England 0 Brazil 1

The international friendly between England and Brazil in Doha, Qatar on Saturday November 14, 2009.

Just before kick off this state-of-the-art stadium was plunged into the darkness of the Gulf night as the floodlights, including those embedded in the huge arch curving high above the pitch, went out for a laser display. They might as well have left them off – there was little worth watching when they came back on.

Despite Wayne Rooney obviously being fired up on his first game as captain and a Brazil team featuring the sublime Kaka, this game ended up being exactly what it had always threatened: a lucrative exhibition game being played by two sets of players with more pressing concerns back home with their clubs.

Little should be read into the result – if these two sides meet again in the summer in South Africa it will be an entirely different proposition. The Qataris had intended this as a showpiece contest between two of the great teams of international football. What they got was a low-tempo, occasionally casual, Brazil failing to kill off a dull, hard-working England.

Capello had intended this game as lesson for his first XI in the Brazilian style, a taster for what one of the hot favourites for the World Cup had to offer. The best laid plans....

His squad was left in tatters by withdrawal and injury, making this little more than an opportunity to examine some members of the fringe in a promotional friendly. It was a chilling vision of what the future of globalised football might look like, shorn of passion and intensity.

To compound England's considerable injury problems coming into this game, John Terry failed to recover from a damaged Achilles and Michael Carrick withdrew late with an ankle injury. If you include long-term injuries and the fact that he was deprived of David Beckham because of his LA Galaxy commitments, Capello was missing 18 players.

Only two members of his first-choice starting XI were available: Rooney and Gareth Barry. England even had two fewer substitutes than Brazil.

The hyperbole of the build up – fans threw glow sticks through the night air as music pumped out deafeningly – threw into stark relief the sterility of the atmosphere after the game kicked off – one that had been soured by a minority of fans who whistled and whooped during the minute’s silence held for German goalkeeper Robert Enke. It was incredibly quiet in the stands and the insipidity seemed to creep onto the pitch. For much of the game you actually hear the players calling to each other.

Under Capello's stern eye, England’s second string were industrious, running hard off the ball to try and deny the Brazilians the opportunity to launch their characteristic counter-attacks. That left Brazil trying to feed off English mistakes and after 11 minutes they nearly found success.

The busy Nilmar, playing wide on the left, robbed Matthew Upson on the touchline and sped towards goal. His cut back was well read by Joleon Lescott and cleared. The Manchester City defender has been shaky of late but this performance will have done him great credit with the Italian.

Aside from that, Brazil had no clear chances in the first-half, only Michel Bastos’s cross-shot causing a nervous dive from Ben Foster. That, like so much of Brazil’s attacking play, came down England’s right flank, where Shaun Wright-Phillips was failing to give sufficient cover for Wes Brown, who was being mercilessly tormented by Nilmar. By contrast, James Milner was sweating blood on England’s left to track the attacking runs of the dangerous Maicon.

England had little to offer of their own going forward. Rooney was slick on the ball but was dropping too deep and could not pick out the final pass when he did find space. The only real chance they had before the break was when Milner crossed from the right and Darren Bent leapt well but headed wide. Until that point you could have been excused for forgetting he was even on the pitch: he was utterly isolated and replaced by Jermain Defoe nine minutes after the break. Not the impression you want to make with three games left before the World Cup.

All England’s hard work was undone just one minute and 23 seconds into the second half. Elano, the former Manchester City player, spotted Nilmar peeling away from the hapless Brown and found the Villarreal forward with a perfect pass. Nilmar placed a clever header beyond Foster.

Ten minutes into the second half and it should have been two. Brown, whose desperate performance must have Luke Young wondering if he hadn’t been a bit hasty in retiring from international football, sold Foster short with a back pass and Nilmar – him again – got to the ball first and was felled by the Manchester United goalkeeper. The spirit of the friendly overrode the laws of the game and the Qatari referee showed a charitable yellow card.

Equally generous to England was the ensuing spot-kick from Luis Fabiano. The normally deadly Sevilla striker stuttered in his run-up and sent his penalty hurtling high over the bar. Perhaps out of embarrassment he withdrew injured shortly afterwards, replaced by Hulk. How England could have done with a superhero of their own.

To be fair, there were a flurry of chances as the game improved towards the conclusion, despite the expected volley of substitutions. Milner could not keep down his right-footed volley after Wright-Phillips had found him unmarked at the far post. Nilmar again went close with a header, his effort hitting a relieved Brown. Lucio, the Brazil captain, went closest of all, striding forward to hit a left-footed shot against the inside of the post. As close as they got, it still felt like they were going through the motions.

Match details

Brazil (4-2-3-1): Julio Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Thiago Silva, Bastos; Gilberto, Melo; Elano (Dani Alves 64), Kaka (Julio Baptista 81), Nilmar (Carlos Eduardo 81); Luis Fabiano.
Subs: Doni (g), Cris, Fabio Simplicio, Lucas, Josue, Alex, Hulk.
England (4-4-2): Foster; Brown, Upson, Lescott, Bridge; Wright-Phillips (Crouch 82), Jenas, Barry (Huddlestone 82), Milner (Young 87); Rooney, Bent (Defoe 54).
Subs: Green (g), Hart (g), Cahill, Warnock.
Referee: Abdulrahman Abdou (Qatar).