Using players from both current squads, we have made a combined XI for Gareth Southgate’s England and five-time World Cup winners Brazil.
GK: Jordan Pickford (England/Everton)
No Ederson or Alisson means Pickford – who is definitely not better than either – is the best available goalkeeper, with all three of Brazil’s without a cap between them.
There have been a few doubts over Pickford as England’s first choice keeper, with some calling for him to be replaced by Aaron Ramsdale before he was dropped by Arsenal. However, he has barely put a foot – or hand – wrong in an England shirt and the sort of errors or over-eccentricity we became accustomed to seeing for Everton seem to have been eradicated from his game.
We have no doubt that Pickford is the right man to start in goal for the Three Lions, and in truth, it should never have been up for debate.
RB: Kyle Walker (England/Manchester City)
England’s depth in this position is ludicrous and for the first time in god knows how long, there is only one natural right-back in the squad. That is because of the injuries picked up by Kieran Trippier, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Reece James. Joe Gomez can play there, as well as left-back, but he is a central defender.
Remember Danilo? Well, the former Manchester City man was Walker’s biggest competition here. He has the most caps in this Brazil squad and is one of only three with more than 26 caps. Have a look at their squad when you get a chance. It is pretty dire.
CB: Bremer (Brazil/Juventus)
The first of five Brazil players in this combined XI, Juventus centre-back Bremer has been linked with a move to the Premier League for a while.
Bremer joined Juve from Turin rivals Torino for €44million in 2022 and has arguably been the best centre-back in Serie A since then. He gets in ahead of Harry Maguire fairly comfortably.
CB: John Stones (England/Manchester City)
Completing a very nice centre-back partnership is Manchester City star Stones. There are not many nations, if any, he would not start for. France maybe? They have a lot of centre-backs but there is a case to be made for Stones being better than them all.
LB: Wendell (Brazil/Porto)
Whoa, wildcard time! We might have only watched Wendell a handful of times but his most recent exposure to our Premier League bubble came in Porto’s Champions League tie against Arsenal. He was very impressive in defending Bukayo Saka, keeping the Gunners winger extremely quiet across both legs.
Ben Chilwell is England’s only left-back in their squad this month but he has not been too impressive this season – or for a while really.
DM: Declan Rice (England/Arsenal)
No-brainer. Rice has been the best player in the best league in the world. Brazil need something closer to a prime Socrates to usurp Rice, not Andre.
CM: Jude Bellingham (England/Real Madrid)
We all knew that Bellingham was a great footballer with an incredible talent for his age, but how he has been performing for Real Madrid this season has dumbfounded us all. He has taken his game to another level and has been Los Blancos’ best player. Pressure? What pressure?
Thankfully for England fans, it looks like Gareth Southgate has realised that Bellingham has to play in a position closer to Harry Kane than Rice. He has become relentless in the final third for club and country.
CM: Bruno Guimaraes (Brazil/Newcastle)
At first, it was extremely difficult to choose between James Maddison, Douglas Luiz and Bruno Guimaraes before realising, ‘Ah, let’s just bring in Rodrygo as a striker and play 4-2-4!’ which then quickly became, ‘Ah, Bukayo Saka has f**king pulled out, hasn’t he?’.
As you can see, Bruno has just edged out the other two central midfielders. Newcastle United have been below-par this season but there is no doubting the ability of Guimaraes. Luiz and Maddison can feel hard done by, mind, playing extremely well in teams exceeding expectations.
Cole Palmer, another player perhaps unlucky to miss out, has been terrific in a team performing well below expectations.
RW: Rodrygo (Brazil/Real Madrid)
The aforementioned Rodrygo goes into right-wing with Saka out injured.
The 23-year-old has been great this season, playing in attack alongside Vinicius Junior. His future is up in the air, however, with Kylian Mbappe bound for Real Madrid and vying for his place in the team.
LW: Vinicius Junior (Brazil/Real Madrid)
World-class winger Vinicius Jr completes a trio of Real Madrid players and is in that bracket just below Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi and Mbappe, perhaps on his own.
Talk of a transfer to Manchester United is funnier than it is believable.
ST: Harry Kane (England/Bayern Munich)
England captain Kane gets in this combined XI very comfortably. There are no combined XIs he would not get into. Even if it was Manchester City and Bayern Munich, we would fit him in by switching to a two-striker formation.
There are doubts over Kane’s availability against Brazil after suffering an injury last weekend, but he is in the squad, so qualifies and helps us avoid a much more difficult decision.
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