Live updates: Matildas vs Brazil in Brisbane, Clare Polkinghorne farewell

This defensive effort is not good enough from the Matildas.

They are being carved open down the left side.

Again there is so much space between the defenders as the cross comes in, this time Hunt getting her head to the ball and taking the chance away from the visitors.

Now though, Mackenzie Arnold is down – I didn’t see what happened there to be honest, but it gives the players a chance to regroup over in the corner, where Tom Sermani is giving some serious words of advice.

Brilliant from Brazil.

From defending at one end to scoring at the other.

Aline Gomes picked up the ball on the left after the blue-clad Brazilians counter attack.

She passes inside to Amanda Gutierres, whose first time shot sneaks past Arnold into the corner of the goal.

Impressive.

The Brazilians lead 2-0.

Foord can’t get the ball out from under her feet and lays off to Catley.

Catley’s shot though is blocked.

It is Brazil who are doing all the running at the moment.

This time it’s there skipper, Yasmim, who lets fly from range, her shot is well saved by Arnold though.

Lovely work from Ellie Carpenter, who attempted to play the ball inside to a racing Caitlin Foord, but ended up latching onto the rebound.

She instead linked up with Catley, who passed the ball in deftly to the byline, but her cross is blocked.

The Brazilians counter from the corner and are almost in again, but the flag goes up for offside as Arnold does well to come out and smother the chance.

Amanda Gutierres with the opener to silence the home support!

Gutierres latched onto a through ball, Mackenzie Arnold came out to try and snuff out the opportunity and was caught in no woman’s land.

It only took a deft little switch of the feet to take the ball past the diving keeper and a pass into the goal from an acute angle.

Great start for the visitors.

Not a bad effort, the Matildas move the ball nicely to Hayley Raso in the middle, but her shot from outside the area is blocked almost at source.

Aline Gomes cuts back inside from the left after a decent run that has Alanna Kennedy backtracking.

She shoots low across Mackenzie Arnold, who makes a solid save.

We’re underway in Brisbane, a very decent crowd in attendance.

Three at the back for the Matildas, Polkinghorne at the centre, Clare Hunt and Alanna Kennedy either side of her.

Winni Heatley is playing in a number six role in front of the back three.

Let’s hope so.

And, personally, I hope she gets more than a cursory 15 minutes or so, like Alexandra Popp did for Germany in the Matildas last match.

A solid half an hour would be good, if not a whole hour would be better, to be honest.

The Matildas have not lost to Brazil since the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympic Games.

There, Brazil won 7-6 on penalties after a goalless draw at the Mineirão in in Belo Horizonte.

The sides have met 21 times since 1988, with the Aussies winning 11 of those matches, with eight defeats and two draws.

Polkinghorne looks surprised that they want to hear from her.

But she steps up to the mic anyway.

“Just a few quick words for me because we’ve got a game to get on with,” she says.

“It’s so special for me to be here and to celebrate in front of my home fans, in a city I grew up and in a stadium that I absolutely love.

“And this team has
been everything to me. And it’s been a hell of a journey and I’m very thankful for everything that everyone has done along the way.

“So thank you very much and let’s get on with it.”

Well said, Clare.

Time for the national anthems.

The entire Matildas non-starting squad is lined up to the left of the players tunnel.

Clare Polkinghorne’s family is lined up to the right.

It’s a wonderful tribute to one of Queensland, and Australia’s, finest players.

The players march out onto the field and a visibly emotional Clare Polkinghorne comes out on her own.

This is a really wonderful, emotional moment.

She is being presented a jersey by another Queensland legend, one of the few who can hold a candle to Polks, in fairness, Darren Lockyer.

Now, standing by her family, she watches a video from her teammates celebrating her Matildas career.

Caitlin Foord has arrived in camp in excellent form for Arsenal, and she’s hoping that she can

“The ultimate goal is the Asian Cup next for us,” she told the FA.

“So it’s a great time to see players and keep pushing the team forward.”

She acknowledged that despite Australia’s impressive record against Brazil in recent years, the Olympic silver medallists will be a tough test.

“We have a lot of history with Brazil, from major tournaments and knockout games,” she said.

“So it’s going to be a great opportunity for us, and a great challenge to come up against them, and do it here as well.

“It’ll be a good game.”

Still a bit of time before kick off, but the crowd is really flooding into Lang Park.

Looks and sounds like there are a lot of young kids in attendance as well, which is always what we want to see – even if it means a few late nights.

These matches are “only” friendlies, but nevertheless, they are still important as the Matildas gear up to the home Asian Cup in 2026.

That being said, the workload on players across the board is starting to get out of hand – and there have been a number of withdrawals from the squad for these internationals.

“That’s the way the game is going. There’s a lot more games, there’s a lot more demands on us to play,” Caitlin Foord told Football Australia earlier this week.

“I mean, this is where every female footballer has wanted the game to go. The scheduling – that’s obviously up to the leagues and the federations to discuss on how that should be, but for us to play and play games is all we’ve ever wanted.

“We have that support. We have the networks you need, if it’s mental, physical support you need, we have options for all of that. As it should be, everyone has that option to get the support that they need.”

Mary Fowler pulled out of these friendlies against Brazil and Chinese Taipei to focus on her mental and physical health, just days after Cortnee Vine made herself unavailable.

Katrina Gorry and Clare Wheeler will both be absent through injury.

Coach Tom Sermani told ABC Breakfast this morning that player welfare was the most important thing.

“It is simple, if a player is in that frame of mind, it is important that they take the time to recover,” he said.

“We as an organisation, completely support that and do our best to make sure they come back fit and healthy and ready to play.”

You can read more here.

Things went pretty well for the Matildas last time they took the field in Germany.

One of the all time great goals from Kyra Cooney-Cross and a late header from Clare Hunt handed the Tillies a 2-1 victory over the Olympic bronze medal winners in Duisburg.

“That was a really good confidence booster for the players,” Tom Sermani told ABC Breakfast this morning.

“The important thing for any team that wants to keep
improving is to make sure we can back up that performance and hopefully it wasn’t a one off.”

Read more from that match here, if you wish.

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All the Matildas players are wearing special Clare Polkinghorne t-shirts to warm up in.

It’s a nice touch.