Kirby strikes to seal England Women win over Brazil

Phil Neville said before this friendly that, for him, Lucy Bronze is the best player in the world. With the Lionesses never having played the Latin American side, this was the left-back’s chance to cross the last name off her list of dream opponents: Marta.

But Brazil’s No 10 – recently and controversially named Fifa’s player of the year for a record sixth time – lasted 20 minutes before signalling to the bench clutching her hamstring. It was a muted appearance in the cold and there was only one chance for Bronze to go one-on-one with the player widely considered to be the best woman to have ever played – a challenge she came off the better in. Instead, it was Marta’s opposite number in white who would prove the game-changer .

Very much a friendly in name only, with both these teams looking to test themselves against the best before next summer’s World Cup, the game began with a high tempo.

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Playing in a deeper role than she often does for Chelsea, Fran Kirby found herself unmarked at the near post inside two minutes. A pinpoint cross from Nikita Parris was swung in and the shortest player on the pitch headed home.

By the break the Lionesses should have had more for their efforts, the slick passing and movement of their front four – Kirby, Rachel Daly, Toni Duggan and Parris – seemingly too much for the shaky Brazilian defence to handle. Yet somehow they did. With Parris’s pace getting the better of Camila every time, it was only the 24-year-old’s poor decision making that prevented England from building on their early lead. Brazil were struggling, with the loss of their centre-back Bruna Benites before the break making it three players to wear the captain’s armband.

The seven-time Copa America champions, overrun in midfield, were still in the game. While fragile defensively, they have players going forward who can punish opposition.

In the 60th minute it looked like England would regret not having done more with their domination as Paris Saint-Germain’s Formiga, by far Brazil’s best player, raced free of Steph Houghton and Millie Bright. Her movement was read well by Carly Telford, however, who came out and blocked her shot.

With the clock ticking down, legs tiring and the inevitable avalanche of changes, the Lionesses continued to threaten but also started to leave openings at the back for their opponents to exploit. They relied on scrappy defending to come the rescue a little too often.

England’s best chance of the half came at the death as an Alex Greenwood cross was met by Daly’s head only for Bárbara to make a stunning save.

Neville will likely line up much tougher friendlies before the world’s best converge on France next summer. Brazil do not have the same careering samba-style of their male counterparts and the closest they have come to lifting the World Cup was a runners-up spot in 2007. One year ago the Brazilian FA were handed the resignations of five high-profile internationals angry at the lack of support for the women’s national team. It seems things have improved a little, but they are not near England’s level.

Neville will need to get his players scoring more freely if they are to challenge the top teams in the world, but here his side showed that the second-half fluidity against Wales was no fluke. They are starting to play his way.