The Socceroos have fallen to a 4-2 defeat against Brazil in front of 52,423 fans at Lang Park in Brisbane.
Fresh from a superb performance in Townsville on Friday night, the Socceroos will once again take plenty from a contest that ebbed and flowed throughout 90 thoroughly engaging minutes.
With Tony Popovic naming an unchanged team for just the second time in his tenure, it seems likely that this XI is the one that will start the Asian Cup in January.
On the basis of what they showed against the number five team in the world, they should serve Australia very well indeed.
Australia fell behind early to a Brazil team that came out the blocks firing, scoring through a superb Vanderson strike in the opening three minutes.
They could have fallen even further behind when Pat Beach pulled off two sensational saves to twice deny Raphinha just a couple of minutes later.
The Socceroos had barely had control of the ball at that stage, the promised response from a badly burned Brazil team in full evidence.
However, the hosts showed superb composure and self-confidence to hit back, gradually regaining control in the midfield and scoring two goals in the space of four minutes to take the lead mid way through the first half.
Alessandro Circati turned home a corner at the back post, a goal initially ruled out for offside before VAR intervened.
Connor Metcalfe’s stunner gave the Socceroos the lead. (Getty Images: Albert Perez)
Then, Connor Metcalf prompted an explosion of joy from the home fans in the stands by drilling home a magnificent strike just minutes later, taking a touch and hammering a left-footed shot into the top corner from the edge of the area.
The pressure was clearly getting to Brazil, with the normally Imperturbable Carlo Ancelotti screaming into the face of the assistant referee after Tete Yengi was fouled.
The visitors drew level on the stroke of half time, first of two penalties awarded to the visitors converted by skipper Raphinha after another lengthy VAR review when the referee inexplicably failed to give a penalty after Harry Souttar made a rough challenge.
Tempers threatened to boil over in the second half when Endrick and Souttar clashed, Aziz Behich coming in a sparking a small melee in front of the Socceroos bench.
That finally sparked Brazil, who turned the style back on as Bruno Guimarães finished a sumptuous move from the left to give the visitors the lead.
Vinícius Júnior was then fouled in the penalty area and converted to seal the victory in front of the biggest football crowd ever at Lang Park.
“Honestly, they [the Socceroos] press really well,” Ancelotti said.
“They are really well organised, they surprised us in this sense.
“They put much more pressure in the front and we had difficulty to build from the back.
“They are a very good team, in my opinion.”
Follow all the action from Lang Park in our live blog.
Live updates: Socceroos vs Brazil
Thanks for being with us
And that is where we shall wrap things up this evening.
Thanks very much for being with us today.
It’s been a great window for the Socceroos.
Tony Popovic says there is room for improvement, but that might come by November and thanks are looking positive ahead of the Asian Cup.
Thanks for being with us and we’ll speak to you again real soon.
Popovic hails the whole squad
Tony Popovic has wrapped up his press conference by saying that you could pick out the entire squad for those who impressed this week.
Popovic hails another ‘ big step forward’ for the Socceroos
Tony Popovic is speaking now.
He says that the team have taken another step forward.
“At the World Cup, it was a first for everything.
“There were a lot of young players.
“This was another step forward for us, against outstanding players.”
What has changed for the Socceroos since then?
“The confidence from playing at the highest level, They saw that they could compete against the biggest nations at the World Cup,” he says.
“Today we went behind very early … and you are playing Brazil.
“But we responded in a fantastic manner.”
Why is that aggression?
“It’s probably more them than me,” he says.
Ancelotti: Australia are a ‘really good national team’
Carlo Ancelotti is asked about whether he liked Australia.
“I like the weather, first,” he says.
“I didn’t have the opportunity to look more.”
Now, and more importantly, he’s asked about the Socceroos.
“They played differently today,” he says.
“Honestly they press really well.
“They are really well organised, they surprised us in this sense.
“They put much more pressure in the front and we had difficulty to build from the back.
“They are a very good team, in my opinion..
“There are no easy games in modern football.
“We may have more quality than them but they are very well organised.
