Hamburg, Nov 15 (DPA) A goal from Villarreal winger Nilmar was enough to secure a 1-0 win for Brazil over England in a friendly international played in Doha Saturday while Scotland crashed to defeat against Wales to pile the pressure on under-fire coach Craig Burley.
An injury-weakened England suffered only their fourth defeat under Fabio Capello as Nilmar netted the only goal of the game, 78 seconds into the second half, heading home from an Elano cross.
Nilmar also earned the Selecao a penalty when he was tripped in the area by England goalkeeper Ben Foster following a poor backpass by Wes Brown but Luis Fabiano blazed the subsequent spot-kick over the bar.
England failed to manage a meaningful shot until the 35th minute, when Wayne Rooney – captaining his country for the first time – struck a long-range drive well over.
James Milner volleyed just over from a Shaun Wright-Phillips cross, Brown blocked another Nilmar header and Lucio thrashed a drive against the post as the game opened up a little.
It petered out, though, in the final minutes amid a flurry of substitutions, and Brazil held their lead without any real scares.
The pressure continues to mount on Scotland manager Burley after his Scotland side crashed to a dismal 3-0 defeat to neighbours Wales in Cardiff.
Arsenal teenage star Aaron Ramsey scored once and set up the other two for David Edwards and Simon Church as Wales cruised to a comfortable win.
Two goals from Ramsey’s club teammate Eduardo helped Croatia to a 5-0 drubbing of Liechtenstein with Mate Bilic also netting a brace.
In other action, Macedonia defeated Canada 3-0, Slovakia prevailed 1-0 against the US – the same score by which Serbia won in Northern Ireland – while Saudi Arabia and Belarus played out a 1-1 draw.
rounak