JUNE 1st: NEW WEMBLEY

England met Brazil in a "celebratory" fixture on June 1st, 2007, played in the rebuilt Wembley Stadium.

The national stadium was first used in 1923. This time, 88,745 saw John Terry score the first goal in the 68th minute, only to see Diego equalise in "added" time. The England team was; Robinson, Carragher, Shorey*, Gerrard, King, Terry (capt), Beckham, Lampard, Owen,  A Smith, Cole (subs: Brown, Jenas, Carrick, Dyer, Crouch, Downing. 

*Nick Shorey played twice for England and 267 apps for Reading along with over 481 apps overall in clubs spread from Leyton Orient, WBA, Pune City and Hungerford.

Prior results were; v Spain lost 0-1 in a friendly, v Israel 0-0 away in a Euro qualifier, v Andorra 3-0...12,000 saw this Euro qualifier! England failed to qualify for a major tournament for the first time since 1994, Steve McLaren became the "Wally with the brolly" and he then lost his job. Carson the goalie let slip Petric's hopeful long effort and that made it 2-3. With a goal difference of 24-7, England only needed one point to come second in their EQ Group. As it was Russia pipped England by one point-their GD 18-7. Croatia won the group. The first competitive senior international was played on 8 September 2007 between England and Israel. This game ended 3–0. 

The first player to score international goals at both the old and new stadia was Michael Owen when he scored for England against Israel. On 22 August Germany beat England 2–1 to become the first team to beat them in the new stadium. 

England has played Brazil 26 times with 4 wins and 11 draws and 11 defeats. Their first meeting was on 9th May 1956 at Wembley winning 4-2, with 2 goals from Tommy Taylor (Man U and lost in the Munich Air crash) and 22 year old Colin Grainger of Sheffield Utd, bagging 2 too. In the World Cup we have played Brazil in 1958, drawing 0-0 in the Nya Ullevi Stadium Sweden, in 1962 lost 1-3 in Chile, in 1970 lost 0-1 in Mexico and in 2002 lost 1-2 in Shizuoka, Japan:-

England's World Cup campaign in Japan was brought to an abrupt halt as ten-man Brazil triumphed in the quarter-final in Shizuoka, winning 1-2 in the Quarter-finals. Goals from Rivaldo and Ronaldinho either side of half-time cancelled out a thrilling opener from Michael Owen, which had given English fans hope of recording a famous victory.A blunder by David Seaman handed Brazil the winner, as Ronaldinho's speculative free-kick caught the veteran goalkeeper flat-footed and went in off the underside of the bar. Brazil survived the controversial dismissal of the game's central figure, Ronaldinho, and deservedly won to become the first team to reach the last four.

With most of the favourites already out, the South American superstars now had a great chance of won their fifth world title, beating Germany 2-0.