Sermanni: We have to fight fire with fire

Tom Sermanni said that the team needs to "fight fire with fire" when they take on Brazil at CBUS Super Stadium on the Gold Coast, after a fierce battle on Thursday night.

Interim Head Coach Tom Sermanni spoke to the media at the official pre-match press conference as the team prepares to face Brazil in the second game of the international window.

"I think you have to fight fire with fire. The challenge is that Brazil has adopted a very different style of football to what we expect Brazil to play and a different style to what most of the top teams play," Sermanni said.

"The reality is that you need to be able to match that and to adjust to play effectively against that." 

Looking ahead to game two against Brazil, Sermanni said the team will be more familiar with Brazil's game plan and the best way to take advantage of their weaknesses. 

“You have got to balance that out by looking at where the opportunities are to hurt them. A lot of that is to play a similar kind of game to them when we get the ball forward early and get one-on-one match-ups with their defenders.”

“Hopefully having played against it the players will be a bit more familiar."

Upon reflecting on what the team needs to do differently heading into game two, he said the team needs to capitalise on the chances they have in the final third.

“It’s critical that we do better with their early forward runs and early passing. That’s something you can show the players on video, but until you experience that it takes a bit of time to adjust,” Sermanni said.

“Definitely you look back at the (first) game and there were a number of close opportunities that we had to get behind them, stretch them and move them around, and we were either just off with the pass or they fouled us.

Thursday night's game saw 23 fouls committed and a red card to Brazil, in a very physical game for both teams.

“I think it is fair to say that I felt the referees were either intimidated or bullied the other night. If they had taken control early I think it would have been a very different game and potentially a different outcome.

“I felt our forwards got no protection and it actually reminded me of a football game from the 1980s. There was little protection in those days. Hopefully, it won’t happen tomorrow night.”