And that’s me done. Incredibly, the kids will be up in a few hours and I’m walking them to school. Who said life is fair? So goodbye, thanks for your emails, sorry I couldn’t get them all in, and enjoy the rest of the World Cup. Which won’t involve Spain or Australia.

In the end, not the greatest of matches, as you might expect of a dead rubber. Australia tried hard but they looked tired, and they gave Spain far too much space in dangerous areas. Though they weren't experiencing a flush of youth, Spain were too good to pass up the chances.

And there's the whistle. Spain defeat Australia 3-0, salvaging some pride, but like Australia they'll soon be on a plane home.

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90 min + 2: A clattering tackle from Jedinak brings down Silva and he sees yellow. The graphic tells us he'll now miss Australia's next match. Has that even been scheduled?

90 min +1: And now a sliding tackle from Davidson in Australia's six-yard box prevents an almost certain Spain fourth.

89 min: David Silva, who's so nippy and stealthy he got on the field without me noticing, almost profits from Mata's nice work on the left. Mata found him in space (so much space) but his left foot half volley is scuffed.

87 min: Not far off a consolation goal! Leckie, in the middle, finds Davidson overlapping on his left. Davidson's early ball finds Troisi nearly the penalty spot but as he's about to shoot from close range Ramos hoofs it to the heavens.

85 min: And Torres nearly gets another! Running in on McGowan he sidesteps the ball to his right in order to make space for a shot. But his touch is heavy (yes, I have written that before) allowing Ryan to dive at his feet and win the ball.

From the left edge, Fabregas floats a cross up and over an Australian back four who look like the past 10 days have caught up with them. Mata takes it down on the edge of the six-yard box and has time to think about what he wants to do with it. What he decides is to do is clip it calmly past Ryan, who's standing up trying to present a big target that in the end is not big enough.

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81 min: Troisi has been busy since he's been on, and Leckie has worked hard in the central corridor, but for all Spain's vulnerability Australia can't crack them. And just as I write that...

79 min: Life has many tough challenges, as anyone who's tried to haul a Queen-sized futon mattress up a spiral staircase would attest. Another tough one is trying to overhaul a 2-0 deficit against Spain with just 10 on the clock.

Craig Foster, meantime, of SBS TV in Australia, is rhapsodising about Bresciano and his stellar contribution to Australia football.

76 min: McGowan heads out for a corner after a little head tennis in the Australia 18-yard box. The corner comes to nought but Spain raid down the left, then the right, and Australia look like they're just holding on here.

74 min: Andrew Laws has a question. "Does anyone else find it faintly depressing that David Villa will be joining New York City, and then be immediately loaned out to Abu Dhabi’s other soft diplomacy bauble, Melbourne City? He’s only 32 for gawd’s sake. And he’s DAVID VILLA."

I think I'd be right in saying that no-one at Melbourne City is depressed at the news one little bit.

72 min: Following the goal, and before a big wellie from Troisi, Bozanic is subbed off for Bresciano who needs his body to hold together for another 18 minutes.

It's a long way back for Australia now! Iniesta, in space in centre field, finds Mata on the left, who soon returns the ball. Iniesta then finds a killer ball to Torres in behind McGowan. Torres turns with the ball, has a quick look, and strokes a shot along the ground into the far right corner. A smart finish.

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68 min: Spain sub. Cazorla off, Fabregas on. And within a second he lunges in on McKay and gives away a freekick.

67 min: Another Spain turnover. Alba races left, squares to Torres who dummies ... for no-one. Well, not one of his teammates at least.

65 min: A flurry of action at both ends. Australia have clearly upped their tempo and they chisel away outside Spain's area but they can't quite get through.

62 min: Ramos gets a yellow after he clips Halloran who was looking to pursue a loose ball earned after Jedinak robbed Iniesta. One for Jedinak to tell the grandkids about. When he has them. If he has them. Who can say he will? Young people have enough pressure on them without us clucking around them.

61 min: Australia sub. Oar off, hobbling after an ankle knock. James Troisi on.

59 min: From a Bozanic corner the ball is cleared but drops to McKay outside the area. He attempts a volley that earns points for its boldness, but not its direction.

58 min: Davidson sends a lovely ball through to Leckie. He squares to Oar but Oar's first touch in traffic is clumsy and a shooting chance goes begging.

