Gareth Southgate defends ‘lots of good performances’ from England despite 1-0 defeat to Brazil, blaming ‘one moment we should have defended better’ for Endrick’s winner

England head coach Gareth Southgate defended his side’s performance following their loss to Brazil at Wembley on Saturday.

Wonderkid Endrick, who is joining Real Madrid, scored the winner in the second half to inflict England’s first defeat since losing 2-1 to France in the World Cup 2022 quarter-final.

But Southgate refused to criticise his team, insisting he was happy with their display.

He said: ‘There were lots of very good performances. It is a top level game and we have controlled long parts of it.

‘I don’t like losing football matches but the difference was one moment we should have defended better.

Endrick nabbed the only goal of the game, with the 17-year-old coming off the bench to score

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‘We had as many attempts as them on goal but in the end it is that ruthless moment that decides the game.

‘We’ve had a lot of players go on, a couple of debuts and some really important individual performances for us.

‘With 15 minutes to go there were lots of changes and I think at the point the crowd were really pleased with the performance. Of course when you lose the game it turns negative but we have to keep the context with that.’

Anthony Gordon and Ezri Konsa, who came on early for the injured Kyle Walker, both made their England debuts, while Kobbie Mainoo was brought on in the second half for his international bow.

‘Tonight was the best day of my life,’ said Gordon.

‘I envisioned it a bit different with a win and a goal. I thought we were the better team but we lacked that cutting edge that they had at the end.

‘This is my long-term dream I have had. To achieve it means everything to me.

‘I haven’t just envisioned it in the last couple of years, I have imagined it in the garden [as a kid] recreating Rooney and Gerrard’s goals – it’s just an amazing moment.

‘We have to find a way of killing teams and putting them to the sword when we get the chance.’

Konsa said: ‘Definitely worth the wait and it’s a dream come true – a proud moment.

‘I wasn’t expecting to come on that early, but I enjoyed every moment of it. I thought we were the better team and dominated the ball, but we couldn’t score a goal.’

Anthony Gordon said getting his England debut was ‘the best day of my life’ despite 1-0 defeat

Ezri Konsa said coming off the bench early for his international debut was ‘a dream come true’

Southgate said he was not certain how serious Kyle Walker’s hamstring injury problem is

On Walker’s injury, which appeared to be a hamstring problem, Southgate added: ‘We don’t know yet. He is feeling something but he is not a player that is injured very often so he is not quite certain what it is so we will have to assess it over the next couple of days.’

Southgate also confirmed Harry Kane will return to Germany for treatment on the ankle injury that ruled him out of the loss to Brazil and won’t be available for Tuesday’s game versus Belgium.