England manager Roy Hodgson, while admitting his side were outplayed by Brazil in their first half of their international friendly on Sunday, feels his side were a little hard done by after the match ended 2-2 at the newly re-opened Maracana in Rio de Janeiro.
After Fred opened the scoring for Brazil in the 57th minute, two goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Wayne Rooney put England in front, only for a superb volley from Paulinho saw the game finish all square.
"Some draws can be labelled victories and some can be labelled defeats," said Hodgson.
"But we were scotched by a wonder strike, I have to say, and I also have to say we didn't play anywhere near what we can in the first half and Brazil did, so it's a fair result over the 90 minutes."
The introduction of Oxlade-Chamberlain and a shift of tactics from Hodgson changed the pattern of the game and the England boss admitted the Arsenal midfielder had made a huge impact.
"He [Oxlade-Chamberlain] was very lively. Phil Jones was doing an excellent job but is really more of a defender playing in midfield," added Hodgson.
"Alex gets on the ball and gets turned around, he added another dimension and got his reward by scoring a very good goal."
Looking ahead to the 2014 world Cup and England’s qualifying process, Hodgson aslo confessed that his side have a lot of work to do.
"We're a work in progress. We face stiff opposition and have a lot of work to do before we can think about 2014," he said.
"But I am very confident we can and games like this increase confidence and make us even more determined to be part of the party the World Cup will be."