Gareth Southgate says ‘ruthless moment’ cost England against Brazil, confirms Harry Kane will miss Belgium clash

Gareth Southgate says England were undone by a “ruthless moment” following their 1-0 friendly defeat to Brazil on Saturday.

England’s 21-match unbeaten run at Wembley Stadium came to an end when 17-year-old Endrick came off the bench to score the only goal of the game in the second half.

Despite the defeat, Southgate insisted there were “some very good performances” from his England players.

“It was a top-level game,” the England manager said after the match. “We’ve controlled long parts and had as many attempts as them on goal.

“It’s just that ruthless moment that decides the game. We’ve had players making debuts, having few caps, and there were some important performances out there.

“Anthony [Gordon] was excellent at both sides of his game. At 15 minutes to go, there were a lot of changes and at that point, the crowd were really pleased with the performance.

“When you lose the game, it turns negative but we’ve got to put context on that as there were lots of good things in the performance.

"It’s a classic game against a South American team,” Southgate added. “In a qualifier or competition, there would have been more cards given and that affects the flow of the game.

“We expected it. And played through that intense pressure well and played from the back well. I’m not unhappy with a lot of that performance."

England were hit with injuries in the lead-up to Saturday's game with Bukayo Saka, Harry Kane, Jordan Henderson and Cole Palmer all ruled out of contention, before Kyle Walker was forced off during the first half.

Saka withdrew from the squad completely and after the defeat to Brazil, Southgate confirmed Kane will join him and not feature in Tuesday’s game against Belgium.

Watkins replaced Kane against Brazil and the England manager feels the Aston Villa striker did a “very good job” in the skipper’s absence.

"We're playing a top team. Chances are going to be limited. Perhaps we had the chances from set-pieces to capitalise on one of them,” Southgate said. "I was pleased with the players that went in. We need to find out about them.

“I thought Ollie did a good job. Didn't get that clear chance on goal you might want. A lot of his work was very good."

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