Southgate hails England’s ‘outstanding defending’ in Brazil draw

Gareth Southgate declared himself “incredibly proud” of England’s performance during their 0-0 draw with Brazil in Tuesday’s international friendly.

The Three Lions showed superb resilience to keep Brazil at bay as they limited Tite’s men to half chances and shots from outside the box.

And Southgate is pleased with the solid defensive base he has to work with heading into this summer’s World Cup finals.

“In terms of heart, resilience and spirit it was up there with anything I’ve been involved in,” said Southgate after the match.

“We couldn’t get hold of the ball and keep it. Tonight we just showed resilience, guts and some outstanding defending and I’m incredibly proud.

“We had the best defensive record in Europe in qualifying and we’ve played the best two teams in the world and not conceded.

“When you dig in you get half chances and we had them at the end and could have won the game. It’s a base to work from.

“Joe Gomez’s performance against top players – like all of the defending – was outstanding. It was a top performance.”