Another Big One Defeated: Brazil 1 – 0 England

Brazil and England was going to be a reserve festival, as injuries took away many players from the match. So if in theory this is a match with no favorites, in reality, Brazil got that title as it had less players in the ER. Brazil had the responsibility to play better and add another match to the unbeaten streak against England that is 19 years-old.

When the match started both sides marked in the attacking field, and spaces were rare. However little by little, Brazil started to get more possession. And little by little, the selecao had the control of the match as expected. The only problem for Brazil is that it made mistakes in the final touch – be it an assist or a shot.

Those mistakes made difficult for more thrilling moments, but the match was far from being boring. The two sides were taking it seriously, and there was an impression that even without many chances, a goal was going to happen anytime – especially because Dunga’s side always behave well against big rivals.

Nilmar, in the left, was the most dangerous player for Brazil. Too bad he missed the help of yet another left-back. Lyon’s Michel Bastos, who was having his debut, did not have a bad match, but was a bit shy in the attack (even though, ironically, he created the biggest chance of the first-half with a shot that passed close to the post).

In the second-half, Nilmar, in 10 minutes, decided the match. In the first minute, he received a precious assist from Elano (whom, like him or not, always gives at least one excellent assist per game) and , with a classy touch using his head, scored the only goal of the match. Nine minutes later, he created another clear chance out of thin air by stealing the ball and getting a penalty. Too bad Luis Fabiano did a Roberto Baggio. Luckily for him, his already in the cup.

And this is important, especially now, because not only Nilmar seems more and more in the cup, but because he seems to belong to the starting eleven. If Robinho does not watch out, he may end up not only in the bench, but also watching the cup in the TV. For all the other forwards (Pato, Adriano, Hulk, Tardelli, Ronaldo…) planning to go to the cup, there’s only one spot left. And if they plan to increase that number of spots, their rival is Robinho, not Nilmar.

After the two chances, the reserves of England seemed lost and Brazil gave signs that it was going to massacre them. That fire, however, lasted very little. The speed fell and Brazil wasted time and counter-attacks. England had only one clear chance in the entire match.

Then, came the moment of more debuts: Hulk and Carlos Eduardo. But both did not have much and were very shy. On the other hand, the ones shinning were Thiago Silva, with a solid performance, and Lucio, who hit the post in a marvelous long range. He deserved it.

And that was it. Brazil beat another big rival this year, and beating Argentina (in Argentina), Italy (twice), England and Uruguay (in Uruguay) in the same year is for very few.

For England, there’s only one thing to say: their bench material is terrible.