It took Brazil 95 minutes to find the breakthrough against this same opponent four days ago, but they were ahead in the third minute this time, after Vanderson took one touch to control the ball and another to lash it into the top corner.
This did nothing to shake Tony Popovic’s counter-attacking game plan, and although the visitors settled into a pattern of sustained possession, they had to scramble to block Tete Yengi’s effort after a marauding Jackson Irvine run. Jair Cunha also needed to show an impressive turn of pace to chase down livewire Nestory Irankunda, scorer of a stunning free-kick last time out.
A pinpoint pass from Bruno Guimaraes gave Vinicius Junior the chance to boost Brazil’s advantage, but an uncharacteristically loose touch let him down at the vital moment. Yet on the whole, chances were at a premium for Carlo Ancelotti’s side, and in truth, it was no more than the hosts deserved when Alessandro Circati improvised a cute little flick to equalise from a corner.
The effort was initially chalked out for offside, but VAR spotted that the initial touch came off a Brazilian head. Incredibly, it was 2-1 to Australia before half-time, after Connor Metcalfe unleashed a left-footed rocket beyond Otavio from the edge of the box.
But the Socceroos could not quite make it to the break with their lead intact, as VAR once again got involved to penalise Harry Souttar after a rash challenge on Danilo in the box.
Raphinha converted the resulting spot-kick, chalking up his 15th goal of the season already.
He was withdrawn at the interval, and his replacement Endrick nearly made a quick impact, slaloming through the defence and setting up Vini Jr.
But the Real Madrid star’s effort was blocked behind for a corner, and Gabriel Magalhaes’ subsequent effort was well saved by Patrick Beach.
At the other end, it took a last-ditch Brazilian intervention to knock the ball away from Irvine at the far post, before Circati nodded a free header over the bar from about three yards out from the resulting corner.
Irvine then had a reasonable-looking penalty shout turned down, and the so-called friendly soon began to boil over, with Endrick and Souttar involved in a clash that set tempers flaring on both sides.
It was Ancelotti’s men who recovered their composure fastest, Guimaraes getting on the end of a Vini Jr cutback to make it 3-2.
This goal finally put an end to Australia’s staunch resistance, and chances began to flow for the away side. Irvine was fortunate to survive a penalty appeal, and Irankunda was not so lucky when he felled Vini Jr, who dusted himself off to convert from the spot and put the result beyond any doubt.
Ancelotti now moves to 11 wins from his first 19 matches in charge of Brazil, although he is still yet to fully convince. Conversely, Popovic certainly won’t be judged too harshly for what is now a five-game winless sequence (D2, L3).
Flashscore Man of the Match: Bruno Guimaraes (Brazil)