James Troisi says there are plenty of positives to take out of the game. He didn’t name any but let’s take his word for it.
That’s my lot, though. Thanks for your company and all the best. Not the best night for the Socceroos but it’s only a friendly. Right?
Here’s Russell Jackson’s match report:
What do we make of that? Ah, it’s just a friendly, right? Yes, but it can’t do Australia’s confidence all that good after scrapping past Saudi Arabia.
Brazil, though seemingly at half pace, were a different class to Australia tonight. Coutinho and Luiz were pillars, and Souza was dangerous all night and good for his two goals. They got in behind Australia all too regularly. After 12 seconds, no less.
Australia barely had a shot I can recall. They have much to think about before (Oh, dear!) Germany in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Full-time: Australia 0-4 Brazil
A goal after 12 seconds, a goal in the final second, and two in between does it for Brazil.
Goal! Australia 0-4 Brazil (Souza 93 min)
And with the last touch of the game, Souza, unmarked near the spot, heads home Willian’s corner!
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91 min: Mooy takes, Sousa heads clear, and all of a sudden Brazil are away with no one at home. Willian gallops down field. Behich’s chasing forces Willian to pass inside to Taison. He gives it straight back and just as Willian winds up for the shot Hrustic slides in to dispossess him. But he absolutely smashes it towards goal and if not for a diving save by Langerak would have scored a brilliant own goal. Australia scramble the ball clear for a corner.
91 min: Time for a consolation? The Socceroos are holding possession inside Brazil’s half, probing left and right. And they win a corner. C’mon! Give us a goal!
90 min: There will be two mins of stoppage time.
88 min: Brazil corner. Taken by Willian, played back to his midfield who pass it straight back. A quick one-two with Taison and suddenly Willian is in behind the line! He could shoot but he squares to Rodriguinho who hits Langerak from point blank range. That would have been a lovely goal. Willian should have gone himself. Brazil trying to walk it in.
86 min: Nothing to see here. Disperse in an orderly fashion.
83 min: Australia are harrying the Brazilians as they pass it around the back but making little headway.
79 min: Souza appeals for a foul when bumped off the ball by Milligan, who’s done alright tonight I reckon.
Apropos my comment before the game about anthems, Michael Marsden writes in with thanks for the MBM (thank you, Michael) and more:
“Do NOT get me started on God Save the Queen, please. When they crank that up it never fails to increase my emotional distance from the England team. Flower of Scotland is enviable, yes. But La Marseillaise as the ultimate belter? It’s a France-Scotland one-two, for me.
“Can’t think who’s in third place - the Brazilian fans got well into their anthem in 2014, of course, but for me it was too jaunty. Tune and lyrics-wise, you need a touch of gravitas to go with the passion.”
I agree, you cannot go past La Marseillaise for stirring, and girding, the loins. And I’m not even French.
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78 min: Postecoglou rings the changes now that the game is well and truly out of reach: Mooy on for Luongo, McGowan (debuting) on for Wright, and Rogic on for Troisi.
77 min: Last time Australia were down 3-0 at home was against Turkey in 2004 we’ve been told.
Goal! Australia 0-3 Brazil (Taison 75 mins)
Lovely stuff. After Willian loses his man on the right he centres to Paulinho who plays a one-two with Fernandinho. Paulinho is then in place to shoot but he back heels (cheekily?) to Taison who threads it into the bottom right corner. That’s his debut international goal. He’s 29. No wonder he’s so emotional.
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74 min: Substitute Taison is put into acres, and he’s running in on goal from almost the halfway line, keeping the chasing defenders at bay. He gets into the box, but shoots straight at Langerak.
72 min: Now it’s Luiz getting an early rest. Fernandinho comes on.
70 min: Coutinho is substituted after a fine shift. Willian takes his place.
