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MELBOURNE. — The world’s number one soccer team Brazil will not be under-estimating Australia as they bid to rebound from their Superclasico loss to Argentina, officials said yesterday. The five-time World Cup champions are eager to bounce back from their 1-0 loss to their great South American rivals in tomorrow’s friendly against the Confederations Cup-bound Socceroos in Melbourne.

A goal from Sevilla defender Gabriel Mercado just before half-time meant a morale-boosting victory for Argentina under their new manager Jorge Sampaoli and was Brazil’s first loss in manager Tite’s year-long tenure. The Brazilians, who will be forced to replace injured Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus, are taking no chances and have scouted the 48th-ranked Australians ahead of their Melbourne game.

Brazil have already qualified for next year’s World Cup finals in Russia while Australia kept alive their automatic qualifying hopes with a 3-2 win over the 53rd-ranked Saudi Arabia in Adelaide on Thursday. — AFP.