Two heavyweights of the game went head-to-head at the iconic Wembley Stadium on Saturday (Mar 23) as England were beaten 1-0 on their home turf by Brazil. The defeat, England’s first at home since 2020 (in open play) saw their unbeaten run snapped by the five-time world champions. The match was settled by a second-half strike from Endrick, Real Madrid’s latest signing currently on loan at Palmeiras as they ended the unbeaten streak for the home side. However, Endrick’s strike had a grey side to it due to him being offside but was rightly credited to the 18-year-old.
Why Endrick’s goal was rightly awarded in England vs Brazil?
Watching the match live, few England fans would have been left flat when Brazil’s goal was awarded in the 80th minute. Vinicius Jr received a lofted pass over the England defence as he ran towards the goal by outpacing Harry Maguire. During the process, both Vinicius and Endrick appeared to be in line with the defence prompting a VAR check.
Upon review, it was concluded that Vinicius was on the side while Endrick was offside during that phase of the game. However, the next phase saw Vinicius’s effort being stopped by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, but that pass delivered to score the goal had Endrick onside as he was behind the ball at the time of the pass. This resulted in Endrick being onside during the rebound phase when Pickford did his best to stop the 2022 Champions League winner.
Interestingly, the goal would have still been ruled out had Endrick interfered during his offside phase, but since he did not attempt to play the ball during the first play he was eligible to pick the ball from Pickford’s rebound.
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The match had several frictional points including England assistant coach Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s involvement with fourth official over several challenges. He had an altercation with the officials for fouls that went unnoticed or should have been at least penalised with a yellow card. In fact, of the 30 fouls committed in the match, 19 came from Brazilian players showing the rough nature of the match.
Later in the match West Ham United midfielder Lucas Paqueta could have easily been sent off for a second bookable offence, however, the Portugal referee Artur Manuel Soares Dias kept his cards in the pocket.
Endrick set to join Real in 2024-25
The strike was Endrick’s first for Brazil and is expected to be the first of many during a rising career. He was signed by Real Madrid in December 2022 after an agreement was struck between the La Liga giants and Palmeiras. He will be one of the players who will join the Real Madrid roster for the 2024-25 season, where he is expected to be joined by French sensation Kylian Mbappe.
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