England v Australia: men’s international friendly – live

20 min: Gallagher extends a leg and catches Burgess on the ankle. For some reason, that’s a free kick to England. Burgess fumes quietly when he gathers himself back up. Gallagher’s fortunate not to be booked.

18 min: A wee pause in play as a couple of players get some running repairs done. Then Grealish and Maddison combine to nearly open Australia up down the left. Not quite this time.

16 min: But the bottom line is, Alexander-Arnold is such a talent. He nearly releases Watkins with a clever pass down the middle – Ryan reads the danger well and comes out of his box to clear – then gets back to stop Goodwin’s cross coming in from the left. The resulting corner achieves nothing.

14 min: Alexander-Arnold sprays a pass down the right for Bowen, who gambols into the box only for his cutback to be intercepted. Australia clear their lines. The most promising attacks for both sides are happening on the far side of the pitch. Trent in microcosm?

12 min: … So Having Said That … (#2 in an ongoing series). Baccus curls a shot towards the top right from 25 yards. It flicks off Tomori, putting Johnstone in serious trouble. But the keeper extends fully to tip around the post. Wonderful save. Nothing comes from the resulting corner.

10 min: England are establishing a modicum of control now. Australia’s bright first few minutes already a thing of the past.

8 min: … so having just said that, they spring into life and should be leading. Bowen turns on the jets down the right and slips Gallagher in on the underlap. Gallagher whistles a low cross through the six-yard box and Maddison, leg extended, does his best Gazza-in-the-Euro-96-semi impression, missing the poke home by inches. Oh Gazza James!

7 min: It hasn’t taken long for Wembley to fall quiet. The weather is awful, to be fair. England have achieved nothing of note yet.

5 min: Metcalfe probes down the left and it requires the combination of Alexander-Arnold and Tomori to force him to turn tail. Meanwhile here’s a great idea courtesy of Charles Antaki: “As the camera pans along the lineups during the national anthems, you’d hope the director would ignore the players and just focus on the faces of the urchins lined up in front of them – you don’t get many chances to see unqualified joy. Especially not at the moment.”

3 min: Gallagher’s nervous header back towards Johnstone requires Alexander-Arnold to spin and hook clear under pressure from Duke. A fairly bright start by the Socceroos.

2 min: A slightly nervous start for Johnstone in England’s goal, as the first backpass that comes his way is whacked wildly out of play.

1 min: Watkins is fine to continue. It’s raining a lot.

Stéphanie Frappart of France becomes the first woman to blow the whistle for kick-off at a men’s international at Wembley. England lump the ball forward, and Watkins comes off second best in an aerial duel with Burgess. Ouch, he felt that smack on the lug.

Before kick-off, a period of silence in solidarity with the people of Israel and Palestine. The players wear black armbands. The silence is wonderfully, touchingly observed.

The teams emerge from the tunnel, despite the rain coming down in stair-rods. England in white and blue, Australia in yellow and green. As aesthetics go, it’s positively Ashestastic. Then a quick belt of Advance Australia Fair and God Save the King; may everyone advance and be saved. We’ll be off after a quick bit of school-days reminiscing from Chris Paraskevas: “I still remember the Upton Park boilover like it was yesterday. Our high school sports co-ordinator was football-mad and literally wheeled out a CRT television for students to watch in the morning before class started. (Back in the days before streaming, we huddled around things called ‘Televisions’.) 1-0. 2-0. Bedlam. At half-time the bell goes for morning assembly. We’re all hanging to know the result, unable to focus on the principal’s speech... Suddenly the sport co-ordinator bursts on stage, literally grabs the microphone and after a beat calmly says: ‘Final Score: England 1-3 Australia.’ Period 1 Mathematics Never went down so sweet.”

Before the teams arrive, there’s a moment of the sweetest and warmest applause in memory of former England internationals Trevor Francis and Francis Lee. Two genuine greats who served their country with distinction.

Pre-match postbag. “I mean, I’m not biased or anything,” begins Simon McMahon, who came on quite the malt-soaked journey with the MBM last night, “but just look at that Australian squad, for XXXX’s sake. Strain, Souttar, Rowles, Baccus, Irvine, Boyle, Behich. It’s like a Scottish League select. With added optimism and mateship.” Hope the VAR VAT 69 head has worn off by now, Simon.

