Brazil v England preview: Roy Hodgson's men face World Cup hosts at Maracana

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Brazil v England preview: Roy Hodgson's men face World Cup hosts at Maracana

Frank Lampard: Netted the winner against Brazil in February and will be captain at the Maracana

England bring their season to a close with a friendly against Brazil which will provide valuable experience ahead of next summer's World Cup.

The game was arranged as part of the Football Association's 150th anniversary celebrations, and follows an earlier friendly between the nations in February.

Roy Hodgson's men prevailed 2-1 at Wembley on that occasion after producing one of their finest performances of the past 12 months, but they face a very different challenge in alien conditions at the Maracana stadium on Sunday.

The Maracana, which will stage the World Cup final next summer, has been at the centre of controversy this week after fears were raised about safety at the renovated ground in Rio de Janeiro.

Concerns were raised over debris left over by construction workers and possible issues with the flooring, but a safety certificate was later granted.

England will hope to be back at the stadium in a little over 12 months and feel that time spent in the country at this time of year can only stand them in good stead.

The Three Lions have a lot of work to do to reach the tournament, though, and were far from convincing on Wednesday as they played out a 1-1 draw with Republic of Ireland in a friendly at Wembley.

Ashley Cole captained the side against Ireland as a tribute for reaching a century of appearances earlier in the season, but will pass the armband to Chelsea team-mate Frank Lampard at the weekend.

Lampard is also closing in on his 100th cap and will play for England for the 97th time against Brazil, having netted his 29th international goal in midweek to salvage a draw with Ireland.

Hodgson has had to defend his team against criticism in the wake of such a lacklustre display and will be determined for his players to respond on the pitch to go into the summer on a high ahead of crucial qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine in September.

Brazil, of course, have the luxury of not needing to qualify for their own World Cup, but they do have other challenges to prepare for ahead of the showpiece tournament.

The Confederations Cup kicks off in Brasilia on 15 June and Luiz Felipe Scolari will be hoping to build some confidence after an uninspiring start to his second spell in charge.

Brazil have won just one of five matches since Scolari's reign started with that 2-1 defeat at Wembley, and they will be desperate for revenge.

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Bayern Munich duo Dante and Luiz Gustavo are available for Brazil after the Bundesliga club agreed to release them ahead of the German Cup final against Stuttgart.

Queens Park Rangers goalkeeper Julio Cesar and Chelsea duo David Luiz and Oscar are among the faces who will be very familiar to their opponents.

There is also sure to be a lot of focus on highly-rated striker Neymar, who has recently agreed to join Barcelona from Santos.

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England's attacking options were dealt a blow when Daniel Sturridge was ruled out of the trip after suffering an ankle injury in the 1-1 draw with Republic of Ireland.

Andy Carroll had already withdrawn from the original squad and there are continuing doubts over the fitness of Danny Welbeck and Jermain Defoe, so Theo Walcott could be pushed into a central striker role alongside Wayne Rooney.

Hodgson, who is also without the likes of Steven Gerrard, Jack Wilshere, Kyle Walker and Tom Cleverley, may want to give opportunities to some of the squad players who did not feature against Ireland.