Vanderson scores early as Brazil face Australia in second friendly

Second meeting after a late draw

Brazil and Australia met again on Tuesday, September 29, at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Queensland - the second match of this FIFA international window. In the first game, played on Friday, September 25, in Townsville, Brazil was losing until virtually the final whistle, when Rayan headed home a corner to secure a 1-1 draw.

Kick-off was set for around 20:00-20:10 local time (sources differ slightly on the exact minute), roughly 7:10 a.m. in Brazil.

Vanderson opens the scoring

Monaco right-back Vanderson put Brazil ahead with a fine strike just two minutes into the match. He was called into the squad to replace Roma's Wesley, who was cut after picking up an injury in a match against Inter Milan. A product of Grêmio's academy, Vanderson left the Brazilian club in 2021 following its relegation to Série B. Monaco paid around 11 million euros (roughly R$70 million at the time) to sign him. He has since made 155 appearances for the French club, scoring eight goals and providing 16 assists.

Ancelotti shuffles the lineup

After an underwhelming performance in the opener, coach Carlo Ancelotti made several changes. Cruzeiro's Otávio made his debut in goal, while Vanderson, Jair, Gabriel Magalhães and Mauro Júnior started in defense. The midfield featured Bruno Guimarães, Danilo Santos and Gabriel Bontempo, while up front Rayan and Vinícius Júnior played wide with Raphinha through the middle - a role in which he has scored 14 goals and added three assists in eight matches for Barcelona this season. Rayan started, with Andrey Santos and Douglas Luiz held in reserve. Australia's coach, Popovic, was expected to keep much of the side that impressed in Townsville, including goalscorer Irankunda.

Head-to-head record and predictions

The two teams have met nine times, with Brazil winning six, drawing two and losing once. Australian outlet SBS predicted a 2-1 Brazil win before kick-off. Separately, Brazilian site tmc.com.br asked three AI tools to forecast the result: ChatGPT predicted a 2-1 Brazil victory, Gemini predicted another 1-1 draw, and Claude forecast a 3-0 Brazil win.

After Australia, Brazil travels to India, where it will face the hosts for the first time ever on October 3 in Kolkata. Two more friendlies are scheduled for November in Singapore, against Japan on November 14 and against the hosts on November 17.