“The outside world forgets how talented these teams are these days” says Alessia Russo following England’s defeat to Brazil | OneFootball

England forward Alessia Russo said she saw the benefits of their defeat to Brazil with regards of learning ahead of the 2027 World Cup.

The Lionesses succumbed to a 2-1 defeat after a pair of early Brazil goals at the City of Manchester Stadium, despite playing against 10 players for much of the match.

Russo acknowledged that the game was a tricky one and played out in a way with which England are largely unfamiliar.

“It was a really tough game,” she said. “I always find it hard to reflect straight away, but it was really tough. I think we did enough to win the game. We should have taken our chances a bit better. But it’s all about building now. We are in a new cycle going forward. It was a really difficult game against a different type of opposition.

“Brazil played with a player for player system. It’s about figuring it out, finding the space, and I think that’s maybe what took us a little bit of time. But once we did we opened them up quite a lot and we did create a lot of chances. We should have been more ruthless.”

She continued to emphasise the differences between Brazil’s approach to that of teams England faced during the summer’s European Championship in Switzerland.

“We faced something really different than we are used to in Europe. But that’s what we are going to have, going into the World Cup in 2027. I think it was lots of learnings, and it was good to play that kind of team. But yes, we want to win every game we play in, so disappointed not to win,” she said.

“[Brazil] are big, strong, and powerful. It’s different types of football, different styles of play, and it was player for player, so you constantly had pressure, from behind or coming back to you. So yes, it was tough, but we are strong enough to deal with it,” she continued.

As for the game itself, Russo reflected on the immediate disappointment of defeat but acknowledged that this was a learning opportunity, saying: “Whenever you don’t win, you’re obviously disappointed. We are a team that loves to win, and thrives off it. So, disappointing, but we learn from moments like this. We’ve had it in the past, and we’ll go again.

“It was feisty. That was the kind of game they wanted, and at times we let them have it. But like I said, we are strong enough to deal with it and we can manage it better at times as well.

“What we saw in the Euros, is that we found any kind of way to win. These teams are top sides. I think we forget that sometimes. Not us, but maybe the outside world forget how talented these teams are these days. When you come against a Brazil and you go down, for us, our mindset stays the same, and we want to go back and get back into the game, but this Brazilian side are one of the best in the world. We’ll learn from it.”