“Really good national team.”
And with that, he is off.
Thanks for visiting, Don Carlo.
Ancelotti faces the Brazilian press
The Brazilian press are now asking their questions – with Ancelotti answering in Portuguese.
The translator is doing his best to look useful, in fairness to him.
Nothing is being translated into English, which is fair.
Ancelotti must have sat through thousands of these in his career, and he looks to be taking questions that, based on facial expressions, could be curly.
‘It was a good game’: Carlo Ancelotti
Here is the great Carlo Ancelotti.
“It was a very entertaining game, an open game,” he says.
“Australia tried to attack, we tried to attack.
“From our side it was a good game, we started well, went down and reacted really well.
“The game was competitive until the end.
“Australia put a lot of pressure on us, playing with high intensity.
“In the end, we were able to show play with good intensity.”
He now delivers the same (or at least similar) response in Portuguese, cutting off the translator with a small wave of his hand.
What a guy.
A harsh but fair assessment
Some undisciplined moments cost us in 2nd half. Behich didn’t need to start the melee that fired up Brazil and Irunkunda didn’t need to put a foot in for the penalty. 1%ers that can make a huge difference. Hope lessons are learnt.
– stumcin
Behich is always ready to spoil a fight – and he was very eager to get involved there.
I am surprised that he didn’t get booked to be honest.
But the game did get a bit fractious in that second half as the tension ramped up.
I think the penalty was tough on Irankunda to be honest – yes he caught Vinícius Júnior, but it was a fractional touch. Enough for a penalty, yes, but the risk you run when trying to challenge such a tricky player in the penalty area like that.
But as you quite rightly say stumcin, that’s the difference sometimes.
Press conferences
We’ll keep the blog open while we wait for the press conferences to get underway.
There’s a solid contingent of Brazilian journalists here – I’ll be fascinated to hear what they thought of the performance from Brazil.
FT: Socceroos fall to a brave, entertaining defeat
A thrilling contest comes to an end.
The biggest crowd for a football (soccer) match in Lang Park’s history has witnessed a thriller, full of entertainment and quality.
A great game.
Plenty to look back on fondly for the Socceroos, despite the defeat.
87′ Chance Socceroos!
It was from a corner – of course it was.
And Lucas Herrington poked the ball towards goal and it just trickled the wrong side of the post!
What a homecoming that would have been for the man who was playing his club football here in front less than 10,000 people just a year ago.
Attendance: 52,423
That’s a big crowd.
80′ GOAL BRAZIL!
Vinícius Júnior slots the penalty.
Pat Beach again got close.
But it’s a solid penalty and Brazil celebrate down at the Milton Road end with their supporters.
79′ Penalty Brazil
Vinícius Júnior down the left.
He cuts into the penalty area and goes down.
It was Nestory Irankunda who clipped him.
It’s given straight away, despite Jackson Irvine’s protestations. It’s soft, but it is a penalty.
78′ Chance Socceroos
Another brilliant move, Vinícius Júnior down the left causing all sorts of trouble.
He centres the ball and this time it’s Harry Souttar who blocks the goal-bound effort from Edrick on the cut back.
77′ Chance Socceroos!
That’s a lovely ball forward for Yengi, but the tall striker can’t get the ball out from under his feet and the ball is cleared!
76′ CHANCE BRAZIL!
More brilliant football from Brazil.
Vinícius Júnior gets the ball on the left, drives to the penalty area and plays in Estêvão, whose first time, left footed effort is superbly saved by Beach.
74′ Chance Brazil
More lovely, flowing football from Brazil results in a chance inside the Socceroos penalty area.
The Socceroos defence gets back though and forces a corner.
That corner is swept in and, despite there being a scramble in the box, the Socceroos clear.
69′ Brazil take the lead!
A sumptuous flowing move!
Vinícius Júnior was played in down the left side.
He passed inside to Endrick, who centred to Bruno Guimarães, who slides and slots home.
Great goal.
That was very good football from Brazil.
67′ Souttar and Endrick have both been booked
dan