England may be weakened through injury but Gareth Southgate believes beating the Seleção is a ‘great challenge’ Gareth Southgate made the point to his England players at the beginning of the week. Remember November 2017, the manager said, when the nation last took on Brazil; the only time, in fact, they have done so during his seven and a half years in charge. It was a Wembley friendly, it finished 0-0 and the truth was that it felt more like a win. What Southgate wanted to highlight to his squad was the world rankings at the time – England were 12th; Brazil second – and how, as another showpiece looms at Wembley on Saturday night, everything has changed. It is now England who can look down on Brazil. They are third on the list; the five-time world champions are fifth. Continue reading...

Brazil’s style has become more ‘European’ and predictable in recent decades. The new manager wants to change that By Tom Sanderson and Jamie Hamilton for the Sport Network When Brazil were beaten by Morocco and Senegal in friendlies earlier this year, after going out of the World Cup to Croatia at the quarter-final stage, there was national panic. The Brazilian football federation, the CBF, was roundly criticised for assuming that the coach of the country’s Under-20s team, Ramon Menezes, could bridge the gap between Tite, who stepped down after World Cup, and the highly anticipated arrival of Carlo Ancelotti next year once his Real Madrid contract expires. With fans and pundits worried that the five-times World Cup winners would begin their qualifying campaign for 2026 in a similar vein, the CBF reacted and hired Fernando Diniz for the next 12 months. The plan is for Diniz to guide Brazil through their qualifiers, while doing his day job at Fluminense, before Ancelotti steps in for the Copa América next summer. Ancelotti has neither been unveiled officially nor spoken on the matter publicly, perhaps out of fear of being on the wrong end of Florentino Pérez’s temper, but he is expected to be in charge for the tournament in the US. Continue reading...