Good morning all and thank you for joining us as we bring you live coverage of Australia's friendly clash with Brazil at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Victoria.

In a way, this friendly is more important for the Socceroos as they aim to add the finishing touches to their preparations for the Confederations Cup campaign which gets underway against Germany next week. Ange Postecoglou will likely use this final preparation match in order to get a better view of his squad, while getting to test his side against strong opposition.

The Brazilians do not get their World Cup 2018 qualifying march back underway until the autumn and Tite will be using this match to give a run out to a number of players potentially seeking to challenge for a starting role once those games come into view later in the year. The Selecao lost at this ground over the weekend as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of South American rivals Argentina in another friendly.

Prior to that friendly loss against Argentina on Friday, Brazil had won all of their past five qualifying fixtures – including a handsome win over Argentina – as they booked their place in Russia with a number of games remaining in the qualification calendar.

Those expecting to see Brazil's superstars on show this morning will have to do without the likes of Neymar, Roberto Firmino, Marcelo and Casemiro, who have all been given breaks after the conclusion of the European seasons. That said, this Brazil squad does include Thiago Silva, David Luiz and Philippe Coutinho. Manchester City fans might also get the chance to see new keeper Ederson in the flesh today.

Time for some team news now...

BRAZIL STARTING XI: Diego Alves; Rafinha, Silva, Caio, Sandro; Paulinho, David Luiz, Coutinho; Giuliano, Souza, Douglas Costa

BRAZIL SUBSTITUTES: Wagner, Willian, Augusto, Taison, Rodriguinho, Jemerson, Gil, Felipe Luis, Ederson, Fernandinho, Weverton

AUSTRALIA STARTING XI: Langerak; Wright, Sainsbury, Degenek; Milligan; Luongo, Cahill, Troisi, Behich; Kruse, Leckie

AUSTRALIA SUBSTITUTES: Hrustic, Irvine, Juric, Maclaren, D. McGowan, R. McGowan, Mooy, Rogic, Ryan, Vukovic

So the major news for Brazil is that Liverpool playmaker starts as captain for the away side, as he takes up a central midfield role alongside both Paulinho and David Luiz. Brazil are to start with a front three made up of Douglas Costa, Diego Souza and Giuliano.

As for the hosts, a number of players have been rested ahead of the looming clash with Germany, although Everton fans will be pleased to see former fan-favourite and skipper Tim Cahill start for the Socceroos. Mathew Leckie and Robbie Kruse start in attack.

These sides have faced each other five times since 1997 and Brazil have arguably held the upper hand during those contests. The previous encounter between these two saw Brazil run out 6-0 winners in September 2013. Across those past five meetings, Brazil have won three, drawn one and lost one against Australia.

PREDICTION! We have just over ten minutes until the game gets underway and it's time to make a prediction. Despite this being a friendly, Australia will be keen to go into the Confederations Cup with some semblance of confidence, which should make for a hard-fought encounter here. Brazil have rested a number of supreme talents, but they still have more than enough on show this morning to make this game entertaining for any football fan. I'm backing the visitors to get a couple of goals and take the game fairly comfortably: 3-1 to Brazil.

It's interesting to see that regular Aussie skipper Mile Jedinak isn't in the squad at all, perhaps he is being given a rest ahead of the Germany clash. One intriguing sub-plot here might be the emergence of Aaron Mooy from the bench. The Manchester City youngster had an incredible season while on loan at promotion-clinching Huddersfield Town, who will now be playing Premier League football in part due to Moy's guile in their midfield last campaign.

Tactically Brazil might be experimenting this morning. Often in that three-man midfield, Renato Augusto plays deeper and allows Paulinho to venture forward. It begs the question as to whether Coutinho will take that role, or whether Luiz and Paulinho will prove the defensive men and allow their teammate to play a more prominent role in attack. You'd have to imagine it'll be the latter, although let's wait and see...

Right, almost time to go. The players are out on the pitch undertaking the national anthems and then we will be off!

KICKOFF! Here we go... The Socceroos get us moving featuring in all yellow, while Brazil feature in blue and white.

What an earth has happened there? From the kickoff, the hosts aim to move the ball towards the back but Giuliano steals in quickly in order to steal possession. The frontman then advances towards goal to stretch the defence before slotting a perfect through-ball into the path of an overlapping Souza. The youngster gets beyond the defence and only has the keeper to beat, which he does with a drilled finish into the far corner.