56 min: Spain sub. Villa trudges off, reluctantly. On comes Juan Mata. Villa then goes to the bench and drops his head in his hands. There may be moisture in the eye region. I think he wanted another goal or two.

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54 min: After Juanfran on the left rifles in a grass-burning cross in behind the Australian defence Torres tries a mirror image of Villa's flick but it runs wide just as the whistle goes for offside.

52 min: Halloran tries to get around Juanfran with a burst of speed but he runs himself into a corner. Spain get possession but they lose it soon enough. I can't recall ever seeing Spain lose possession so often in one match.

49 min: After Iniesta overhits a ball and Ryan cleans up, the Socceroos speed down the left but their final ball is also overhit and Juanfran watches it roll out for a goalkick. Not really a highlight, that passage of play. I wonder how much the choppy surface is affecting the players' touch.

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47 min: Australia made a sub at halftime, Ben Halloran on for Taggart, who was barely sighted in the first half.

And Spain kick us off for the second half. Just 45 minutes left for these two teams to say farewell to Brazil 2014.

Sam Hankins, in Texas, is asking the question on everyone's tongue. "Who's refereeing this game?"

Let me help you with that, Sam. It's Nawaf Shukralla from Bahrain. I've barely noticed him, really, so I guess that means he's doing a sterling job.

Marian Stoney is in Brazil but wherever she is no-one is watching the Socceroos go around. She says she's relying on me, which makes me nervous. "In a triumph of scheduling by FIFA, everyone here is watching Chile v Netherlands. Not even sure if they are telecasting the Australia game. Pity internet is crap here. So keep them coming!"

Time for a quick intermission so Murray and I can water the lemon tree. Take five:

After a bright start, Australia have lost control of this match. Spain took a while to warm up but they've had all the best chances, and the only goal. It may not be that they are playing beautifully, because they're not really, just that the Socceroos are leaving too many holes.

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45 min + 1: Oar is fouled on the left flank but picks himself up to take a free-kick parallel to the Spain byline. It floats over everyone and just as Bozanic contemplates having a bold crack from an acute angle the whistle goes to end the first half.

43 min: As Oar takes a free kick from the right —one that's easily dealt with— Neil Kitchen wonders at Australia's tactics. "Is the game plan to leave Villa completely free on the left? Not sure that's a good plan."

Just after that freekick, a Spain long ball was met by Ryan, way out of his box. So he got his head under it like a centre half getting rid, as they say. You don't see that often.

41 min: Koke, in too much space, tries his luck from distance but his shot is always going left so instead of having to make a save Ryan berates his defence.

39 min: And Australia almost hit back straight away, just as they did after the Netherlands' opener! From the left Oar crosses dangerously between Reina and his defenders. Alba slides in to clear it but only manages to knock it back towards Reina and the lurking Adam Taggart. Taggart almost gets there first before Spain clear in haste.

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This was coming. Iniesta finds Juanfran on the right wing as he circles around the back of Davidson. He runs to the byline and finds Villa all alone in the Australia box. Villa scores with a party trick, a flick with the right boot after the ball rolls through his legs.

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34 min: Villa bewitches Spiranovic on the left with a dazzle of step-overs. Job done he manages a cross through the Australia six-yard box but Cazorla, then Torres, can't get the touch that would surely have led to the opening goal.

32 min: Spain take a corner from the left and it's tickled short to Iniesta. It then continues laughing through Alonso in midfield and all the way back to Reina. The indirect route to goal, that.

30 min: Kari Tulinius wonders whether Spain's downfall is all Diego Costa's fault. "I watched the Spain-France matches in World Cup qualifying and Spain were still very good back then. It's not such a long time ago. Yes, the intense Spanish season, and four years of twice-a-week top level football, has taken a toll on the players, but not to the extent where they suddenly can't pass the ball around under pressure. The major difference is that in the meantime Del Bosque attempted to integrate Diego Costa into the team. It seems really to have messed up their flow. They play like a completely different team. France in 2002, Brazil in 2006 and Italy in 2010 weren't any good, but at least they were pale shadows of their former selves. Spain don't even reach that level."

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27 min: Some slow-mo footage of Wilkinson tackling Torres shows an inordinate amount of turf being thrown up by the players. The pitch was predicted to be ordinary, so far the prediction looks to be spot on.

