Where did it all go wrong for Brazil’s football team?

When England play Brazil in a friendly at Wembley tonight they will go into the game as firm favourites to win. It is hard to imagine writing that sentence at any other time in the last fifty years, which is a measure of how much the tables have turned. How so?

The Three Lions are unbeaten since being knocked out of the last World Cup in Qatar two years ago, and they have finished top of their qualifying group for Euro 2024. They have a long-serving manager in Gareth Southgate, who knows the strengths and weaknesses of his present squad. Brazil, meanwhile, are in disarray, having suffered a run of three defeats against Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina. The team has a new coach, Dorival Junior, who was appointed in January, becoming the third manager to take on the role in the last two years. To make matters worse, Brazil come into the Wembley game nursing a long injury list.