Gareth Southgate believes there are plenty of positives for England to take despite their long unbeaten run at Wembley Stadium coming to an end against Brazil on Saturday.
Future Real Madrid forward Endrick scored his first senior international goal 10 minutes from time to decide a keenly contested affair, tapping home after Jordan Pickford saved from Vinicius Junior.
England’s defeat, which came in the absence of injured stars Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka, was their first in 90 minutes at Wembley since they were beaten 1-0 by Denmark in the Nations League in October 2020.
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While the Three Lions struggled to carve out clear-cut chances as Southgate made a string of second-half changes, he was not disheartened by their showing.
“We had lots of top performances, it was a very high-level game,” Southgate told Channel 4 after the defeat.
“We had as many attempts on goal as them, but in the end it was just that one ruthless moment that decided the game.
“We had a lot of players come on, a few debuts, a few players who don’t have many senior caps. There were some really important individual performances.
“With 15 minutes to go we made a lot of changes and I think, at that point, the crowd were really pleased with the performance.
“Of course, when you lose the game, then it turns negative but you have to keep the context there. There were so many good things.”
Brazil take the victory at @wembleystadium this evening. pic.twitter.com/LN9nnejjM0
— England (@England) March 23, 2024
Brazil were perhaps fortunate to keep all 11 players on the pitch in a physical contest, with Lucas Paqueta only receiving one yellow card despite committing six fouls.
Southgate was not surprised by the competitive nature of the game and believes it provided his players with a valuable test as they build towards Euro 2024.
“It was a classic game against a South American team,” he said. “In a qualifier or a competition there would probably be more cards given and maybe that affects the flow of the game.
“We knew to expect that, I thought we played through that intense pressure well, we played from the back really well. I’m not unhappy with a lot of that performance.”