The Aussies look all over the shop at the moment and Brazil have approached these opening moments with real zip. The visitors are knocking the ball around with some verve. It's all proving a touch too quick for the shocked home side.

CHANCE! Australia get their first real chance to threaten with a deep ball into the box from a free kick over on the right wing. The ball into the middle is a tricky one and evades all players apart from Wright. The midfielder only has to make decent contact with the ball to send it beyond Alves, but he gets his head in a muddle and somehow skews the ball wide. Luckily for him, the linesman has his flag raised for offside.

At the moment it appears as though both Luiz and Paulinho are doing the keeper work in that midfield three, allowing Coutinho to roam forward when Brazil are in possession. Australia seem to have tightened up slightly after those terrible opening minutes. Still, Brazil are dominating with some neat possessional exchanges in the middle of the pitch.

The home side have made good use of their set-pieces thus far. A needless foul is given away by Sandro on the right, leaving Troisi to lift a delivery into the middle of the box. It looks as though Cahill might get his head to the ball, although Caio does well to get back and head clear at the vital moment.

Coutinho gets his first chance to run at the Aussie defence and he is able to stretch play over on the left flank. The midfielder then cuts inside to bend a pass into the run of Paulinho, who crucially takes a poor touch on the edge of the area to allow Sainsbury to get a foot in and break up the move.

CHANCE! Brilliant work now from the Aussies who bomb down the right channel with 14Troisi, who swings in an almost-perfect delivering for the run of Kruse inside the area. He's waiting for a tap-in, but Silva slides in to diver the ball away for a corner.

The past few moments have seen the Aussies hold the ball nicely on the edge of the Brazilian box, but they just don't have the cutting edge to find a way through. Behich fancies his chances as the creator this time, but his ball into the path of Kruse is quickly cut out by Caio.

Brazil still arguably hold the upper hand at the moment and have dominated possession, although having said that Australia have looked dangerous from set-pieces and have threatened on more than one occasion.

Australia sense a counter when Brazil to try to lift a free kick into the area. The ball is cleared to Kruse who aims to gallop away on the break. It looks as though Leckie might just be away into the Brazilian half, but Douglas Costa gets a foot on the ball just as Kruse is about to make the pass. Close!

Brazil almost turn it on with some remarkable team play. Coutinho and Giuliano combine with some fantastic back-heeling, although the latter is challenged before getting his shot away. Souza then shows a brilliant turn of pace to get beyond the home defence before his ball across the face of goal is well defended by Degenek, who is able to hold off the challenge of Giuliano.

That early goal threatened to make this into a walkover, but Australia have battled hard and offered some good residence going forward too. You get the feeling a moment of brilliance from the Brazilians is lurking just around the corner, though...

SHOT! The pace of the game just dips and Costa is allowed room to move just outside of the Aussie box. Instead of aiming for the pass, the frontman winds up from the edge of the area, although he drags his shot wide without troubling Langerak.

MISS! Tite will be fairly pleased with his side's work at the moment, although Luiz and Paulinho don't need to be so deep at times. It's almost as if they're setup to play on the break. The away side move forward with real pace now as Costa shows some wonderful skill to beat his marker and send a delivery into the middle. The ball breaks beyond the attempts of the Aussie backline before falling to Paulinho, who gets his feet in a right mess as he spoons his effort over the bar. That should've been their second of the game...

There he is! Cahill has been pretty quiet in this first half but finally makes his mark on the game with a rather naughty challenge on Rafinha. It's probably not card-worthy in a contest like this, but the former Everton man goes in with some real heft on the full-back.

Troisi has offered glimmers in this opening half and this time he comes into space off the right flank. For some reason Sandro continues to back away opening up room for the shot, leaving the winger to send his effort across the deck and wide of Alves in the Brazilian goal.

CLOSE! On the rare occasions Rafinha has got down the right he has looked quite dangerous. The full-back has the beating of his marker and chips a great delivery into the middle, although Sainsbury hoofs away with both Coutinho and Souza lurking.

So Mark Clattenburg brings an end to an entertaining half of football at the MCG. This game has hardly looked like a friendly and both sides have put in the hard yards in the first period. Souza's smart finish separates the sides after a blistering start from the Brazilians, although Australia have looked far improved from those opening minutes and have provided strong resistance to Tite's men.

This will be the kind of workout Ange Postecoglou wanted from his side's final friendly before the Confederations Cup. His side have defended solidly against a side with some rather remarkable talent going forward. The home side have also threatened at points, especially when getting the chance to deliver from set-pieces.

