Diego Souza Scores Brace to Lead Brazil in 4-0 Friendly Win over Australia

Brazil eased to a 4-0 win over Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday after Diego Souza scored just 12 seconds in before adding another in the dying moments of the match. 

Thiago Silva headed home Brazil's second and Taison added their third on his debut as the Selecao saw off the Socceroos comfortably.

The match was Australia's last warm-up ahead of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, in which they'll play Germany on Monday in their opening game. 

To make Brazil's opening goal all the more humiliating for the hosts, it was they who kicked off with the ball.

Left-back Bailey Wright carelessly gave the ball away to Giuliano, who advanced on goal before feeding it to Souza, per 9Go!:

Sports journalist Daniel Cherny did some quick maths:

Australia responded well to the early setback and almost pulled level after six minutes through Tim Cahill, but the offside flag spared his blushes as he sent a free header wide after racing onto a James Troisi free-kick.

Rodrigo Caio then had to be alert to clear Troisi's dangerous ball from the left, with Cahill lurking six yards out.

Douglas Costa and Paulinho both failed to find the target from close range at the other end while Souza had a goal disallowed for offside as Brazil finished the half strongly, though it was captain for the day Philippe Coutinho who caught the eye of Selecao Brasileira:

Alex Sandro also impressed on the left flank, and he almost scored two minutes into the second half, but his effort clipped the upright.

The visitors soon doubled their tally through Silva, though, after David Luiz crashed a header of his own onto the crossbar:

While the game lacked a sense of urgency, Brazil continued to probe for more and Mitch Langerak was on hand to deny Souza after a defensive mix-up let them through.

The third soon came thanks to some exquisite play from Paulinho for an emotional Taison, 29, to mark his first Brazil appearance with a goal:

Ajdin Hrustic's sliding interception almost saw him score a spectacular 25-yard own goal when Brazil broke in injury time, but Langerak could not keep out Souza's header from the resulting corner:

While even a somewhat weakened Brazil side were still expected to win here, the result will do little for the Socceroos' confidence ahead of their clash with Germany on Monday.