Brazil V England preview: Oxlade-Chamberlain following in his father's footsteps

For any aspiring young professional footballer, a game against Brazil is always a special occasion, but for Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain, the match in the refurbished Maraca stadium will have particularly poignancy.

In June 1984, Mark Chamberlain, then himself a young 20 year old, played in the game at the same stadium that witnessed John Barnes’ arrival on the world stage, when he out-Braziled the Brazilians by slaloming through their defence, and rounding the goalkeeper before rolling the ball into the empty net. This was also the game where in Mark Hateley added a second with a towering far post header for a famous and unlikely 2-0 victory.

In the glare of Barnes’ moment of glory, many people forget Hateley’s goal, and even more will have forgotten that Chamberlain senior played the full ninety minutes for the fifth of his eight caps. Now, if he retains his place for the starting eleven from the republic of Ireland game, young Alex will follow in his father’s footprints. Strange to say then that in a newspaper article the Arsenal player admits that although he has seen the famous goal a few times, he’s never watched the film of the game to watch his father’s performance. It seems unlikely that his father will have the same experience of his son’s performance in Brazil. Although not present in the stadium, Oxlade-Chamberlain is certain that his father will be watching on the TV.

Following adverse publicity, particularly from Gary Lineker, after the Republic of Ireland game on Wednesday, England have the opportunity to put the close on their season with a sound performance, when anything other than a defeat will be seen as a sound result. For a group of season-weary players, conjuring one more memorable performance will be the order of the day. If successful, criticism of the previous game will melt away.

Source : http://www.football.co.uk/england/brazil_v_england_preview__oxlade-chamberlain_following_in_his_father_s_footsteps_rss4237274.shtml