FA confirm England to play Brazil
442 Staff - Wednesday 23 September 2009, 14:02
The FA has confirmed that England will play Brazil in a friendly in Qatar on Saturday November 14.
The match, which will be England's first trip to the Middle Eastern country, will be played at the 50,000 seater Khalifa International Stadium and is a return favour to Brazil for agreeing to be the first visitors to the new Wembley Stadium in 2007.
Fabio Capello believes the match against the five-time World Cup winners will provide an excellent opportunity to assess the level of his team ahead of the World Cup in South Africa next summer.
England have only managed to beat Brazil three times in 23 attempts, with Sir Bobby Robson's side the last to win in 1990, but Capello was keen to stress the importance of playing the best nations.
"To play a team like Brazil will be important for us," said Capello.
"We can understand more about ourselves and the level we must reach by playing the best teams.
"We have played Spain, Holland, Germany and France - some of the best teams in the world. In each of these games we have also played away from home, which is important before South Africa," he added.
"One of the benefits of securing qualification against Croatia is that we can start to plan for the World Cup and this match is one part of our plans."
Meanwhile, the FA has moved to reassure those managers concerned at the 14-hour round trip their players will undertake in the middle of the season.
The fact that England will not play on the Wednesday of a World Cup play-off double header means that squad members should be back at their clubs earlier than usual.