against (excluding penalty shootout wins) are France (L2), Brazil (D1) and Colombia (D1).
Their record scorer, Harry Kane, has been enjoying an excellent season at Bayern Munich in Germany, breaking records along the way. He’s also scored in each of his last five home appearances for England, netting seven goals (five at Wembley, two at Old Trafford); the only two players in England’s history to score in six consecutive appearances on English soil are Steve Bloomer (seven in a row, 1895-99, at seven different stadiums) and Wayne Rooney (seven, 2014-16, six at Wembley, one at the Stadium of Light).
Brazil travel to London with plenty of injury issues depleting their squad. Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães became the latest player to pull out, joining players such as Gabriel Martinelli, Joelinton, Éder Militão, Casemiro, Neymar, João Pedro, Ederson, Alisson and Marquinhos on the increasingly long injury list.
The Seleção have a good recent record against teams from the UEFA confederation. They’ve won 10 of their last 11 friendly matches against European nations (D1), scoring 25 goals and conceding only four times. The last European team to beat them in a friendly was Switzerland in August 2013.
Brazil head into this game on a three-match losing streak, however. They haven’t lost four in a row since July 2001, and with difficult friendlies against England and Spain to come, building decent form ahead of this summer’s Copa America could prove challenging for new coach Dorival Júnior.
England vs Brazil Head-to-Head
This will be the first international meeting between England and Brazil since November 2017, when the two nations played out a 0-0 draw at Wembley. The last England player to score against Brazil was Wayne Rooney in June 2013, when England drew 2-2 at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro.
Overall, the Three Lions have won just four of their 26 matches against Brazil (D11 L11). This 15%-win ratio is England’s worst against any nation they’ve faced at least three times, while they’ve only lost more games against Scotland (41), Wales (14) and Germany (13) than Brazil (11).
Brazil have won two of their 12 matches against England at Wembley Stadium (D7 L3), winning 1-0 in May 1981 and 3-1 in June 1995. This is their first game there against the Three Lions since that goalless draw in November 2017.
England vs Brazil Prediction
The Opta supercomputer rates England as the most likely winners of Saturday’s friendly, with the Three Lions winning 50.6% of 10,000 pre-match simulations. Brazil won 23.7% of the sims before kick-off, while a draw was played out just over a quarter of the time (25.8%).
England vs Brazil Squads
England: Jordan Pickford, Sam Johnstone, Aaron Ramsdale, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Ben Chilwell, Joe Gomez, Lewis Dunk, Ezri Konsa, Jarrad Branthwaite, Jordan Henderson, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Conor Gallagher, James Maddison, Kobbie Mainoo, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Ollie Watkins, Jarrod Bowen, Cole Palmer, Ivan Toney, Anthony Gordon.
Head Coach: Gareth Southgate
Brazil: Bento, Léo Jardim, Rafael, Danilo, Bremer, Ayrton Lucas, Yan Couto, Fabrício Bruno, Lucas Beraldo, Murilo, Wendell, Lucas Paquetá, Bruno Guimarães, Douglas Luiz, André, Andreas Pereira, João Gomes, Pablo Maia, Richarlison, Vinícius Júnior, Raphinha, Rodrygo, Endrick, Pepê, Galeno, Sávio.
Head Coach: Dorival Júnior
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