Meanwhile David Wall adds: “It’s serendipitous that the match is on Channel 4 tonight as it’s pundit Joe Cole that i’ve been thinking about with the recent talk about Phil Foden moving into the centre of the pitch, rather than playing wide, at some point for both City and England.

“I remember it was always assumed that Cole would mature into a Continental-style trequartista in the mould of Deco, Zidane, or Roberto Baggio. Of course that never happened, it projected onto him skills and temperament that people wanted him to have rather than thinking about what he was really like. I wonder whether people are doing similar with Foden. It would be a shame if so as there always seemed a bit of disappointment about Cole, despite the fact that he had a really successful career, because he didn’t have the career many people imagined him having (see also Wayne Rooney).

“Wouldn’t it be nice if people could just appreciate and make the most of Foden’s actual ability rather than trying to fit him into something he might not be best suited to.”

Gareth Southgate speaks to Channel 4. “We’ve got opportunities for people to play tonight and need to find out about a few … we’ve got players who can use the ball well … but we’ve got to get the balance right against an Australia team that will work very hard and will cause us problems if our mentality is not right.”

He also talks up Levi Colwill and James Maddison, while revealing that Trent Alexander-Arnold will have some freedom to roam from the right-back position.

England hand a debut to Chelsea defender Levi Colwill. The two biggest lions start on the bench – Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham to come on later, no doubt – as Gareth Soughgate goes with Jarrod Bowen and Ollie Watkins up front. Jordan Henderson wears the armband in Kane’s stead, and the Al-Ettifaq midfielder will no doubt receive some beneficial careers advice from members of the crowd as he goes about his business.

The Socceroos also have a debutant in their ranks. A full debutant, that is. St Mirren right-back Ryan Strain, born in Coventry, starts for Australia for the first time, having already come on as a sub against New Zealand and Argentina. Strain’s grandfather Gerry Baker won the Scottish Cup with the Buddies in 1959, scoring in the final against Aberdeen, and a year later scored a club-record ten-goal haul in the cup during a 15-0 win over Glasgow University; Gerald’s brother Joe was a star for Hibs, Torino, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest during the 1960s. Oh, and if that’s not enough sporting legacy in one family, Strain’s mother Lorraine Baker finished fifth in the 800m at the 1984 Olympics.

England: Johnstone, Alexander-Arnold, Colwill, Gallagher, Dunk, Tomori, Grealish, Henderson, Watkins, Maddison, Bowen.
Subs: Trippier, Pickford, Maguire, Walker, Stones, Guehi, Rice, Rashford, Kane, Foden, Ramsdale, Phillips, Bellingham, Nketiah.

Australia: Ryan, Strain, Souttar, Burgess, Rowles, Baccus, Irvine, Metcalfe, Boyle, Duke, Goodwin.
Subs: Degenek, Bos, Silvera, Borrello, Mabil, Redmayne, O’Neill, Behich, Miller, Glover, Luongo, Circati.

Referee: Stéphanie Frappart (France).

The last time England played Australia, this happened …

… but let’s be honest, this comedic masterpiece …

… is the one everyone remembers. It may be the only time the Socceroos have beaten the Three Lions in seven attempts, but it’s the game that instantly springs to mind: Harry Kewell’s verve, Wayne Rooney’s record-breaking debut, Sven Goran Eriksson subbing off his entire team at half-time, all that.

Few expect a repeat of Upton Park 2003 at Wembley tonight, with England flying at the moment, fourth in the Fifa rankings to Australia’s 27th. Then again, 20 years ago, England were ranked eighth to their visitors 50th, and look how that panned out. “We can win if the players have the belief they showed in the World Cup,” argues Socceroos assistant, ’03 veteran and erstwhile Middlesbrough star Tony Vidmar, words that carry weight when you remember the Aussies pushed eventual winners Argentina all the way in the round of 16 last year. So while England go into this game hot favourites, Gareth Southgate won’t take anything for granted. Kick off is at 7.45pm BST. It’s on!