England 1 Brazil 1

England have only beaten Brazil 3 times in 20 matches and the South Americans were able to get back into this friendly after Michael Owen gave England the lead in the first half with their best move of the match.

A closely competitive first half saw good spells from each side but neither team created a chance that was close to scoring until Owen's goal.

The main difference in the teams was one of basic technique as Brazil were able to retain possession for long spells while the home team struggled and the experiment of fielding Phil Neville on the left side of defence did not help English balance. Neville favours his right foot and repeatedly needed to check back on runs and use his right to deliver passes. David Beckham impressed with hard work and good crosses and Paul Ince protected the defence from some rather unimpressive Brazilian attacks in the first session.

While Rivaldo was able to use good touches in a free role, Franca and Amoroso hardly had a touch in the first half. Coach Wanderley Luxemburgo left these three players in attack at all times and this was very positive but the three players did not combine well.

The game would have been different after the half hour delay for traffic problems if Emerson had shown better control in the first minute of play when he let the ball run away from him allowing Ince to clear.

Only a minute later Beckham created the first English chance with a clipped cross to Martin Keown but his header went straight at Dida.

The Brazilian goalkeeper was in good form in the 11th minute when the Manchester United star put a ball in for Shearer to head up at goal and Dida tipped the chance up and away.

Cafu always helped in attack and was appearing in the Brazil team for the 92nd time which equals Pele's record and places him third in the all time Brazil players' list with Taffarel on 102 caps well in his sights.

Dida dived low to save a drive in the 20th minute from Dennis Wise as England began a good spell of pressure. Brazil responded with their greater width and better balanced play but then Michael Owen scored against the run of play as the home side used the Liverpool star to finish a direct attacking move.

A throw from Gary Neville was flicked on by Beckham and Alan Shearer chested the ball down and gave a pass to Owen who dragged the ball back from his left foot and fired into the net across Dida with his right.

Bad defending and more questions over the form of veteran goalkeeper David Seaman allowed Brazil to equalise in the dying seconds of the first half.

Rivaldo produced his best strike of the first half to send a deep corner to the far post which tempted Seaman from his goal but then the Arsenal man hesitated and stopped allowing the bal to reach Franca at the far post and he sank a low header into the net.

The second half was dominated by Brazilian possession and English mistakes.

A free kick by Rivaldo in the 48th minute went just wide when he dipped and swerved the ball from outside the penalty area and in the 55th minute Michael Owen forced a save from Dida in in the 55th minute minute.

Few attacks by either side created anything like athreat and both sides began to look like what they were - training for more important matches in June. Brazil face Peru in a 2002 World Cup qualifier and the English compete at the Euro 2000 finals from June 10th.

The quality of the game dipped badly as the game wore on. England were forced to introduce Ray Parlour for an injured Paul Ince and Parlour was outclassed in midfield. The change saw David Beckham put into centre midfield and the United star created little more than a mess in this key position. His good work of the first half when he created chances from the right with sharp crosses disappeared from view.

Beckham will probably have to wait a long time to play in a central role for England if he performs like this.

The problems with England's shape and lack of passing ability was thrown into relief Brazil fielding three top quality left footers in second half substitutes Roberto Carlos and Denilson to add to Rivaldo's talents. For all that fire power Brazil managed one shot on target in the match and Franca scored from the chance. The same player came close to scoring in the 72nd minute with a sweeping left foot shot past the far post after Rivaldo played him through.