It’s always a special occasion whenever the great footballing nations of England and Brazil meet, even if only on ‘friendly’ terms.
Ahead of their next meeting at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night, injuries have cut through both squads and weakened their respective pools of players.
That, at least, makes forming a combined XI a bit more interesting. Here are our picks for the squad – if you disagree, just go and look at the state of some of Brazil’s options, alright?
On a normal day, Jordan Pickford doesn’t get near this kind of XI. But he’s England’s undisputed number one and both Alisson and Ederson are injured, so he gets the nod almost by default.
At least the Everton goalkeeper has had some iconic moments in an England shirt. He ought to have been a hero after that final penalty shootout at Euro 2020.
Is Kyle Walker even England’s best right-back, let alone across both the Three Lions and Brazil?
Probably not at this point, but crucially, he’s actually fit for Saturday’s clash. No offence, Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
In another life, John Stones would have been born in Rio de Janeiro and spent every day playing beach football at Copacabana. Thankfully, he was born in Barnsley and nurtured by Pep Guardiola.
Hands off, he’s ours.
Your time will come, Jarrad Branthwaite. Your time has passed, Harry Maguire. Get out of my office, Conor Coady.
Brazil’s first selection in the combined XI comes at centre-back, with Juventus’ Bremer drafted into the team. Seriously, go look at that Selecao squad.
Luke Shaw has long been Gareth Southgate’s undisputed first-choice left-back, but with injury problems arising again, Ben Chilwell has a real opportunity to stake his claim this window.
His closest competition for this spot is the Sunday league version of Roberto Carlos. Go figure.
It speaks a lot to Declan Rice’s tremendous quality that he would have been a near-certainty to get into this combined XI even during his days at West Ham United.
Since his move to Arsenal, the 25-year-old has gone from strength to strength and is one of the world’s finest midfielders.
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