66 min: Phil Withall writes in to ask whether the game is as entertaining as a warm trifle or actually a decent match? Hmm. The Aussies are trying, and all, but the game is being played a slow pace, and it’s being dictated by Brazil who are keeping possession well and not in any rush to do anything with it. There’s no buzz to the game, befitting one with nothing riding on the result.
Goal! Australia 0-2 Brazil (Silva 62min)
Coutinho curls in an out-swinging corner that a leaping Luiz meets with a mighty header. It hits the bar, flies up into the air, and Maclaren attempts to head the ball over the byline. But he only head it as far as Caio who heads it back into the mix where Silva nods it home.
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61 min: RJ comes through again with the crowd figure: 48,847. It’s a big ol place, the MCG, but those 49,000 aren’t sounding like 49,000.
61 min: There really isn’t a lot going on at the moment. It feels like a training run for both teams at the moment.
58 min: The subs are on. Debutant Ajdin Hrustic for Leckie, Jamie Maclaren for Cahill and Jackson Irvine for Sainsbury.
Cahill hands Milligan the captain’s armband before he goes and appears to give him a hug and kiss as he does so. I didn’t mention earlier that the Australians are wearing black arm bands to mark the death of Milligan’s grandfather this week.
56 min: Three Aussie subs being prepared on the sideline as Kruse gets into a sliver of space in behind after Troisi scoops one over the back. But no sooner does Kruse get a touch than the ball is nicked.
54 min: The avians have landed. You know a game is being played at a gentle pace when there’s time to talk about seagulls.
Don't hate - the seagulls are just trying to fill up the empty seats to boost the attendance figure #AUSvBRA pic.twitter.com/o7awJAvR3V
— Joey Lynch (@joeylynchy) June 13, 2017
51 min: In midfield Countiho swirls around Degenek as if pole dancing on him and just as he’s about to race away Degenek hauls him back by the shirt. Countinho has been class tonight.
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47 min: Sandro has a shot from a tight angle on the left after some scrapping for the ball outside the Aussie box winds up with Coutinho. He retrieved the ball from under his feet with a deft shimmy before shuttling it out to Sandro. His shot thwacks the side setting.
Peeep!
46 min: Brazil get us underway and Australia’s defence holds firm. Good start from the Aussies!
Half-time: Australia 0-1 Brazil
Off they go for jelly snakes. I’ll take the opportunity to kiss my daughters good night. Before I go, RJ, to use his basketball name, has reported back from the ’G to say the crowd has grown but the foundations are hardly being tested.
Thoughtfully he has provided the half-time entertainment:
45 min: Silva lets a ball bounce and for just a moment you think Cahill will be able to get on to the end of it but it’s got too much on it and Alves makes an easy pick up on the edge of his area.
43 min: Australia play it out from the back and I must admit they make me nervous when they do. I like idea of playing out from the back but sometimes I can’t help but think, ‘Kick it to the s*&^house, for cryin out loud!’ when I see the opposition bearing down.
42 min: Langerak knuckles away a byline cross/shot from Rafinha after he overlapped on the right.
40 min: Nice triangulation of passing between Kruse, Luongo and Troisi sees the latter belt it from outside the D. He gets good purchase but not the accuracy needed to force a save much less ripple the net.
36 min: Sandro nutmegs Leckie and scoots around him to win the ball back. Noice. But he’s met by Milligan, I think it was, and danger is averted.
34 min: Brazil miss a great chance to double their lead. Left wingback Sandro goes on a jaunt and crosses along the deck to Souza on the edge of Australia’s six-yard box. He cheekily backheels (backheels are ALWAYS cheeky, right?) to Paulinho who shoots over the bar. He should have done better.
33 min: Our man Russell Jackson has news on the crowd: “It’s looking a bit Sheffield Shield. The MCC members is almost empty, save for the balcony, where blankets on laps are the name of the game.”
To be fair he posted that just after kickoff.
30 min: Souza has time to shoot farken from just outside the box but he doesn’t quite get hold of it and it dribbles wide of the posts. His shot came moments after Coutinho bobbed like a cork on the ocean and left a few Aussies bamboozled by his close control.
