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Brazil face Australia in their first of two friendlies against the Socceroos over the next five days as Carlo Ancelotti’s side look to put their disappointing World Cup behind them.
Dreams of a first World Cup title since 2002 were shattered by Erling Haaland in the summer, whose late double in New Jersey sunk the five-time winners in the last-16.
Neymar, who scored a last-second consolation penalty in that defeat, subsequently retired to signal a new era for the Selecao, and Ancelotti has shown his intention to rebuild by selecting just nine players from the World Cup roster.
Australia will hope to inflict more misery on Brazil in back-to-back matches on home soil, first taking them on in Townsville, Queensland before heading south for the rematch in Brisbane.
Follow all the action from Australia v Brazil below:
Brazil have fallen from their pedestal and the way back to the elite will be long and painful
Following Brazil’s last-16 World Cup exit Carlo Ancelotti must rebuild the Selecao to bring back their glory days.
Australia v Brazil
The players are in Queensland and are ready for this contest.
Can Australia challenge the might of Brazil?
Brazil team to face Australia
Brazil XI: Souza; Matheuzinho, Marquinhos, Vitor Reis; Douglas Santos, Danilo Santos, Bruno Guimaraes; Raphinha, Estevao, Vinicius Jr; Endrick
Australia team to take on Brazil
Australia XI: Beach; Italiano, Circati, Souttar, Herrington, Behich; Irvine, Okon-Engstler, Metcalfe; Irankunda, Yengi
Starting again
Brazil’s exit at the last-16 stage if the 2026 World Cup was the earliest they’ve been eliminated from the competition since the 1990 edition.
It was a thoroughly disappointing campaign and Carlo Ancelotti has moved on.
He has selected a squad without the likes of Casemiro or even Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson as he eyes up the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the 2030 World Cup.
The manager hopes to build and embed a spine into his team for the latter tournament so that they are well placed to compete.
Ancelotti on disappointing World Cup
We he named his new squad for the two friendlies against Australia, Carlo Ancelotti also reflected on Brazil’s World Cup performance.
“The World Cup was a disappointment for us and for me personally,” Ancelotti said.
“We weren’t able to play the way we expected. Being eliminated by Norway was a huge letdown because the team had actually played well up until the 60th minute of that match.
“We struggled in the first half, but the team improved after that. The defeat to Norway came as a surprise in that sense, because no one expected it to happen.
“At a club, you have the chance to process things and move on relatively quickly because there’s another competition coming up; with the national team, it’s more complicated.
“The pain of the defeat lingers much longer. Now, we are motivated by the fact that we have time to prepare for a new cycle and get ready for the upcoming competitions.”
Where to watch the match in the UK
Unfortunately there are no broadcasters showing the game live in the United Kingdom.
Highlights from the game will be shown on Football Australia YouTube channel after the full-time whistle.
The Independent will live blog the match which you can follow right here.
Ancelotti makes sweeping changes to Brazil squad
Carlo Ancelotti is wasting no time moving on from the disappointment of the World Cup and has made sweeping changes to the 26-man squad that featured in the tournament this summer.
Casemiro and Fabinho are amongst the big names to be excluded with Ancelotti selecting players eligible for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Douglas Santos, Gabriel Magalhaes, Marquinhos, Bruno Guimaraes, Danilo Santos, Vinicius Junior, Raphinha, Endrick, Rayan are the only players to survive the cull.
Where is the friendly being played?
Australia host Brazil in an international friendly at the Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Friday 25 September 25.
Kick-off is scheduled for 11am UK time.
The match will be followed by a second friendly taking place on Tuesday 29 September in Brisbane.
Good morning!
Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of this international break.
Last night we had action from the Nations League involving teams from Europe but today we’re bringing you the action from a friendly between Australia and Brazil.
Both nations had contrasting fortunes in the World Cup.
Australia exceeded expectations having made it out of the group stage before losing on penalties to Egypt in the last-32 while Brazil were beaten in the last-16 having lost 2-1 to Norway. It was another underperformance from the Selecao who must now rebuild over the next four year cycle.
We’ll have all the latest news, updates and action from the friendly so stick with us as we build up to kick off at 11am.





