Brazil 1-0 England (International Friendly)

Wayne Rooney’s first game as England captain ended in defeat as a severely depleted side were beaten by five-time world champions Brazil in Qatar.

Fabio Capello’s side fell victim to a goal early in the second period from Nilmar to leave England still without a win in eight matches on neutral territory against the Brazilians. Fabiano also missed a penalty for Brazil, who unsurprisingly dominated possession.

They were aided by an England midfield which gave the ball away far too easily and consequently the front two of Rooney and Darren Bent were starved of any worthwhile service. But this was no vintage performance by Brazil and their trickery was largely confined to in front of the back four and goalkeeper Ben Foster, apart from an impressive spell after the break.

Capello will now have four months to reflect on how many of his fringe players pushed their claims to be part of his World Cup plans before the next international in early March. Only Aston Villa winger James Milner, who was making his full debut, could feel he furthered his cause on the left wing to any significant effect.

Capello’s squad had already been decimated by the absence of David James, Glen Johnson, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, David Beckham, Aaron Lennon, Theo Walcott and Emile Heskey. But he was forced to further reorganise when skipper John Terry lost his battle to recover from an Achilles problem and midfielder Michael Carrick was ruled out with an ankle injury. It meant Gareth Barry and Rooney were the only first-choice players in the starting XI, in contrast to Brazil who were virtually at full strength.

Capello handed a first start since his opening game in charge against Switzerland to Jermaine Jenas and there were only three survivors from the starting XI against Belarus last month in Foster, Wayne Bridge and Barry.

It was a similar scenario to 12 months ago when a scratch side won 2-1 against Germany in Berlin but Brazil unsurprisingly provided a sterner test given that they have regained the No1 spot in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings.

Players from both teams paid their respects to German goalkeeper Robert Enke, who died earlier this week at the age of 32, before kick-off during a period of silence.

England began promisingly and a low cross from Shaun Wright-Phillips just eluded the run of Rooney into the Brazilian box, but Dunga’s side were soon in control and knocking the ball around in confident style. A mistake by Matthew Upson allowed Nilmar to cut in unopposed from the left flank but his low centre was intercepted by Bridge.

Kaka showed his class and determination in shaking off challenges from Barry and Jenas before attempting to release Fabiano but Bridge was alert to the situation. Felipe Melo got the better of a tussle with Upson but overran the ball and Foster was able to hack clear, albeit in unconvincing fashion.

Kaka was pulling the strings and the Real Madrid star picked out the overlapping Michel Bastos whose cross-cum-shot fizzed just past Foster’s left hand post. Melo then showed neat skill to create space for himself on the edge of the box but his shot sailed straight at Foster. Kaka forced Foster to save away to his left with an angled drive after linking up well again with Fabiano as the half ended goalless.

But it needed only 90 seconds of the second half for Brazil to break the deadlock through Nilmar. Elano’s dipping cross picked out the run of Nilmar, who got in between Lescott and Upson before arrowing his header past the dive of Foster into the corner of the net.

Bent had little opportunity to impress before he was substituted after 54 minutes and replaced by Jermain Defoe.

A minute later Brazil had a golden chance to double their lead when goalscorer Nilmar was brought down in the area by Foster after Wes Brown had attempted to chest the ball back to him. Foster was shown a yellow card but England were given a reprieve when Fabiano sent his spot-kick high over the crossbar.

There was little to enthuse about in a low-key finale to the game as both teams made several substitutions, although Lucio crashed a shot against the post.

Italy 0-0 Netherlands (International Friendly)

Giampaolo Pazzini had a late ‘goal’ disallowed as Italy and the Netherlands fought out a stalemate in Pescara.

Substitute Pazzini was judged to have used his arm to bundle the ball home with seven minutes remaining, while at the other end Gianluigi Buffon made a fine save from Rafael van der Vaart to mark his 100th cap with a clean sheet. There was bad news for Holland and Arsenal, though, with Dutch striker Robin van Persie leaving the pitch nursing an injury just 16 minutes in.

Italy coach Marcello Lippi has grown weary of answering questions about his policy of not selecting the enigmatic Antonio Cassano in his squad but was again given a very public reminder of the player’s committed fan-base early on. After just six minutes a fan ran onto the pitch wearing an Italy shirt with the message ‘Cassano in the national team’, causing a brief delay.

When play resumed, the Dutch dominated possession but were unable to turn that into goals. The visitors suffered a setback when Arsenal striker Robin van Persie limped off and was replaced by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt had the first opportunity of the game in the 20th minute with his right-footed strike from the edge of the area going wide of the far post. Gli Azzurri reacted with Raffaele Palladino firing a shot from 30-yards that forced Holland goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg to dive to his right to clear.

Italy goalkeeper Buffon, who celebrated a century of appearances for Gli Azzurri tonight, made a stunning save to deflect Van der Vaart’s free-kick that had taken a deflection off Palladino’s head. On the stroke of half-time, Stekelenburg did well to come off his line, anticipating the run of Candreva, who was ready to head home from Andrea Pirlo’s cross.

Lippi made his first substitution early in the second half with Giuseppe Rossi taking Palladino’s place in attack. Italy showed more determination up front and on the hour mark, Mauro Camoranesi did well to get past his marker before crossing into the area only for the Dutch defence to clear away the danger.

Shortly afterwards, Fabio Grosso’s cross found Camoranesi on the edge of the area but his strike was blocked by a defender. With 10 minutes remaining, substitute Davide Biondini, who was making his senior debut for the world champions, teed up Rossi inside the area but mistimed his shot.

The Italians thought they had broken the deadlock with seven minutes remaining when substitute Pazzini got behind Fabio Cannavaro’s header inside the area to bundle the ball home. However, the referee quickly whistled, ruling that the Sampdoria frontman had used his arm to steer the ball in.