Socceroos vs Brazil highlights: International friendly live scores, blog

In response to questions regarding player development the Fox commentators hit the nail on the head decrying our loss of physical capacity. The current obsession of small field games for juniors has produced a generation of head down players with no concept of finding space and using the full area of the field (note Sydney FCs run of 'blind young forwards' in recent years).. Brazil constantly switched and made the socceroos run backwards and forwards tiring them out for no reward. (When we tried it Kruse passed cross field from the left wing and then ran right across to receive the pass from the right midfielder he passed to. How dumb is that - obviously closer players couldn't read the possibilities). We could do worse than training up a bunch of coal miners and street thugs with a few class players like the 1974 socceroos.

Punter - A pleasant trip down memory lane indeed. Garrincha (1954) Hamrin (1958) ,Gento (1956-60) Best and Jimmy Johnstone (1967/8),all devastating right and left wingers with uncanny ball ability ,not to mention goalscoring talent.. Come along 1966 and with the WC winner, England, playing without a winger, so another step in the evolution of the game took place.. Puskas had a cannon for a left foot,Di Stefano is probably the most talented footballer I have ever watched, so it is hardly surprising they were regarded in their day as superstars.despite any physical frailties they may have had. Physicality has it's place in the game ,no doubt, but surely last night Coutinho showed that physical size and strength are not a prerequisie to being a good footballer. Actually Slater's comment was actually a repeat of Frank Arok's observation when he took on the national job. Arok,steeped in great football pedigree in his homeland in the Balkans immediately recognised the "flaws" on our players overall game and so concentrated on getting his teams as fit and as fast as possible. Remember he was in the main using local NSL players. Can we still outmatch our opponents in physicality? That is a good question for as long as our teams are based overseas so too is the difficulty in improving their individual fitness and strength. Cheers jb.

It wasn't just the tic a tak football that I picked on Barcelona JB. I agree football has been evolving over the years, but you look at the greats of the 50s & 60s, Pukas & Di Stefano, highly skilled but not actually athletic type. Best & Garrinha, highly skillful, athletic but alcoholics. Now Barcelona had Yaya Toure, one of the best & most skilful players in the EPL for 5 years now as their donkey, their Nobby Stiles, their worker. This is what has changed, Ronaldo, one of the best of his generation, is the first to training & the last to leave & a non drinker. I take Federer v Hewitt in tennis as an example, Federer knew he was the better player, but Hewitt worked harder & stronger in the mind, once Federer got those 2 things in place, Hewitt never beat him again. In football now as seen by the Brazilan side last night, a highly skilled side, but a team with very strong athletic ability & worked hard. This is the reason why Australia these days struggle to match the bigger teams, they have matched our physical ability, hence why such a stupid comment by Slater last night saying we have giving away our advantage. So going back to Barcelona & Spain, yes they had the skills, but now they have brought in the strong minds & work ethic.

Punter - While agreeing with this observation I cannot understand your putting dates and teams as the causes for the change. The game has been moving forward ???? since the 1920's when a coaching revolution on how the game should and could be played took place and many theorists would argue that even since Barca's tic-a -tac team we see huge changes in how the game is approached some 8 years later.. Last night was in my mind a Masters v Apprentices game and showed in stark honesty how far we have to proceed to get our local players up to world standard and I suspect you know where that has to begin,not on the MCG in front of 50,000, but rather on playing fields all around the country at junior levels. The film of last nights game should become mandatory viewing for all rep. teams at all age levels.It showed a world class team actually toying with their opposition all around the field ,and before the howls start,I think the Socceroos performances in the basics of he game,passing and ball movement, was much better than what we witnessed against Saudi. The basic stats of the game tell the story,the Brazilian keeper had about 3 shots from long rang to deal with while at the other end Langarak was showing us what good goalkeeping can be like..But for some excellent 'keeping this score could have been much higher. In Ruiz and Coutinho the crowd witnessed two footballers who are among the world's best and it showed. Can we improve? Of course we can ,all we have to do is to look and learn from these examples presented to us. Cheers jb

Not saying they weren't good, they were never as aggressive & physically intimidating as the side last night. Thanks to Barcelona & Spain, teams have moved on since 2002, it's a different game. This Brazil sides has it's wonderful individuals, Neymar, Coutinho, Williamn, they have good team work & have strong defenders, Brazil are 11 pts clear in the WC qualifying in Sth America.

Just under 50,000 was a great crowd for a friendly featuring a Socceroos side that's still trying to find it's feet. Over to the international friendlies this morning, great scenes at Stade de France for match between Les Bleus and The Three Lions. Supporters singing each other's anthem !

wow, that's big. We shouldn't be surprised really, after the defensive setup Japan played against us.

MASSIVE BREAKING NEWS JAPAN DREW WITH IRAQ. MEANS THEIR LAST GAME AGAINST SA WILL ALSO BE FOR A PLACE IN THE WC

The 3 at the back system actually din't look too bad tonight. A silly first goal, poor defending at corners and a really good team goal through traffic,, none of which were due to a systemic issue. Maybe the first one lacked the extra coverage, but even so, the pass from Wright was poor and deserved to be picked off and scored against. We were well in it for most of the first half, without having the killer instinct in the final third, which is no shame against the World no.1.

The Brazil teams of 15 years ago were Very good. Ronaldo and co were skilful powerful etc They won the 2002 World Cup

Mooy & Rogic each played 11 minutes.

Most of the world is second rate compared to this Brazilian team. They're 9 points ahead of second place in WC2018 qualifying. They will go to Russia as one of the favourites. There's a lot more to said about the fragilities we saw vs Saudi than anything we saw tonight. Not expecting much vs Germany but hopefully we show some quality vs Chile and Cameroon later in the month. In other news, Japan have taken an early lead vs Iraq.

How many in attendance?

Exactly, you see the difference between this Brazil side to those 10-15 years ago, they are not just skillful, they are powerful & athletic. This was what sides like Australia, England used to rely on being fitter & stronger even though we lacked the skill level. Now the skillful teams of Brazil, Spain, have added power & athletic ability to their skill level.

Against Brazil, our players are second rate. Pretty easy to see but nothing Ange can do. Most teams in the world would have looked very ordinary against the Seleção IMO.

We are cooked, absolutely cooked. Holger 2 - the sequel Postecoglou's coaching is an utter shambles. And, Connor, please stop calling them the best team in the world. That's arguable, and that was a second 11 anyway. Call it what it is.

Very poor from the Apples- if they play like that in Russia - Ange will be under pressure - Farina must be smiling now