The day Butcher led England to victory over Brazil

Being a staunch patriot, Terry Butcher is as proud of the honours he earned representing his country as any Englishman could be. One landmark, however, he hopes to relinquish today.

Butcher was the last man to captain England to success against Brazil, a distinction he has unwillingly held for a dozen years. The former Ipswich Town defender, who won more England caps playing at centre-half than anyone except Bobby Moore (Billy Wright won most of his 105 caps at wing-half), even received a trophy to mark the 1-0 win in March 1990.

"It was put up by Varig, the Brazilian airline," he recalled yesterday. "So I went up the 39 steps to lift the Varig Trophy. It wasn't that big, but it was the only cup I picked up at Wembley." It was suitable reward for England's achievement in ending Brazil's run of 14 matches without defeat – and reward for Butcher himself for holding off an attack that boasted Bebeto and Careca.

The match – in front of Wembley's first all-seated capacity crowd – was a close-run thing and, had the referee spotted a late handball on the line by Stuart Pearce, England would be looking back to 1984, and John Barnes' famous goal, for their last victory.

"I don't remember the handball," Butcher admitted. "I don't remember much about the match at all. I know Gary [Lineker] scored for us and we had to do a fair bit of defending to hold on. They were very good and it gave us a lot of confidence ahead of Italia 90."

Apart from Pearce's handball, and Peter Shilton's exit after 10 minutes with a cut eye following a collision with Des Walker, the match was notable for Lineker's 30th international goal in 47 games, a header from a Peter Beardsley corner via a back-header from John Barnes, who was winning his 50th cap. It was only the third goal Brazil had conceded in 15 matches.

Butcher, who will be in the Ecopa Stadium summarising for BBC Radio Five Live today, added: "I'm surprised we've not beaten them since but I believe we have the chance to do so this time. In this World Cup anything can happen. We will have to play at our best but we are full of confidence. I think we'll score. Maybe they will too, but I hope we will score more."

Butcher watched Brazil's victory over Belgium and was impressed with the forward line. He said: "Ronaldo's movement off the ball is so good and he is very strong. He looks as if he is back to what he was before the final in '98. With him, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho they're very attacking.

"If you give the ball away against them it is hard to get it back. They keep it so well. In defence you have to concentrate really hard. They give you problems you've not encountered before. They are so fluid and they do so much off the cuff. They try things you don't expect."

Today's tie is, Butcher said, like the quarter-final against Argentina in 1986, in which he also played – he was dope-tested along with Maradona, sharing a room with him for an hour, but that's another story.

He added: "Like then we are playing the favourites and there is a passage through to the final for the winner [in 1986 Argentina played Belgium in the semi-final]. We felt if we beat Argentina we could go on and win. It is the same now.

"That day we froze for the majority of the game. With all the history there was so much tension, at least this is just a football match. There is history in this match, but it is all football history."

And, Butcher hopes, one aspect will be out-of-date by the final whistle.

ENGLAND (Friendly v Brazil, 28 March 1990): Shilton (Woods); Stevens, Walker, Butcher, Pearce; McMahon, Platt; Waddle, Lineker, Beardsley (Gascoigne), Barnes.