England 0 Brazil 0: Gareth Southgate's young lions hold Neymar's Selecao stars to Wembley draw

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Simon Johnson14 November 2017

Gareth Southgate was handed a reality check tonight as England played out a drab goalless draw with Brazil at Wembley.

England barely had a shot in anger during the 90 minutes as they ended 2017 with a second consecutive 0-0 scoreline at home.

But whereas the display against Germany gave the crowd a lot to shout about, this was less inspiring.

Southgate will point to the fact that unlike the other home nations, England are at least going to the World Cup.

He can also argue that there were a number of senior players missing the contest through injury.

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Still, he will go into the international winter break knowing there is a lot more improving to do as an attacking force for England to threaten the big teams in Russia next summer.

There had been a bit of a feel good factor coming into this game following some encouraging signs against Germany four days earlier.

Southgate still made five changes to the XI, including Joe Hart, Kyle Walker, Ryan Bertrand and Marcus Rashford.

The most significant was former Charlton defender Joe Gomez making his first start for England having come on as a substitute against the Germans.

Gomez got the nod after Chelsea defender Gary Cahill, who had told Standard Sport he would be fit to face Brazil, suffered a minor setback in training and remained on the bench.

In many ways, the contrast between England's first half display this evening compared to Germany was best summed up by Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

There was a lot more expectation on the 21-year-old's shoulders here to back up his man of the match display from the other night.

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But Loftus-Cheek, like most of his team-mates, barely got a kick of the ball and looked off the pace from the outset.

The midfielder has acknowledged that he still needs to get used to playing regularly and the toll that regular action can take on the body.

With Brazil playing with intensity and giving him little room to breathe, Loftus-Cheek's assured touch deserted him.

And to make matters worse, he picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Jesse Lingard inside 34 minutes.

His creativity and technique on the ball was exactly what England were missing as Brazil dominated for long periods.

As an attacking force, only Rashford provided the men in yellow with any concern, but every time he went on a menacing run toward goal, he would be crowded out.

Even when Southgate's side won the ball back, they soon gave it away again in panicked fashion.

At least the England fans had some Brazil magic to enjoy, although keeper Joe Hart didn't have an awful lot to do before the break.

A huge buzz of anticipation went round the ground every time world record signing Neymar, who cost Paris Saint-Germain £198m when he moved from Barcelona in the summer, was on the ball.

Fortunately the 25-year-old's shooting radar was off as kilter as two of of his wayward strikes that went high and wide showed.

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The Brazilians clearly had a few more gears and fancy flicks for that matter to go through if they really wanted to.

The pattern of the game didn't really change after the break and a long range shot from substitute Fernandinho beat Hart only to clip the outside of the post.

Paulinho also forced a save from the West Ham keeper, who is still set to be first choice in seven months time.

It was only in the closing stages, when debutant Dominic Solanke and Tammy Abraham came on, that England came close to earning an undeserved victory.

Abraham appeared to flick the ball to his former Chelsea academy team-mate at the back post, but the 20-year-old failed to control it first time and his effort was smothered by Alisson.

The squad is bound to look differently come March when they face Holland and Italy in two friendlies, but at least there is a foundation for Southgate to build on and a World Cup to work towards.

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