“Coutinho’s putting in a lovely shift for the Barca scouts,” my mate Todd just said in a text, knowing I’m rather fond of Liverpool.
29 min: Souza has the ball in the net again after Luiz beats his man and slides a ball through to Souza on the edge of the box. Souza, faced with a crouching Langerak chips him beautifully. Ah. But Souza was offside. No doubt.
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28 min: Here’s the opening goal, by the way:
12 SECONDS! What a disaster for the Socceroos. WATCH: pic.twitter.com/fU0IEmIOml
— FOX SPORTS Football (@FOXFOOTBALL) June 13, 2017
26 min: It’s all Brazil at the moment. Nothing pacy or frantic, just calm possession football.
24 min: Two close calls for Australia in succession. First Souza and Giuliano attempt a one-two inside Australia’s box that almost comes off. Moments later, Souza gets into space and strolls to the byline unopposed. He finds Costa in the box but he can’t quite get a clean swing at it.
Brazil could be building to a second.
21 min: Behich fouls a Brazilian and gets a talking to from referee Clattenburg. Coutinho stands over the ball, about 35m out on an angle. Will he whip it in? Nope. He surprises most by passing it backwards. And from there Brazil pass it straight to the Australians. Joga Bonito that ain’t.
20 min: Brazil enjoy a spell of possession after a long ball finds Souza on the right wing. He’s cut off by Wright so Brazil patiently ferry the ball back to their midfield for a regroup.
17 min: Silva clips Cahill’s heels from behind but Australia’s attempt to take it quickly ends up with a turnover of possession. Might have ‘put it in the mixer’ in hindsight.
15 min: Nice play by the Socceroos. Troisi, deep on the left, puts Behich into space ahead of him and he makes a first time cross with his left foot. It’s heading straight to Cahill on the penalty spot until the late intervention of a sliding Caio puts it out for a corner.
14 min: The Socceroos won’t live down that early goal for some time:
I missed the start of #AUSvBRA but if they're only scoring a goal every 12 seconds we should be able to keep it to a sensible 450-0.
— Richard Parkin (@rrjparkin) June 13, 2017
11 min: Australia string together a few passes! Troisi doing well with an incisive pass up the middle. Nothing comes of it, but little steps and all that.
The game is being played at a fairly sedate pace at this stage.
10 min: There’s an echoey kind of grumble coming from the stands as Luiz leans over Cahill from behind like he’s about to hit a cue ball sitting in the middle of a full-size snooker table. Cahill wins the foul.
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7 min: Troisi curls in a free kick from the right and there are three Australians unmarked in front of goal. Leckie misses it, then Cahill send a header wide with only the keeper to beat! Oh, there was an offside call. Wouldn’t have counted anyway. Just as well.
6 min: Didn’t take long:
Australia defending. #AUSvBRA pic.twitter.com/fkhoYmsQML
— West Sydney Football (@WestSydney) June 13, 2017
5 min: Costa chases down a ball towards the Aussie byline by he can’t wrap his foot around it and takes an ungainly air-swing.
3 min: That was Souza’s first goal for Brazil. What a stunning start to this game. Or shocking. Whatever you prefer. If there’s any silver lining to that goal it’s that it still leaves Australia 89 minutes and 48 seconds to find an equaliser. That’s all I’ve got.
Goal! Australia 0-1 Brazil (Souza 12 SECONDS!)
After the kick-off goes back to Bailey Wright at left back he passes ball straight to Giuliano! The No.10 swerves in and out turning Wright into knots and then finds Souza outside him. He shoot across Langerak and scores. That took 12 seconds!
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Peeeep!
1 min: OMG!
Australia in canary yellow. Brazil in blue. Australia kicking off, running left to right on my screen.
As the national anthems ring out I am reminded of watching Scotland play England a few days ago in a World Cup qualifier and noting that during the game at Hampden Park, when the home crowd were looking to inspire their team, they sang Flower of Scotland during the game, unprompted like.
