Coleman praises resilient England after Brazil defeat

Brandon Coleman remains confident England can go all the way in the Blind Football World Cup despite losing 3-0 to Paralympic champions Brazil.

Goals from Gledson, Ricardinho and Jefinho proved enough for the reigning world cup champions as they extended their advantage at the top of Group D with a third win from three.

But the scoreline did not tell the whole story as Jon Pugh’s side defiantly prevented Brazil from finding the net in the first 15 minutes and had opportunities of their own to take the lead

Speaking after the game, Coleman said the result could have been completely different on another day and praised the performance and passion of his team-mates.

“I thought we put a resilient performance in and, on another day, I think we could have beaten them,” said Coleman.

“I thought we did really well and showed passion right until the end, and I happy with it, but I do believe we could have beaten them.

“We are taking it [the tournament] game by game, we have Costa Rica next, and hopefully we qualify from the group and we’ll take it from there.

“But I think, all in all, we have shown we have enough quality to make it all the way to the end.”

After starting their campaign in Group D with a comfortable 4-0 win over Mali, Pugh’s side went into their second group game full of confidence against Brazil.

The opening half was tight and both sides had efforts to open the scoring, with Roy Turnham coming closest to giving England the lead as his shot was parried by the Brazil goalkeeper.

But Ricardinho was a constant threat for Brazil and they eventually took the lead on 16 minutes when Gledson latched on to a loose ball and thumped home a powerful effort.

With just a goal separating the sides at half-time, England set out to get the equaliser at the start of the second half and went close to responding with a couple of half chances.

They left themselves open to the counter attack, though, and Ricardinho finally got the goal his play deserved in the 25th minute to double Brazil’s lead.

He picked the ball up around halfway and cut inside from the left before firing a shot past the outstretched hand of England goalie Daniel James.

Jefinho made sure of the result two minutes later when he added a third for Brazil with a sweetly struck effort with the outside of his foot into the far right corner.

England were then denied a consolation goal on the half-hour mark by another fine save from the Brazilian shot-stopper as they held on to secure their place in the quarter-finals.

A victory for England in their final group game against bottom side Costa Rica will be enough for them to qualify for the knockout stage as runners-up.