Part Two | The Socceroos and the Seleção

The Socceroos will face the ultimate test on when they take on football powerhouse and 2014 FIFA World Cup hosts Brazil on home soil.

The Socceroos will face the ultimate test on September 7 when they take on football powerhouse and 2014 FIFA World Cup hosts Brazil at the Estadio Nacional Mané Garrincha Stadium, Brasilia less than 10 months out from the world's biggest sporting event.

The sides have clashed on eight occasions and while the Socceroos have only scored one goal in twelve hours of football, the Australians have on the most part held their own against a side that throughout history has been one of the world's most feared teams.

Lets take a look at just how the Socceroos have fared in the final four clashes against the Seleção.

Clash #5 - November 14, 1999 Australia 0 Brazil 2 (Stadium Australia, Sydney)

11 years after they first graced Australian shores the Brazilians returned to take on the Socceroos with Sydney to host the first of a two match series. These matches were to be Frank Farina's first games in charge of the Australian side.

The Brazilians had left some of their stars in Europe to play Spain in a friendly scheduled for two days prior to this match with the side said to be looking to gel in the lead up to Olympic Games the following year. Despite the likes of Ronaldo, and from the Socceroos standpoint Harry Kewell, not playing, Australian football fans were treated to one of the world's finest in Ronaldinho in the Brazilian kit.

The sides fought out a close first half hour of play before Alvaro claimed the match's opening goal with a header after flying high above the Australian defence from a corner.

Seven minutes later Alex made a classy run through the Australian defence to drill the ball from outside the box past Mark Bosnich and into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.

The Socceroos did well to not concede again as the match ended the way many thought it would, a Brazilian victory.

Clash #6 - November 17, 1999 Australia 2 Brazil 2 (MCG, Melbourne)

Three days on from their 2-0 loss the Socceroos and Brazilians headed south to Melbourne where a crowd of almost 80, 000 watched on at the MCG.

With the Brazilians starting a few of their stars from the bench, the Socceroos claimed the ascendency as they took a 2-0 lead to have the visitors worried.

Paul Agostino opened the scoring on 11 minutes after Mark Viduka juggled the ball in the box before flicking it on to his teammate who made no mistake.

The Socceroos then heaped on the pressure and Agostino won a corner from a free-kick. The ball was sent into the box and Agostino scrambled the ball into the goal to get a brace.

With a quarter of an hour left in the game Brazil were back in it as Ronaldinho headed home a stellar cross from Denilson.

Only minutes away from victory the Socceroos let their lead slip as Ronaldinho gave glimpses of what was to come in his storied career.

Having earned a free-kick that was in turn only half cleared by the Australian defence, the 19-year-old put a cross into the box where Fabio Junior out-jumped Craig Moore to see the match end 2-2.

There was no doubt that Australia was beginning to get to a level needed to perform on the world stage.

Clash #7 - June 9, 2001 Australia 1 Brazil 0 (Munsu Cup Stadium, Ulsan, Korea)

Australia-s best ever performance against Brazil - and to date our only victory came at the Confederations Cup in Korea Republic back in 2001.

Shaun Murphy was the hero for the Socceroos, heading in a late winner from a Stan Lazaridis free-kick to give Australia an improbable 1-0 win and third place at the eight-team tournament.

The Aussies had frustrated Brazil-s attack for the duration of the contest and the match looked headed for extra-time, when Murphy beat the off-side trap from a set-piece to head a cross through goalkeeper Dida-s hands from close range.

Needless to say this sparked national celebrations that only escalated once the Socceroos were able to hang on until full-time.

Much of the credit for the result had to go to goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who was immense in keeping the South Americans at bay for the duration of the contest.

The result was the perfect tonic for the disappointment of losing to Japan in the semi-finals, despite dominating the majority of the clash.

It also meant Australia left the tournament having claimed the scalps of the top-two nations in the world in the space of eight days, having accounted for World Cup winners France earlier in the tournament with the same result.

Clash #8 - June 18, 2006 Australia 0 Brazil 2 (Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany)

In what was undoubtedly the two teams most important fixture to date, the Socceroos met Brazil in a Group F clash at the 2006 World Cup.

There had never been a better time for the Australians to face their world class opponents. Having qualified for their first World Cup since 1974, the Socceroos came from behind to secure a famous 3-1 victory over Japan in their opening game.

The Brazilians were coming off the back of a 1-0 victory over Croatia and as one of the tournament's favourites knew that they could all but secure top spot in the group with a win.

The Australians managed to frustrate their opponents with their well organised defence which would end up seeing the teams go into the half goalless.

It wasn-t long after the break however until that Brazil claimed the lead as Adriano converted a squaring ball from Ronaldo from 18 yards out.

Kewell and Viduka both came close to levelling the match but substitute Fred put the result beyond doubt with a goal after the ball had rebounded off the post from a Robinho shot.

Many believe the scoreline flattered the Brazilians but they did what they had to do to claim the win.

The result meant that Australia would only need a draw in their final match against Croatia unless Japan could claim a three goal victory over Brazil.

Australia went through from the group after they finished 2-2 with the Croatians and became the first Oceania team to make the knockout stage of the tournament. Australia would go on to lose to eventual winners Italy, from that infamous penalty in their round of 16 clash.