Joe Gomez is an unlikely star as England hold Brazil at Wembley

Liverpool’s Joe Gomez defied his years with an outstanding full debut for England against Brazil, writes Nick Wright at Wembley.

For the yellow-clad Brazil supporters clustered in the away end at Wembley and the thousands more dotted around every corner of the stadium, it was not quite the party they came for. The drums were loud and the shrieks almost deafening whenever the ball found its way to Neymar, but out on the pitch England were determined to dampen their mood.

Time and again Brazil came forward and time and again they were repelled. A second consecutive 0-0 draw might not usually be viewed positively for England, but it only took a cursory glance at the team-sheet to see the gulf between the sides. Brazil had the luxury of leaving Thiago Silva and Roberto Firmino on the bench; England named Lewis Cook and Jack Cork on theirs.
Injuries had reduced Gareth Southgate’s options but they also opened the door for Joe Gomez to become England’s next young star after Ruben Loftus-Cheek shone so brightly against Germany on Friday. Gomez was thrown on for his debut when Phil Jones pulled up with a calf problem in that game, and the Liverpool youngster kept his place ahead of Gary Cahill against Brazil.

An evening up against Neymar is about as tough as a full debut can get for a 20-year-old with only 14 Premier League appearances under his belt, but watching Gomez you wouldn’t have known it. On the right of John Stones and Harry Maguire in a youthful back three, he barely put a foot wrong.

The pre-match pyrotechnics were still cooling down when he set the tone for his performance, rising for a high ball with Gabriel Jesus and sending the Manchester City striker sprawling to the turf as he won it. Any fears that he may be overawed by the occasion immediately disappeared.
With support from Kyle Walker outside of him and a steady stream of instructions from Stones to his left, Gomez looked assured from the outset. A few minutes before half-time, he even had the confidence to execute a Cruyff turn up against Neymar, sending the £200m man the wrong way as he nonchalantly stroked the ball on to a team-mate.

Southgate had called on his defenders to be brave and Gomez did not let him down. There was a misplaced pass in his own half which almost landed England in trouble shortly after the break, but it was a rare lapse. He finished the game with an 87 per cent passing accuracy and his defensive contribution was even more impressive.

His best moments came in the closing stages. The game was becoming stretched and Brazil were threatening to overrun the hosts, but Gomez was alert when it mattered. An outstanding covering tackle on his Liverpool team-mate Firmino drew a roar of appreciation from the home fans in the 82nd minute, and shortly after that there was a crucial block to stop a Neymar through ball.

„Joe has been given the man-of-the-match award and rightly so,“ said Southgate in his post-match press conference. „We know his athleticism is a real asset, but there was also his decision-making and his calmness in the face of the high-quality movement and the high-quality through passes that he had to read.“
Reading those passes was an area in which he excelled. The former Charlton youngster has played exclusively at right-back this season for Liverpool, but his positioning was impeccable in Southgate’s back three. The statistics showed Gomez made eight interceptions in total – more than the rest of his team combined and twice as many as any Brazil player.

Gomez described it as a „great experience“ after the game and Southgate agreed. „We can look at areas to improve but we have found so many positives in terms of players who have performed at this level for the first time,“ he said. „It’s not going to get much tougher for them than it was tonight. They will gain huge confidence.“

England do not return to action until March but Gomez will have opportunities to build on that confidence at Liverpool, where Nathaniel Clyne has just been ruled out for a further three months. Gomez is already a favourite with Jurgen Klopp having started eight of their 11 Premier League games so far, and it now seems Southgate is similarly enamoured.

It is not difficult to understand why. With fearsome physicality and maturity beyond his years, Gomez is suddenly an England centre-back with a bright future. And on Tuesday night, as the drums died down and the shrieks fell silent, his performance was instrumental in ensuring it was the England supporters who went home happier.Euro Soccer Bonus

Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.

This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.

The maximum bonus that you can receive is €100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.

If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:

Bet Type Bonus

14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus €100,000 or currency equivalent. Euro Soccer Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.

If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.

If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.

Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.

In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.

All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.

bet365 reserves the right to amend, cancel, reclaim or refuse any promotion at its own discretion.