We could be expecting plenty of changes during the interval as per with these sort of friendlies. Hopefully we get the same quality as we did in the first half... It's been very competitive thus far.

SECOND HALF! We're back underway here in Victoria as Brazil get us moving again....

Brazil have started positively again as Coutinho comes across the box before feeding the run of Sandro on the left. The full-back comes inside to wind up an effort on goal, leaving his shot to skim the outside netting. Good movement from both players there...

Proceedings have settled into much the same pace as that on show in the first half. The visitors are still trying to force things, although Australia are standing firm and pressing positively inside the Brazilian half.

SHOT! A simple ball is lumped forwards towards Douglas Costa, who is able to win the knock-down. Souza follows up with a drive on his right foot. Thankfully for the home side, Degenek is there to make a clever block and stop the shot from testing Langerak.

It's all Brazil at the moment and this time the threat comes through the pace of Costa on the left channel. He beats the full-back with relative ease and swings in a cross the run of Coutinho. The Liverpool man is busting a gut to reach it, but Sainsbury is there first and Australia clear. This is proving to be great defensive practice for the hosts ahead of their opening game with Germany next week.

SUBSTITUTIONS: Australia make their first changes of the game as Cahill is replaced by Jamie Maclaren in midfield, while Jackson Irvine comes on for Sainsbury. Ajdin Hrustic also takes the place of Leckie. For Brazil, Taison comes on to give Costa a rest.

Coutinho continues to try and prize open the Australian defence, this time down the right side of the box. Having beaten the defender, he drills the ball across the face of goal before winning a corner.

The away side have a second and it's probably no more than they deserve following consistent pressure in this half. From the corner, Luiz strikes the crossbar with a powerful header after getting the better of his marker. The ball drops in the box and it is Silva who reacts quickest under pressure, leaping early and hanging in the air before nodding the ball over the line despite intense pressure from a number of Australian defenders. Great composure...

Luiz can be invaluable at times, even when going forward. The Chelsea defender breaks with possession from midfield and continues to charge at the home defence. The defenders continue to retreat and part, but Luiz is unable to find the pass required to find the run of Souza, who looks a tad miffed as the ball is hit far too long to cause any problems.

SAVE! Following the goal, Willian comes on to replace Coutinho and also makes an instant impact. The winger belts down the right channel unmarked on the counter and is clever enough to slip a pass inside to meet the run of Souza between two defenders. The striker goes for the finish first time, but his effort thunders straight into a grateful Langerak.

SAVE! Brazil appear to be playing with a little more concision in this second half. This time substitute Taison picks up the ball on the break and the Australian defenders have absolutely no answer for his pace. The Brazilian beats two men and is able to move unchallenged into the box. He has just Langerak to beat, although his poked effort is blocked by the Aussie stopper.

My word that is devastating from Brazil. The away side consolidate possession on the edge of the area before Paulinho is released into the box by Willian. The midfielder moves forward towards goal before producing the finest of back-heels to pick out an almost-unmarked Taison. The substitute makes no mistake with his finish, simply passing with force beyond Langerak and into the far corner. Game over.

The Aussies have fought hard for much of this encounter, but as predicted the Brazilians have had just too much firepower, especially when being able to make so many devastating substitutions: Willian, Taison and a number of others too.

Brazil come forward in numbers now with the home side looking spent. The ball is moved to Taison in space on the left side of the box, but he differs with perhaps too much time and space. He should really shoot although instead decides to lay the ball off for Rodriguinho and Australia somehow clear.

Brazil are still moving the ball about with pace and despite the scoreline Australia are pulling their socks up until the bitter end. The hosts will surely be pleased with this runout despite the scoreline. They have had to defend for most of this second half and that might stand them in good stead with Germany on the horizon.

CHANCE! Almost a fourth the visitors... Willian combines brilliantly with Taison and the Chelsea man receives a standout through-ball after the one-two. The winger has just the keeper to beat, leaving Langerak to make a terrific save at short notice down low towards his near post.

Two minutes of added time in Victoria...

From a corner in the dying embers of the game, Souza is allowed far too much room and is able to head beyond a disappointed Langerak. The keeper enjoyed an impressive game and has still found himself conceding four goals. This run-out will have done the Aussies no harm and they defended impressively at points. That's going to be all from me today, thank you for joining us!