Former West Ham United goalkeeper Mervyn Day is our man with his finger on the pulse of football. Championship Manager columnist Merv is currently working as a scout for Fulham. In his latest blog, he tells us why Fabio Capello will not have learned very much after England’s friendly outing against Brazil.

This was a strange match. From England's point of view you are flying for eight hours, playing the best team in the world and playing in heat and humidity that we're not used to.

You put yourself at a disadvantage straight away, not to mention the fact you also only have possibly two of your starting XI for the World Cup available. Many people will say it gives Fabio Capello the chance to look at other players and see whether they are going to have a chance of making the squad.

Can they cope playing against South American football?

But no-one on that pitch covered themselves in much glory, apart from maybe James Milner, who had a decent game. I feel sorry for Darren Bent. You play him virtually up front on his own against a side which doesn't let you have the ball. He didn't have any chance to shine. To bring him off after 54 minutes is strange when you know exactly what Jermain Defoe can do. Give him a fair crack for the whole 90 minutes.

Down on the record, the result doesn't look bad, but 1-0 wasn't a fair reflection of the game. England got lucky with Ben Foster staying on the pitch and then the penalty miss.How much Capello will take from it I don't know?

The only people who have strengthened their claim for a place are those who didn't play. Wes Brown had a torrid time which cements Glen Johnson as the first choice right-back and the other three defenders didn't perform.

I thought we tried to press too hard in the first half and that is why we wilted badly in the second. If you play a high tempo game in that heat, it soon takes it out of you. Brazil on the night were far better technically, well organised, and that is a trait of Dunga anyway. When he played great store was put by team organisation and he has taken that into management alongside the natural Brazilian flair.

When you look at it realistically, a team with Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, John Terry and Glen Johnson as your first choice back four - and possibly David James – would they have done any better? Would Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, and possibly Emile Heskey, helped? We were missing a lot of our big hitters.

John Terry said he didn't see anything to fear from Brazil if the full England team was playing but what it has shown is we need our senior players fit. With all the important games they'll have coming up domestically, they must be fit and fresh for the World Cup.

There is no-one who can replace the settled back four we have or the midfield. If you have to make four or five changes to squad players during the tournament, then from this showing, the England team is nowhere near as strong.