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Brazil completed a dramatic turnaround to defeat Australia 3-1 in a frenetic friendly match in Townsville, showcasing both teams ahead of the Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers despite the Socceroos taking an early lead.
1-1 drawThey scored in the third minute on Tuesday and, after a fiery tussle that spilled onto the Socceroos’ bench, found two late goals to break open a skirmish played in front of a sell-out 52,423-strong Suncorp Stadium crowd.
Australia led until the final play in Townsville and will leave Brisbane frustrated after again having chances to notch a famous victory. But, ahead of January’s Asian Cup, the “brave”, incisive shifts under coach Tony Popovic since the World Cup bode well. Both benches got involved in the melee.
“Up until they scored the third goal we were very much in the match, had chances of our own. ” The Socceroos hadn’t even completed a pass when Vanderson threaded a shot from the corner of the box to finish some neat build-up and open the scores. Goalkeeper Patrick Beach saved the Socceroos’ blushes with back-to-back blocks on Raphinha efforts moments later.
The hosts finally settled and threw punches of their own, some creative Jackson Irvine passing putting Nestory Irankunda into dangerous spaces. The reply came in the 28th minute from Alessandro Circati, with the tall defender scrambling a close-range goal from a corner that was cleared on review. Camped outside the box, he defied a lack of time and space to curl a left-footer into the top-right corner and cue delirious Suncorp Stadium scenes.
Gaps remained in a Brazilian unit arguably rattled, coach Carlo Ancelotti remonstrating in the face of the sideline official when Gabriel was booked for tagging Yengi’s foot. The visitors only trailed for 10 minutes though. Harry Souttar downed Danilo Santos in the box and — eventually — conceded a penalty kick well taken by Raphinha.
Irankunda was gifted another late chance in the final seconds of a frenetic first half, but smoked his shot over the bar when Brazil keeper Otavio Costa’s attempted cleared was delivered to his feet. Tensions built then flared with a series of fouls each way, Irankunda earning a yellow for a nasty-looking effort on Danilo.
Australia kept coming and in the 61st minute should have edged ahead again when Circati put his close-range header from another well-taken corner over the bar. Minutes later things became ugly when a push-and-shove between Souttar and Endrick — both yellow-carded for their troubles — spilled to the sideline in front of the Australian bench.
Souttar and Endrick had both gone to ground but Endrick didn’t like it when Souttar pressed on his thigh to help him get back on his feet. Endrick had the last laugh though, laying on an assist for Bruno Guimaraes almost instantly from the restart of play. The fourth wasn’t far behind though, with Irankunda making enough contact just inside the box to fell Vinicius Junior, who sneaked his penalty kick into the left corner.
Brisbane teenager Lucas Herrington watched his late chance to get the Socceroos within a goal slide by the left post.
“Great, entertaining, open game,” Ancelotti, who admitted his surprise at the Socceroos’ press, pressure and organisation, said. “They reacted really well ... put a lot of pressure of us, high intensity and in some moments we had difficulty. ”
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