Brazil's Alexandre Pato gets the ball past Australia's goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer. Credit:Reuters This game was always going to provide a searching test of Australia's quality, and provide a meaningful guide as to where the Socceroos rank on the world stage against a team of elite players all operating at the highest level of club football. On this effort the message to Australian supporters heading to Brazil next year is simple: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid. Unless there is massive improvement, unless some new players come in and step up to provide a spark, things could be ugly. Very ugly. Australia's German coach, Holger Osieck, has nine months to do something about it. His reliance on the old guard for so long has been understandable, if disappointing, although he can point out that they did the job required and got Australia to the World Cup, if only by the skin of their teeth.

Brazil's Ramires, left, fights Australia's Sasa Ognenovski for the ball. Credit:AP But getting to Brazil is one thing, merely making up the numbers and seeking to avoid this kind of embarrassment - which, on this performance, will be the summit of Australia's ambitions next year - is another. The coach needs to throw caution to the wind and experiment on a grand scale in the next few friendly matches, educating the public along the way that the results don't really matter, that it is the performance and the need to learn something from those games that is important. Players like Tom Rogic, Tom Oar, Mitch Langerak (the goalkeeper who is surely Mark Schwarzer's long-term replacement), James Holland, Rhys Williams and others have to be given game time and played from the start. In fact, one of the more pertinent questions from this game was why Langerak didn't come on at half time, if not start. What on earth was Osieck going to learn about Schwarzer that he doesn't already know by playing him in this fixture? The Socceroos, fielding what was ostensibly its strongest team (only Tim Cahill and Luke Wilkshire were missing) were humbled.

Brazil looked as though they could score virtually every time they went forward, while Australia were so often in disarray, chasing shadows simply trying to get close to the Brazilians. Too often the Brazilians were too quick, too skilful, too smart, while the Socceroos were leaden footed and disjointed. The South Americans ball retention, fluidity, mobility and technique was tremendous: in this sort of form they will, rightly, start as favourites to win the World Cup in their own backyard next year. Mind you, whipping Australia is hardly a strong reference, especially in this sort of insipid form. Yes, there is a massive gulf in class but over the decades Australian teams have often managed to bridge he ability gap between themselves and their opponents and at least be competitive exercising those unfashionable but often effective virtues of hard work, grit and fighting spirit. In recent times there has been a worrying trend for even those traditional qualities to be either missing, or simply not enough. I covered the East Asian Championships in South Korea in July, when Osieck brought a B or C squad along to take a look at some of the fringe players and World Cup hopefuls. Admittedly most of the squad were out of season and not match fit, but the signs there were ominous.

I have been covering Australian games since the 1990s, and had rarely seen an Australian side so outplayed as in the game where they drew 0-0 with South Korea, a match where the scoreline in no way reflected the way the game was played. Yes, you might expect them to be outclassed by Brazil, as they were. But not by South Korea, nor, a week later, by China, who led 4-1 going into stoppage time in a bizarre game that they eventually won 4-3. Osieck has a massive job on his hands but the reality is that the cards he is holding are weak. Australia's central defensive pairing, Lucas Neill and Sasa Ognenovski, is probably the oldest in world football and their pace always leaves them open to exploitation; it hasn't got a left back, its most creative midfielder (Mark Bresciano) is 33 and playing in the Middle East, it hasn't got a group of regular goalscorers, and too many of its first choices are not playing at the elite level, as they once were. He needs young, quick centre backs, to at least put pressure on the captain and his partner. He needs a specialist left back, more creativity in midfield, some more effective strikers under the age of 30 to help Robbie Kruse - and a dose of luck. The World Cup will be a nice adventure. But Osieck needs to look beyond that.

Australia is hosting the next Asian Cup in 2015. Fans will forgive a poor World Cup - they never expect to win that tournament - but they won't forgive a poor performance in the Asian Cup. Australia will be lucky to get past the first round in Brazil. Osieck will probably not be in charge for the Asian Cup, but his greatest service to the local game might be to use the World Cup as part of the development program to ensure that the Socceroos can perform with distinction in front of their own fans in the Asian Cup six months later.