Matildas vow not to be pushed around after Brazil loss

Australian captain Steph Catley and her teammates are adamant they can't afford to be pushed around again by Brazil, who won the physical battle in a spiteful "friendly" in Brisbane.

Brazil won Thursday night's clash 3-1 in a fiery affair at Suncorp Stadium.

The match grew in intensity with Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso particularly incensed by their treatment. The Brazilians ended up with 10 players after Vitoria Calhau was sent off in the 86th minute for a second yellow-card offence.

"It was a super-physical game. We expect that from Brazil, but it definitely was another level tonight," skipper Steph Catley said after the match.

"Maybe it wasn't controlled early enough, and it then got a little bit reckless as the game opened up, and people got a bit more tired. So that was a little bit disappointing.

"We tried to figure things out at times. We didn't get it right. And it'll be something we have to go back and look at.

"We tried to match it and do our best in that area. But obviously we didn't do enough."

Attacking midfielder Emily van Egmond was typically blunt.

"We need to be able to match it, and we need to be better," she said.

Interim boss Tom Sermanni said Brazil's pace and physicality early proved the difference, but lamented the lack of authority from the referee.

"I don't think the referee necessarily determined the outcome of the game, but she certainly determined how the game was played," he said.

"And with her lack of control and allowing Brazil to basically bully her, it changed the dynamic of the game and made it a little bit more difficult for us.

"So that certainly had, I think, an impact.

"Our players did as well as they could. They showed the frustration to the referee, but they still, I thought, maintained the discipline within the game, and didn't do anything reckless.

"But it became very frustrating and it did dictate, I think, how the game was played. We just hope that, obviously, that doesn't happen in the second game."

There were huge chunks of additional time in each half with some Brazil players injured, but others regularly went down for treatment for cramp.

Catley noted Australia had played into Brazil's hands and needed to be better on the Gold Coast on Sunday.

"It is frustrating but unfortunately that's international football," she said.

"And that's part of playing against teams like this. They're very street smart and we let them get two goals early, and that opens the door to those kind of tactics, and that's on us.

"If we're in the game and we haven't let them score, then they have to score, and they don't have time to do stuff like that."

Defender Clare Hunt added: "That's Brazilian football for you.

"They managed the game exceptionally well.

"I know that we can come back out in two, three days time and compete again."

Sermanni is likely to ring in the changes, potentially testing more fresh faces in a squad missing the likes of Mary Fowler, Katrina Gorry, Clare Wheeler and Cortnee Vine.

"It's just an element of being patient with the squads that we have and the squads that we put forward," Hunt said.

"Because ultimately, like we're here for the future, it's not like a one-year fix - it's probably a continuum."