England expecting to beat Brazil shows just how far they have come

Southgate looks back to 2017 to highlight side’s progress We now believe we can win against the best, says Stones

Gareth Southgate sat the England squad down this week at their St George’s Park training base and reminded them just how far they had come.

The comparison he made was with November 2017, the last time England played Brazil, also at Wembley, when they earned a gutsy goalless draw just seven months before the World Cup.

As bravely as they played, with a bunch of young players on show, just as they had been in another goalless draw against Germany in another prestige friendly a few days earlier, it was also claimed it exposed the gulf between Southgate’s side and the leading football nations.

In the event, at that tournament in Russia, England went all the way to the semi-finals – further than both Brazil, who went out in the last eight, and Germany, who finished bottom of their group.

In 2017, Germany were No 1 in the world in the Fifa rankings and Brayet, zil were second. England? They were 12th. Fortunes have changed. England are third, Brazil fifth but are now damaged, fragile and inexperienced – with 11 uncapped players in the squad – and, with a Copa America looming, have lost three of their first six World Cup qualifiers.

Germany? They have plummeted to 16th amid an existential crisis in their national team ahead of hosting this summer’s European Championship.

What does it mean? Well, rankings do not quantify to trophies and despite the apparent slow slide in the fortunes of the Brazil team and the narrowing of the gap, they have yet again won more than England since that downturn began – landing the 2019 Copa America while Southgate lost out on penalties to Italy in the last Euros. And silverware obviously means more than ranking points.

Incidentally, while Southgate keeps being told that England are the favourites to win the tournament in Germany and have the strongest squad, France are still ahead of them in the Fifa rankings, and Belgium – Tuesday’s opponents – are just behind. Just saying.

But rankings are an indicator of progress and whatever his detractors think, Southgate has made great strides in transforming England’s prospects and he knows, more than anyone, that it is now about finally winning a first major tournament since 1966.

“I always refer the players to the progress they’re making,” Southgate said of this week’s meeting. “The fact we have overcome a lot of hurdles as a team and created quite a bit of history in terms of knocking down some fixtures that have been hurdles over the years.”

This evening’s meeting will be England’s 27th with a Brazil side who are in transition, with a new coach, Dorival Junior, and depleted by a raft of injuries – as Southgate is – necessitating debuts in defence. They may not be the power of old and may not even be wearing that beautifully iconic yellow jersey…

they are still Brazil. And in all those meetings, England have won only four times (losing 11), so another victory would be significant and timely.

“So, that’s a great challenge for us, to put another marker down as a team,” Southgate said as he compared the side he fielded in 2017, which was only his 14th game in charge, with this, his 92nd, just three behind Sir Bobby Robson.

One of the survivors, John Stones, suggested one key difference. “We didn’t realise, or believe enough, that we were better than them at that point and we’d not come up against them before. This group hadn’t, anyway,” the defender explained.

“So, what we got out of that game was at the time really positive and I think, when you look back, we could have done a lot of things differently and better and believed more.

“We are excited and believe we can win against the best because, you know, we spoke for many years now about getting into that elite group or the world’s No1 team and to do that we’ve got to beat the best teams and players.”

For all of the debate over Southgate’s management, it is belief England have lacked in big moments in big games. And that goes back decades.

It also goes back to that semifinal in Russia against Croatia, maybe even the last Euros final against Italy, but the disappointment felt in losing in the quarterfinals to France in the last World Cup was so sharply felt that it suggested England do now have it. They know they should have won.

Yes, there were tactical issues that can be debated, but it is indisputable that England are transformed under Southgate.

Claiming a high-profile win over Brazil, even if it is a friendly, will reinforce that even more, especially if it is achieved without Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka, who will be definite starters at the Euros this summer.