Following the Welcome to Country, there’s a minute’s silence to commemorate the life of Socceroo cap no 198, Manfred Schaefer, who died today.

The teams are out on the pitch, Australia led by Jackson Irvine in gold jerseys, green shorts and white socks, Ecuador shepherded by Pervis Estupiñán in navy shirts, white shorts and navy socks.

The roof is closed tonight at Marvel Stadium, which may go some way to retaining the noise from what appears to be an underwhelming crowd. I’m not sold on this idea of a “homecoming” tour, but then, I am a curmudgeon.

Opta have furnished us with some stats.

• Australia have scored three goals in each of their two previous men’s internationals against Ecuador, picking up a win and a loss from those two fixtures including a 3-1 win when these teams met four days ago.

• This will be just the second time in the last five years that Australia have faced the same team in two consecutive men’s internationals; each of the last three times it’s occurred the Socceroos have won the second of the two games.

• Ecuador have lost their last two men’s internationals in succession after having lost only one of their 17 previous games as a team (W6 D10); they’ve not lost three straight games since June 2021.

• Australia have conceded more shots at goal than they’ve made in each of their last five men’s internationals after having made at least as many shots as their opposition in nine of their 11 games prior; they were outshot 10-12 in their last game against Ecuador.

• Awer Mabil (Australia) has scored one goal in each of his last three starts for the Socceroos in men’s internationals, including one goal in the Socceroos’ last game against Ecuador.

Back to Jackson Irvine – he has a tattoo of Lou Reed from the cover of Transformer on his left arm. I had a long think the other day of inking something David Bowie related on my person. Maybe the Aladdin Sane lightning bolt (not on my face). Good idea?

It’s been a lovely autumnal day here in Melbourne so atmospheric conditions will be perfect at Marvel Stadium in the city’s docklands. However, we’re into the early rounds of the AFL season (and not long out of the venue being used for cricket’s Big Bash League) so it’s anyone’s guess how the pitch plays, or what ghostly markings may remain on the turf.

In unrelated news, I’m wearing in some new winter boots tonight, fresh out of the box. Got to give them some time indoors to mould to your feet before they see combat.

Alex Robertson making his international debut the other day gives me a very rare opportunity to say “I told you so”. Here I am back in 2020 earmarking the son (and grandson) of a gun for greatness, be it for Australia, England, Scotland, or Peru.

Jackson Irvine will captain Australia for the first time tonight. The 63rd skipper of the Socceroos, and first genuine hipster. Here he is mentioning Nick Cave and Tom Waits inside 30 seconds of a profile.

Ecuador XI

Five changes for La Tri, including a revamped front three, with Hernán Galindez, William Pacho, Kevin Rodriguez, Alan Franco and Junior Somoza all getting a participation badge.

Australia XI

Loads of changes from the World Cup-ish XI that started on Saturday. In come Thomas Deng, Connor Metcalfe, Bailey Wright, Brandon Borrello, Riley McGree, and Cameron Devlin, while there’s a debut in goal for Joe Gauci.

It’s fair to say this is an experimental line-up – and why not? Fans of cohesive champagne football might prefer to dip into YouTube highlights of Brazil, circa 1982.

Preamble

Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Australia v Ecuador from Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. Kick-off in the second of this international break double header is 7.30 pm AEDT.

Here’s what happened when these sides drew swords on Saturday.

Here’s some context to the brace of friendlies.

Here’s why tonight could be a glimpse of a bright future for Australian football.

And, finally, here’s why there will be some unfamiliar names on display in green and gold.

I’ll be back shortly with more build-up. In the meantime, feel free to send me an email or fly a tweet to @JPHowcroft.