Key events
Half time: England 1-0 Brazil
England thoroughly deserve the lead at the break and it was a fantastic team goal to give them that.
45 mins: James is becoming a real force since swapping to the left. She collects the ball inside the Brazil half and darts for the box but stops short to curl a shot wide from 20 yards. A decision her Chelsea boss Emma Hayes describes as “poor” on commentary.
43 mins: James shows some lovely feet to get beyond the right-back and lifts the cross to the back post from the byline. Hemp is the recipient but she heads it straight at the goalkeeper.
Bronze moves up the pitch and chips a pass over the top, which Russo takes first time but her low shot is snaffled by Leticia.
41 mins: Hemp and James have swapped sides. The City winger cuts in from the right and tries to send a cross into the box but she hits the first defender.
Here is England’s goal …
39 mins: ITV keep showing Richarlison in the stands. He is only wearing his Brazil shirt on top. You’d think he might be nippy.
The fans are doing a mobile show light show, an indication that this might just be a friendly after all.
Rafaelle is booked for a late challenge on Stanway. Maybe it isn’t a friendly after all.
37 mins: Toone slips through a pass for Russo but a defender gets there first. The ball reaches James, who cuts in to shoot, only to see it deflected wide.
35 mins: James gets round the full-back and lifts a cross into the box but it is flicked away. Hemp retrieves the ball and earns a corner on the left.
Brazil clear and break on England; Kerolin bundles her way through a few England defenders but is eventually stopped in the box before she can shoot.
@Will_Unwin England’s fluidity is impressive. So much movement into space off the ball.
— Lisa Diedrich (@lldiedrich) April 6, 2023
33 mins: Williamson pays a poor pass across the box to Bronze, allowing Brazil to nip and gain possession on the edge of the area. The pass is sent to Tamires who sends a dangerous cross into the box but the she is wrongly called offside. I thought it was supposed to be semi-automated.
31 mins: Chris emails to say: “England women just scored an absolutely sensational goal. Geometric perfection.”
I hope Chris offers us more geometric insight throughout.
29 mins: James latches onto a cute pass over the top. She looks offside from the start but still produces a cracking finish into the top corner. The flag goes up but it is closer than it originally looked due to the right back being deep.
27 mins: Geyse rampages down the left but there is no one in a yellow shirt near her, forcing her backwards, allowing England to regroup in the process.
25 mins: England deserve the opener, especially as Brazil have offered next to nothing. I am not sure they change things up to get back into this match.
England go from left to right and a quick one-two between Bronze and Stanway allows the full-back to pull the ball back to Toone to sweep home first time from around 10 yards.
GOAL! England 1-0 Brazil (Toone, 23)
England’s patience pays off with a wonderful team goal.
22 mins: England will need to be patient here. They are playing a lot of passes backwards and sideways in the hope of opening up some space in the Brazil defence but they are standing firm so far. I think England will tire Brazil out at this rate.
20 mins: Brazil have their first sight of goal after turning over possession in the middle and playing a quick ball over the top but Carter is there to block Geyse’s shot from inside the box.
18 mins: Russo is given offside but it looks like a Brazilian player might have made the final pass towards her. Oh well.
16 mins: I think Brazil have been out of their half once thus far. The crowd are a touch quiet considering how dominant England have been.
14 mins: Bronze receives the ball around 25 yards from goal, gets it out of her feet and lets fly but Leticia gets down to her right and palms the fiercely struck shot away.
13 mins: Russo breaks down the right and looks to charge in the box but is pushed over before she can get there. Greenwood comes up to put it into a dangerous position in the six-yard box but a yellow shirt flicks it away.
10 mins: Quite a slow tempo at the moment with England controlling possession. All a touch sedate with Brazil playing very defensively.
8 mins: The Brazil nerves continue as Rafaelle turns the ball out for a corner while under a bit of pressure. The set-piece comes to nothing as Russo heads well wide. It is all England.
6 mins: Brazil try to start an attack but whack a pass needlessly out of play. They look quite nervous. It is a big occasion for everyone tonight in font of a packed Wembley.
Russo chases a ball over the top and is bundled over in the box. She wants a penalty but it turns out she is offside and gets nothing.
4 mins: England have had all the ball in the opening stages. They look like they could dominate.
2 mins: A promising start for England as Hemp rampages down the left and gets a cross in it but is blocked and Brazil manage to clear.
Kick off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
There will be a moment of remembrance for Pele.
The Brazilian national anthem is a jazzy number. Always an uplifting tune.
Here come the teams!
I do hope we’ve all switched from ITV4 to ITV1 and are therefore not watching classic horse races.
England’s new kit comes with a change of short colour.
There is no Millie Bright tonight. The Chelsea centre-back suffered an injury in the Champions League against Lyon and has been unavailable since, despite Emma Hayes she was close to featuring in the past two games. It means Williamson will be paired at the back with Greenwood, who has been in fine form with Manchester City.
ITV pundit, the Guardian’s very own, Karen Carney on Lauren James.
Sarina Wiegman speaks …
On Russo as No 9: “For tonight she is [first choice] but we haven’t made final decisions, there are three and a half months to go until the World Cup.”
On James: “She is really improving and getting fitter and fitter. She needs to get to the next stage.”
On the Finalissima: “We’ve already had so many special moments and this is another one against a great opponent. We need to cherish the moment.”
A new kit and badge for England.
Pre-match reading …
Starting lineups
England (4-3-3): Earps; Bronze, Williamson, Greenwood, Carter; Walsh, Stanway, Toone; James, Russo, Hemp
Subs: Le Tissier, Roebuck, Morgan, Charles, Nobbs, Kelly, Coombs, Daly, Park, Hampton, Robinson
Brazil (4-4-2): Leticia; Antonia, Kathellen, Lauren, Rafaelle; Tamires, Luana, Ary, Kerolin; Zaneratto, Geyse
Subs: Camila, Luciana, Duda, A Vitoria, Andressa Alves, Duda Santos, Adriana, Tarciane, Yasmim, Fernanda, Gabi Nunes, G. Portilho
The Finalissima
It’s here! It is the first time the concept of the European champions have faced their South American counterparts in this one-off match. It could be described as a glorified friendly but 90,000 people at Wembley would disagree. It is exciting to see the best players from two continents face off, especially in a World Cup year.
England are unbeaten in 29 matches since Sarina Wiegman took over. Tonight will be one of the biggest tests they have faced in that time and they will be desperate to maintain their record against one of the world’s finest side. Wiegman has a few spots still to fill going into the World Cup and this would be a good time for those fighting it out to start to make their mark. This is England’s penultimate match before the tournament starts for them on 22 July against Haiti, so the heat is on.
Brazil are missing a few key players through injury, which is a shame but they will be putting out a very strong side out. The squad in England is relatively inexperienced and will be using the evening in London as a learning curve regarding the quality they will face at the World Cup.
Here’s to a cracker!
Kick-off: 7.45pm BST
