Tricolor's only trip to England | OneFootball

The England national team makes its debut at the 2026 World Cup, and São Paulo’s Historical Archive is taking the opportunity to recall the club’s only trip to the land where football as we know it was born.

In the first half of 2003, São Paulo entered into a strategic partnership with Manchester United of England. The deal aimed at an exchange of administrative experience, cultural relations and, of course, player scouting, with the possibility of future negotiations.

The agreement also included a friendly match between the two teams, but the Red Devils’ schedule of matches and training sessions, as they were competing in the UEFA Champions League and the English league, prevented that clash from taking place, at least not in the way it had originally been intended.

The solution was to arrange a training match in November 2003. But so as not to waste the trip (the only thing paid for by the São Paulo delegation during the entire tour—the rest was covered by the British club), Tricolor lined up a friendly against another team from the Greater Manchester area, Bolton Wanderers.

Wanderers (now in England’s third division) were sitting in 14th place in the Premier League and had well-known players such as Brazilian Jardel, Frenchman Djorkaeff and Nigerian Okocha. For the match, São Paulo expected to receive around $400,000 (50% of the ticket revenue, with an estimated crowd of 15,000 passing through the turnstiles).

After a stopover in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and an official reception by Manchester United at the then recently inaugurated Carrington Training Centre, on Friday, November 14, the São Paulo delegation was able to rest and prepare for the friendly, which would be played the following day at the Reebok Stadium in Bolton.

With only 2,238 people in the stands and perhaps still affected by the time difference, or perhaps struggling to adapt to the new tactical setup implemented by coach Rojas (a 4-5-1, with Gustavo Nery—who would go on to be the standout performer—playing as a left-sided midfielder), Tricolor started sluggishly and saw the home side go 2-0 up quickly, first through Okocha in the sixth minute and then Jardel in the ninth. After half an hour, São Paulo woke up and Nery himself cut the home side’s lead.

Before the end of the half, São Paulo, through Fábio Simplício, managed to level the match, but Ibrahim Ba put Bolton back in front just eight minutes into the second half. Tricolor refused to back down and, through Diego Tardelli, made it all square again seven minutes later.

Then, from that point on, full-back/midfielder Gustavo Nery stole the show—and even he did not expect what came next: the Brazilian scored three goals in a row. First in the 18th minute, then in the 19th with a brilliant move, and finally in the 23rd, leaving Bolton, Manchester City manager Kevin Keegan and Sevilla star Júlio Baptista (both present in the stands) stunned.

Full time: Bolton Wanderers 3-6 São Paulo, with four goals from Gustavo Nery. Truly something historic and unforgettable.

The following afternoon, Tricolor fulfilled the agreement and played the training match against the then English champions—although in reality the side was made up basically of reserve and even youth players, since the local stars had been called up by their national teams for friendlies or 2006 World Cup qualifiers.

After two 35-minute periods and plenty of rain, São Paulo, who initially lined up with Roger; Tiago, Júlio Santos, Jean, Edcarlos and Leonardo; Adriano, Marco Antônio, Fábio Santos and Aílton, with Márcio Luiz alone up front, and later with the starters from the previous day’s match, could only manage a 2-2 draw with Manchester United.

São Paulo’s goals were scored by Marco Antônio and Diego Tardelli.

With their commitments duly fulfilled, the players were released to watch the friendly between England and Denmark at Old Trafford, United’s stadium. Denmark won 3-2. In the end, the experience was worth it.

BOLTON WANDERERS 3 x 6 SÃO PAULO11/15/2003. International Friendly: Single Match. Bolton (England), Reebok Stadium.

SPFC: Rogério Ceni; Gabriel (Leonardo Moura), Diego Lugano, Jean and Fabiano (Edcarlos); Adriano, Carlos Alberto (Fábio Santos), Fábio Simplício and Gustavo Nery; Souza (Marco Antônio) and Diego Tardelli (Márcio Luiz). COACH: Roberto Rojas. GOALS: Gustavo Nery, 30/1; Fábio Simplício, 42/1; Diego Tardelli, 15/2; Gustavo Nery, 18/2; Gustavo Nery, 19/2; Gustavo Nery, 23/2.

OPPONENT: Jon Lopez (K. Poole); Anthony Barness, Joel Sammi and Bruno N’Gotty (Charlie Comyn-Platt); Nicky Hunt (L. Kangana), Ibrahim Ba, Per Frandsen (D. Niven), Augustine Okocha (Cleveland Taylor) and S. Charlton (J. Smith); Y. Djorkaeff (H. Pedersen) and Jardel. COACH: Sam Allardyce. GOALS: Augustine Okocha, 6/1; Jardel, 9/1; Ibrahim Ba, 8/2.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.