England manager Gareth Southgate praised the performance against early World Cup favourites Brazil after a stalemate in London.
The former England U21 manager praised the Lions defensive display against one of the most lethal attacking teams in international football, and Southgate signalled out Man of the Match Joe Gomez as a bright spark for England.
‘We’ve come away with a credible result’
Southgate said: “Tonight the defence performance collectively and some of the individual performances tonight were outstanding. I think we’ve played the best team in the world, with their best team out. And we’ve come away with a really creditable result.
“Joe (Gomez) has been given the man of the match and rightly so. His decision-making was good, and we know his athleticism is a real asset but his calmness in the face of dealing with some high-quality movement and through passes was very good."
The Liverpool defender impressed on his full England debut as Gomez, alongside John Stones and Harry Maguire, managed to shut out one of the most threatening attacking trios in football.
England have now kept clean sheets against Brazil and current World Cup holders Germany in the span of four days, but a lack of goals upfront was not a huge concern for Southgate’s side.
The former Middlesbrough manager said: “The system has worked well. They had control of the game tonight no question, but we’ve limited them to very few clear-cut chances. It would have been an injustice but we could have even pinched the game tonight with the chances we had at the end.”
‘They were like ice’
England’s performance also earned high praise from Brazil head coach Tite, who since coming into the role 14 months ago has turned the Selecao into one of the most lethal nations on the international stage.
Tite: “They were like ice, they were really cold and never lost their mind. They were hoping we would lose our mind and we didn’t. This was a good test because of this and good preparation for the World Cup.”