England Women 1 – 2 Brazil Women

A disastrous start saw England lose 2-1 to 10-player Brazil in their first match since their Euro 2025 triumph over the summer.

There was celebration in the air as Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses paraded their European Championship trophy before this friendly – but the mood quickly soured as South American champions Brazil strolled into a 2-0 lead inside 20 minutes.

With Leah Williamson and Hannah Hampton injured, plus Millie Bright retiring and Lucy Bronze on the bench, it was a makeshift England defence and it showed. There was a warning as Ludmila burst through on goal inside three minutes and fired wide – but England would not be let off the hook five minutes later.

England were sloppy in midfield possession and Beatriz Zaneratto nipped into to stride past the challenges and fire past debutant Khiara Keating – who became the first female goalkeeper of an ethnic minority background for an England women’s senior team.

It was a similar story for the second goal as Ella Toone gave away the ball, allowing Zaneratto to tee up Dudinha, who poked in via the near post.

England boss Wiegman was clearly angered by the start but her team were given a lifeline almost straight away as Toone burst in on goal, only to be brought down by Brazil captain Angelina, who was given her marching orders.

That unsettled Brazil slightly as Alex Greenwood struck the bar from the resulting free-kick, but apart from that and Jess Carter and Toone missing good chances inside the box, the Lionesses barely threatened.

England were given more help from the officials after half-time as Beth Mead went down under Zaneratto’s challenge long after the Lionesses winger shot in the area. The referee took her time before awarding a penalty, which Georgia Stanway converted to halve the deficit.

And even though England had chances through Stanway hitting the bar, Alessia Russo heading over plus substitutes Aggie Beever-Jones and Lucy Bronze going close, Brazil dealt with the one-player disadvantage relatively easily – even though Wiegman brought on super-sub Michelle Agyemang late on.

Work needs to be done for England before they could meet Brazil competitively at the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

Wiegman on what was missing for England

England head coach Sarina Wiegman to ITV Sport:

“They started how we expected them to start and as soon as we found Alessia Russo, we did well.

“But as soon as we played short, they’re really good at winning the ball and counter attacking and that harmed us twice.

“That’s exactly what we did not want to do so that gave us some struggles, but there were so many opportunities.

“Then they got the red card and we were unlucky to get the ball on the crossbar [from Greenwood’s free kick].

“From then on, we dominated the game. What was missing was the final part. They’re good at defending, they have some very physical players. We were sometimes a bit unlucky but in decision making, we could do better in execution.

“We didn’t give away that much, which we hoped to do as well.”

Analysis: England played themselves into trouble

Sky Sports’ Charlotte Marsh:

This was somewhat of a litmus test for England. They don’t often play teams outside of Europe and each one away from the continent is a measure of where the Lionesses might really be in the international pecking order.

There are of course caveats to Saturday’s game. They started without the likes of Leah Williamson, Lauren Hemp, Hannah Hampton and Lucy Bronze, the former three all out through injury.

Then, you could see this being the perfect opportunity for young talent like Grace Clinton, Jess Park and Katie Reid to rack up some England minutes. But again, they are absent too.

Playing Brazil at this moment – who admittedly have their own injury concerns – has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

But England did play themselves into trouble, as was often the case during the Euros too.

For both goals – scored early, where have we heard that before? – they were dispossessed too easily in midfield. The defence too remains a real concern and with Millie Bright now retired, her absence clearly leaves a huge hole.

England never gave up though, and pushed for an elusive equaliser. That Euros spirit never quite translated to their homecoming performance, nor did they have extra-time and penalties to help them.

There was a lack of pace in the passing as England dominated, even with an extra play on hand. Things just were not quite linking up as they would have liked.

But for any talk of setbacks or worries is certainly premature. There will be plenty for Wiegman to ponder ahead of Tuesday’s match against Australia, and fans will be looking for signs of improvement.

Stanway: We were disappointed with the first 20 minutes

England midfielder Georgia Stanway to ITV Sport:

“It’s one of those games where you are going to get battered and bruised. We’re not used to playing teams from a different continent, it’s something we have to adapt to.

“It was difficult to find the spaces. There was a lot of movement and running. There were a lot of things we could take away from there. With the red card, it made us find the free player a bit more.

“The first 20 minutes was disappointing from us. It put us on the back foot, the second half we had a lot of chances and we could have put them in the back of the net. On another day, they could have gone it. We can review it and we have a lot of time.

“It’s not a step back. We come here to a home crowd with a European trophy in our hands. We will continue to show that to our fans and thank them for our support. Today was a chance to celebrate with our fans. The result isn’t one we wanted but we have time to work and build on that. Of course it was disappointing, but it’s a time to celebrate the Euros.”