England 1-1 Brazil

The Nationwide Under 17 Tournament
Sunday 14th July, Kassam Stadium, Oxford

More than nine thousand supporters made their way to Oxford on Sunday afternoon and were treated to an enjoyable afternoon of football in the sun, which culminated in England's under 17 side claiming a well-deserved victory in the Nationwide tournament.

Following a draw last Monday with Italy and a midweek win over the Czech Republic twinned with the Czech's two-nil win over Italy earlier in the afternoon, John Peacock's young lions knew a draw with the Samba Boys would be enough to see them drinking sparkling grape juice from the cup later tonight.

Brazil started well and it was their little number 10, Rafael who was sharp from the whistle, looking to trick his way past the English defence, but on more than one occasion, the attention of big Tom Huddlestone either put him off or knocked him off. However, it was again the skills of England's very own little magician, Aaron Lennon, that cast a spell on the game, as it did on Monday, that allowed his club mate James Milner to open the scoring on eight minutes.

With barely his first touch, the Leeds winger had the ball on the right hand side of the box and made easy work of the Brazilian challenges as he played a low ball in towards Luke Moore. The Villa kid, scorer of two last week against Italy, couldn't quite control it and the ball rolled through to Milner who took his time to shimmy past the last defender and lift the ball in to the goal.

England then began to relax and played assured football, save for a couple of wayward passes in the middle from Huddlestone, and Luke Moore, who regularly impresses in and England shirt, was strong holding up play as the three lions furthest man forward. Then on 12 minutes, his pace sent a shiver down the spine of defender Jailson whose only escape was to clear the ball, and Moore's head, to safety.

But Brazil were not here for the benefit of England and they pushed for an equaliser, coming close twice just after the midway point of the first half. On twenty-three minutes, full back Leo found space on the right to bend in a teasing cross between the defence and the stranded David Martin. In came substitute Davi, on for Thyago only a minute earlier, but his neck wasn't long enough to allow his head to connect and the ball skimmed the far post and out to safety. Within two minutes, they had another great effort as Roncatto found space in behind England's rearguard, but his volley flashed over the bar.

Back up the other end and England's strength, and particularly that of skipper Steven Taylor almost carved out another goal, his looping ball over Bruno towards the goal was cleared for a corner by Jailson with Moore again in attendance. From the resulting Stuart Giddings centre, Bruno revealed why he is so named with a powerful punch to all of 35 yards, only for Huddlestone to send it straight back with a thunderous first time volley, and the Brazilian number one was grateful as he it fell right in to his arms.

Both sides had their fair share of possession, but when England were probing to breach Brazil's back line with precise passing and dribbling, the south American youngsters were content at pot-shots from further out in their attempt to draw level, and the final chance of the first half came from the left boot of Roncatto on the edge of the box, but the swerve wasn't enough to pull the ball into the England net.

Just moments in to the second forty and Giddings should have put the young lions whiskers further in front, but when he latched on to a knock on from Moore, who was now receiving special care and attention from both Jailson and Leonardo, his low shot when toe to toe with Bruno was blocked well by the feet of the Brazilian.

England began to look a little nervous in their box and could thank Philip Ifil for maintaining their lead, when with 5 minutes on the second half clock, a corner from Rafael pulled Martin off his line, but the Wimbledon stopper mistimed the flight of the ball and it dropped to a Brazilian head to nod toward the near empty net, but Ifil was on hand to hammer away.

Then, what was a routine pick up for Martin underlined England's uncertainty as a weak effort from Junior dribbled goal ward, Martin thought he had the ball covered on it's way for a goal kick. However, his angles weren't quite right and gasps came up from the crowd as the ball struck the post.

It wasn't long before Brazil were level, and again a corner, this time from the right found the head of Jailson who tucked the ball inside the bottom left-hand post.

With the score line all square, the young samba boys were no longer anxious to hit the net, they too opted for a more measured route to goal, and Junior's neat through ball to Roncatto provided the number 9 with a chance to make it two for Brazil, but as he went to round the keeper, Martin was down quickly to claw away.

Though John Peacock's boys were on their back foot, they still managed to get forward on the break, with Lennon again the main threat, but substitute Jamie O'Hara intercepted a Brazilian pass to run almost the whole length of the pitch and through the last two defenders, but his chip wasn't quite good enough to catch Bruno off his line.

With only injury time left, Aaron Lennon once again opened up his box of tricks to ease past four defenders, but as he left last man Leonardo for dead, in came a late lunge from Junior which scythed down the England youngster on the 18 yard line and Brazil's midfield giant was off to test the bath water for his team mates courtesy of referee Wiley's red card.

The resulting free kick came to nothing, but with Brazil a man - or boy - light, England could comfortably see out the remaining minutes to gain another Nationwide tournament point that was enough to give them the competition's spoils.

Afterwards coach John Peacock said: "It's been an excellent seven days. The staff and players have learnt a huge amount from the whole experience.

"The Brazilians are so good at playing through you and round you, but our lads stuck to the task, and they can take great credit from restricting such a talented team to just a few shots on target."

Jamie Bradbury at the Kassam Stadium

Click here for all the results from the Nationwide Under 17 Tournament

England: Martin, Ifil, Gillan (O'Hara 49), Huddlestone (Doyle 75), McMahon, S. Taylor (c), Milner, Leadbitter, Moore (Bowditch 70), Giddings, Lennon

Goals: Milner 8

Brazil: Bruno, Leo, Leonardo, Jailson, Junior, Sandro, Arouca (Carlos 62), Evandro (Arthur 49), Roncatto, Rafael, Thyago (Davi 22)

Goals: Jailson 57

Attendance: 9,923