Imagine having an anthem fans would gladly sing, and one that would be considered rousing?
Australia will continue the back three experiment that many Socceroos fans are hardly sold on:
How I feel about the @Socceroos playing a back three #ausvbra pic.twitter.com/Uf1L2xgIbY
— David Hards (@hardsy05) June 13, 2017
The two teams are moseying out onto the pitch doing the hand holding thing with the kids. Plenty of empty seats in the MCG. There won’t be 95,000 here tonight as there was when Brazil played Argentina.
Teams:
Socceroos XI: Langerak; Wright, Sainsbury, Degenek; Milligan, Luongo; Leckie, Kruse, Troisi, Behich; Cahill
Brazil XI: Diego Alves, Rafinha, Thiago Silva, Caio, Alex Sandro, Luiz, Paulinho, Coutinho (c) Giuliano, Souza, Costa
For Australia, plenty of changes from last week. Ange Postecoglou giving some minutes to his other squad members.
So out go Ryan, McGowan, Smith, Jedinak, Juric, Mooy, Rogic and Irvine. In come Langerak, Wright, Behich, Milligan, Luongo, Kruse, Troisi, Cahill.
Mile Jedinak, you may have heard, is out with a groin injury and will also miss the Confederations Cup.
For Brazil, Phillipe Coutinho will captain his country for the first time. Coach Tite has made eight changes to the team that played Argentina t’other night at the same venue.
Chelsea defender David Luiz will start as the holding midfielder, behind Paulinho and Coutinho. Veteran defender Thiago Silva will be partnered by Rodrigo Caio, with Alex Sandro (Juventus) and Rafinha (Bayern Munich) at fullback and Diego Alves in goals.
Jesus is out. He’ll come back, no doubt. But not tonight.
It’s just a friendly tonight, but there are reasons to argue that tonight’s game, at the MCG, is more meaningful than your average friendly.
Firstly, the Socceroos are bound for Russia after tonight’s game. Next week, see, they contest the Confederations Cup where they’ll play Germany, Cameroon and Chile. No idea yet who they’ll meet in the final.
After that Australia have an August 31 World Cup qualifier against Japan in Japan, a game that will have an enormous bearing on whether Australia finishes in the top two in its group to automatically qualify for the big show. If they don’t they’ll be thrown into the Thunderdome of play-offs:
So considering the games to come tonight’s fixture is a chance to work on a few things (not least confidence and cohesion) and build towards considerably more significant matches in the near future. There’s no doubt the Australian players who want to feature in the big matches ahead have plenty of reasons to perform. Robbie Kruse has another. He doesn’t even have a club at the moment.
If that’s not enough to suggest that the game has more meaning than your average friendly (as least for Australia) it’s that tonight’s opponents are Brazil, the top ranked side in world football (though, personally, I think Germany are better).
And remember the last time these two teams played back in 2013?
Preamble
Evening.
The Socceroos are back in action tonight, less than a week since their incandescently brilliant display against Saudi Arabia in last week’s World Cup qualifier in Adelaide. So bright were they, the astronauts orbiting Earth had to don special eyewear (“sunglasses”) to protect their corneas when looking in the direction of Adelaide which, to be fair, is not a direction astronauts tend to look.
Oh, okay, the Socceroos were average, weren’t they? Their passing was wonky, their defending shonky, and although they improved as the game went on, no-one watching would have been surprised had they shipped a late equalizer. I just said that stuff about incandescence because I didn’t want to upset defender Trent Sainsbury, who opined afterwards that everybody is always picking on the Socceroos.
But are they? Or have the Socceroos reached a high enough level now that expectations have been created and the viewers are educated enough to know what’s good football and what isn’t?
Answers to that question can be sent to me: paul.connolly.casual@guardian.co.uk, or @PFConnolly.
Anyhoo...
Paul will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s some team news ahead of kick-off at the MCG.
And the Seleção:
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