Australia v Ecuador: international football friendly – live | Soccer

45 mins: The board goes up with three minutes of stoppage time displayed as McGree goes down in the box for a stonewall penalty – that isn’t given! The Australian brought a looping ball to ground, pushed it around the defender, went to chase after it only to be blocked from doing so.

42 mins: Franco again threatens, from much closer range this time, but the ball is smuggled away at the near post after a dangerous cross from Estupinan. Devlin is then penalised for putting Caicedo on the deck, again. That has been a ding-dong battle.

40 mins: Franco drills wide from long range after Australia fail to get the ball safely from defence into midfield. It’s all a bit harum scarum and lacking in composure at that end of the pitch.

38 mins: Australia haven’t looked much chop playing out from the back. There isn’t much quality in possession or patterns of play. However, in broken field and applying the press they look aggressive, focussed and very threatening. There is an old fashioned hunger to the performance, especially from the front five.

36 mins: Somoza again fails to do the business. After good work on the left by Estupinan the No 10 dwells on his shot from inside the D and Deng charges down and behind for a corner.

34 mins: Irvine just whacks a bloke from behind in midfield, takes ball and all, and sets McGree free down the left, but his cross is deflected away from the predatory Metcalfe. This has been a very robust half.

32 mins: More contact, more concern for a Socceroo, this time Wright who comes off second best in a mid-air collision with Estupinan. That was a heavy fall, but the Rotherham United loanee is good to continue.

30 mins: Devlin is back into the fray, and immediately upended by Caicedo. The latter is then central to a beautiful move down the right that ends with Preciado cutting the ball back to Somoza, who lashes a very good opportunity into upper tier of seating at the Lockett End. He should have done much better.

28 mins: Devlin is up and bandaged but there is blood all over his shirt and the physio is holding a rag to the midfielder’s face that’s gone from white to claret.

26 mins: I spoke too soon. Australia up the intensity of their press and win three turnovers in quick succession. Metcalfe can’t capitalise from the first, and by the last, Devlin has his right eyebrow split open when he slides in and collects the knee of Estupinan in the process. That looked gruesome.

25 mins: After 20 or so minutes of quite frantic fare, things have settled down.

23 mins: Gauci again! Soroza with the through-ball, Rodriguez too quick and too strong for Deng, but for the second time tonight he can’t beat Gauci one-on-one. The young keeper saves smartly again from the corner, with a header straight in his direction.

21 mins: Caicedo has been busy in the opening exchanges, and he knows he’s in a proper battle. Despite being one of the leading midfielders in the Premier League he has committed a stack of fouls already and found himself hassled whenever he receives possession. No questioning either side’s commitment to this “friendly”.

19 mins: That was a terrific swift direct goal. Arnold has conditioned his team to go forward at all times, and to do so as fast as possible. After outmuscling Caicedo in midfield they try to repeat the trick with Irvine once again critical, but this time the finish from Metcalfe is poor.

GOAL! Australia 1-0 Ecuador (Borrello, 16)

14 mins: Australia string a few passes together and look dangerous until McGree’s through-ball is cutout. However, it’s almost as though that’s part of Graham Arnold’s fiendish plan because the Socceroos look most dangerous with their rapid counter-press. They soon nick the ball from Ecuador’s defence but Irvine is now awarded a free-kick after being bundled over on the edge of the box.

11 mins: There are turnovers aplenty all over the field with the ball pinging from side to side at speed. Twice Australia get away with conceding possession, the latter, by Behich in his own box, forces Gauci into another save, this time from Preciado.

9 mins: This game is being played refreshingly briskly and with no shortage of physicality. Both sides try to exploit broken play, but it’s the vision of Goodwin that almost opens the game with a sweeping crossfield ball that’s cut out well. Australia continue to push and eventually the cross is slung over for Irvine to glance wide.

7 mins: McGree is caught in possession and loses the ball in midfield, leaving a foot in on Caicedo for good measure. Rodriguez is alert to the opportunity, but Somoza’s snapshot is charged down by Deng.

5 mins: Joe Gauci, take a bow son! On debut, the young keeper shows his worth on the international stage, diving low to his left to tip Rodriguez’s effort around the post with the Ecuador striker bearing down on goal. La Tri caught the Australian defence napping from a throw-in but the No 8 could not find the back of the net.

3 mins: And now a couple of sorties from the home side with the high press that worked so well on Saturday again executed with devilment. On the first occasion McGree, Metcalfe, Goodwin and Irvine linked up well but it’s all a bit hurried. Then Borello has a sniff, and from the resulting corner McGree slashes miles over.

1 min: Ecuador enjoy some neat early touches but Franco can’t keep the ball in at the byline.

Kick-off!

Andrew Howe, Australian football’s guardian of the stats, has dropped this banger @AndyHowe_statto.

Tonight is the first time four Adelaide-born players have started together for Australia (Borrello, Gauci, Goodwin, McGree). Three started together in October 2000 (Paul Agostino, John Aloisi, Tony Vidmar), while Aloisi, Aurelio & Tony Vidmar started a few times together late 1990s.

Following the Welcome to Country, there’s a minute’s silence to commemorate the life of Socceroo cap no 198, Manfred Schaefer, who died today.

The teams are out on the pitch, Australia led by Jackson Irvine in gold jerseys, green shorts and white socks, Ecuador shepherded by Pervis Estupiñán in navy shirts, white shorts and navy socks.

The roof is closed tonight at Marvel Stadium, which may go some way to retaining the noise from what appears to be an underwhelming crowd. I’m not sold on this idea of a “homecoming” tour, but then, I am a curmudgeon.

Opta have furnished us with some stats.

• Australia have scored three goals in each of their two previous men’s internationals against Ecuador, picking up a win and a loss from those two fixtures including a 3-1 win when these teams met four days ago.

• This will be just the second time in the last five years that Australia have faced the same team in two consecutive men’s internationals; each of the last three times it’s occurred the Socceroos have won the second of the two games.

• Ecuador have lost their last two men’s internationals in succession after having lost only one of their 17 previous games as a team (W6 D10); they’ve not lost three straight games since June 2021.

• Australia have conceded more shots at goal than they’ve made in each of their last five men’s internationals after having made at least as many shots as their opposition in nine of their 11 games prior; they were outshot 10-12 in their last game against Ecuador.

• Awer Mabil (Australia) has scored one goal in each of his last three starts for the Socceroos in men’s internationals, including one goal in the Socceroos’ last game against Ecuador.

Back to Jackson Irvine – he has a tattoo of Lou Reed from the cover of Transformer on his left arm. I had a long think the other day of inking something David Bowie related on my person. Maybe the Aladdin Sane lightning bolt (not on my face). Good idea?

It’s been a lovely autumnal day here in Melbourne so atmospheric conditions will be perfect at Marvel Stadium in the city’s docklands. However, we’re into the early rounds of the AFL season (and not long out of the venue being used for cricket’s Big Bash League) so it’s anyone’s guess how the pitch plays, or what ghostly markings may remain on the turf.

In unrelated news, I’m wearing in some new winter boots tonight, fresh out of the box. Got to give them some time indoors to mould to your feet before they see combat.

Alex Robertson making his international debut the other day gives me a very rare opportunity to say “I told you so”. Here I am back in 2020 earmarking the son (and grandson) of a gun for greatness, be it for Australia, England, Scotland, or Peru.

Jackson Irvine will captain Australia for the first time tonight. The 63rd skipper of the Socceroos, and first genuine hipster. Here he is mentioning Nick Cave and Tom Waits inside 30 seconds of a profile.

Ecuador XI

Australia XI

Preamble