The Brazilian national team’s two-week tour around the world concluded with a match against India in Kolkata last night, which, as one would expect, they won rather easily. If anything, the four goals they put past the team ranked 138th in the world is almost surprisingly low.
But what really mattered was that Estêvão got the start from Carlo Ancelotti once again (just as he did in the first game against Australia), and he repaid the faith by scoring the game’s first goal and setting up the game’s second
goal, both in the first half. His day would be over after about an hour, with Brazil going on to score twice more after that. So, nearly three hours of football for the kid during the break, with hopefully more to follow with Chelsea once we resume some proper football.
One result that certainly didn’t lack for impressiveness however was England’s romp over Croatia. The Three Lions put four past them at the World Cup, but this time nearly doubled that with a seven-goal haul. Seven! And the match was played away in Croatia, in Rijeka! The locals were not happy, to say the least.
Thomas Tuchel was plenty happy, obviously, calling it a “complete performance” and seeing it as the symbolic exorcism of England’s ghosts from their semifinal exit at the World Cup. Plenty of heads were turning at that scoreline of course, with Harry Kane and Anthony Gordon on the scoresheet yet again, joined by Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, and Morgan Rogers off the bench putting on the proverbial seventh star to cap the performance in the 87th minute.
England have one more game left to play in this break, Tuesday against the Czech Republic.
