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If football is a game of inches, then only a few of them stood between the Socceroos and what would have been a glorious victory over Brazil on Friday night.

With practically the last action of the game, Brazilian substitute Rayan produced a wonderful header to convert Barcelona star Raphinha’s corner kick and enable the five-time world champions to escape from Townsville with a 1-1 draw.

Tony Popovic’s men looked on course for a famous result, one that would have gone down as one of the biggest in Socceroos history outside of major tournaments. Even the manner of the late equaliser was suitably heartbreaking, with Rayan’s effort bouncing off the underside of the crossbar, raising a brief moment of doubt as to whether it had actually crossed the line.

Still, it should not take away from the abundance of positives that the Socceroos can take away from this encounter.

Yes, it was only a friendly. But as Carlo Ancelotti himself said pre-match, Brazil don’t do friendlies. For a team desperately trying to restore their faded glory, every game matters. For them and for the Socceroos, this was the start of a new four-year World Cup cycle – and only one of these two nations took a sure-footed first step.

Nestory Irankunda’s goal in the 68th minute almost proved decisive, and the following description of it will not do it justice. But as soon as Paul Okon jnr drew the foul, from about 25 yards out, slightly to the left, there was always a chance it would go down like this. It was in Irankunda territory. He stood over the resultant free kick and nonchalantly smacked it over the wall, drifting past Brazilian goalkeeper Hugo Souza in a way that seemed to defy physics. It would be hard to believe if it wasn’t exactly the kind of goal that Irankunda has scored many times before.

This was just the second time the Socceroos have scored against Brazil; the first was back at the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup, and was scored by Shaun Murphy. You probably don’t remember that name, or the result, which was a 1-0 win to Australia. Twenty-five years later, they came agonisingly close to doing it again.

Who lined up at centre-back for the Socceroos in that match? Popovic, the man in the dugout at the Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville, who nearly masterminded a signature victory. The sold-out crowd of 25,440, let’s be honest, mostly came to watch Brazil and their array of superstars: Vinicius jr, Raphinha, Bruno Guimaraes et al. They will have all gone home with a new favourite player.

This match was an encapsulation of everything Socceroos fans want this team to be. They are supposed to be the support act for Brazil’s tour, but they would not defer to their much-vaunted opponents. They did not sit back and wait for the game to happen, as Popovic’s Australia can sometimes do; here, they wanted to be the protagonists.

They were not perfect – far from it – but it was the intent that mattered. And it sufficiently ruffled Brazil’s feathers.

The Socceroos pressed, harangued and harried, ensuring the match was played on their physical and chaotic terms, and crafting some excellent chances. For a while, Brazil could do little else but knock hopeful balls over the top of the Socceroos’ back three, which endured a couple of nervy moments, but were routinely bailed out of trouble by the impossibly long limbs of captain Harry Souttar.

Irankunda set the tone in the seventh minute, jetting down the left flank on one of those classic nitro-boost runs, before cutting inside and launching the kind of long-distance bomb that only he seems capable of detonating. Hugo Souza managed to tip it over the bar, but Irankunda had more for them later in the half, and nearly volleyed in a Connor Metcalfe cross which would have brought the house down had it gone in. His talent is so rare and sublime that when he wants to impose himself on a game, there are no defenders in the world who can stop him; only he himself can, and that’s his big challenge.

Importantly, he played on the wing, rather than up front, where Popovic controversially played him at the World Cup. On the wing, he gets more space and opportunities to do his thing. For now, it is by far the most threatening way he can be used by the Socceroos.

The only embarrassment here for Australia was the pitch. It looked bad, and it played worse. The slippery surface has apparently been a problem for the North Queensland Cowboys during the NRL season, but with due respect to rugby league, this is a different level. It cost $293 million to build this stadium; Vinicius jr is worth about $260 million on the transfer market.

Perhaps that is why it seemed Brazil were playing strangely within themselves, as if they were tip-toeing instead of going full bore. Their many misplaced passes and wasted chances in front of goal let the Socceroos off the hook, but then again, the Socceroos deserve credit for the way they unsettled them.

But Brazil soon came to grips with the conditions, and as time ticked on, they began to assert themselves more on the contest. They actually had the ball in the back of the net first, through Chelsea’s teenage gem Estevao on the stroke of half-time, but it was rightly disallowed after VAR intervention because of a blatant foul on Souttar, which referee Ryo Tanimoto had somehow missed.

It felt like they would eventually break through, and they continued to build pressure early in the second half. Irankunda’s goal seemed to knock the wind out of their sails, only for Rayan’s late header to restore some Brazilian credibility.

The Socceroos will get another crack at them on Tuesday night at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

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