25 min: McKay hustles back to prevent Villa lining one up moments after Australia cut up Spain's middle with Leckie to Oar to Taggart. But the Newcastle Jet was bumped off the ball outside Spain's box, thus sparking the counter.

23 min: A chance! More pressure from Spain sees Jordi Alba fire a snap shot on goal from inside the Australia area but he hits it straight at Ryan who nevertheless did well to react. A very nice Villa backheel created the opening for Alba.

21 min: Spain are getting into this now, perhaps because Iniesta is getting heavily involved. From the right corner of Australia's box, Iniesta loops a teasing cross, finding Villa on the outside of McGowan. But Villa's attempted left-foot volley skews off his boot and Mat Ryan sighs with relief.

19 min: Torres gets on the outside of McGowan, stops short, and as McGowan shoots by like an occupied taxi Torres finds Villa. But as Villa looks to cut inside Spiranovic he loses his balance and Spiranovic cleans up.

17 min: Finally some signs that Spain remember how to play. Villa on the left exchanges short, sharp passes with Iniesta and Cazorla on the edge of Australia's D but Cazorla's shot is blocked inches from his boot.

16 min: Stephanie Blitz is kindly trying to save me work. “'2 min: Iniesta gets his first touch and searches for Torres. But the Chelsea man can't get on the end of it.' You can just set your commentary to auto-repeat, I’m sure this will be only the first of many times you post this."

As I write it's Villa picking up a through-ball but he's pulled up for off-side.

13 min: You're taught not to jump in on technically gifted players but as soon as Spain win the ball the Socceroos' players throw themselves into the challenge like cream pies into a flabbergasted face.

Perhaps as a consequence, Spain are finding it hard to hold possession, and now Torres has one of his trademark heavy first touches.

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9 min: As Reina takes another goalkick, Sean Boiling remarks on how much has changed so quickly. "Nine days is a long time in football. This is the game that no-one in Australia would have had a hope for all that time ago. Now there's a genuine feeling that they are a chance."

They've certainly started well. And Davidson has the ball again, but as it's shifted from McGowan to Leckie Spain's Juanfran dispossess him.

8 min: Another ball is threaded through the central corridor for Torres to chase but Spiranovic has a good head start and rounds it up, passing to Davidson's wing.

5 min: A freekick to Oar on the left is whipped in to the Spain penalty box but Koke, I think, heads clear. Spain have barely had the ball here.

It's worth pointing out that despite their poor form Spain have still enjoyed 63.3% of possession in their two matches, the second highest percentage of any team at the World Cup. Australia's percentage is 42.2%, the 26th 'best' of the 32 teams.

4 min: Davidson on the left causes some palpitations with an excellent cross into a packed Spain box. It's cleared, but not with any comfort. Moments later Taggart chases down a long through-ball but Reina just beats him to it.

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2 min: Iniesta gets his first touch and searches for Torres. But the Chelsea man can't get on the end of it.

Here we go, folks, we're off! And it's the Socceroos kicking off and barreling downfield from the get go. But Spain —wearing all black, with lime green piping— get a goal kick and Reina gives the ball some leather. Synthetic or otherwise.

Handshakes, nervous smiles, a coin toss... we're almost there!

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And now Spain's, featuring someone from whom Spain’s players could get a little inspiration:

Yes, it's anthem time.

Australia’s first. Or at least what many like to think is Australia’s national anthem. Really, it’s no worse that the real one:

You’ll note the artist, Barry Crocker. For those not from around here you may not be aware that Barry Crocker’s name is rhyming slang in Australia for “shocker”, as in "when things go badly awry". On that note, Australians everywhere will be praying the Socceroos don’t have a barry tonight.

And they're in the tunnel! Not del Bosque, however. He's out in the dugout with an Easter Island face.

Time for a quick preview of the game from the Guardian's SB Tang? Here you go.

About Ivan Franjic. Why is he back in Australia? Injured in the first game he couldn't play on, but you'd think he could have stayed with the team for a host of reasons. Do the Socceroos get money back on his unused bunk bed, I wonder? Perhaps it's currently taken by a German backpacker, the kind that comes back to your hostel half-cut at 3.45am and spends about 20 minutes rustling through a succession of plastic bags, one nosier than the next.

Does this stat give Australia hope? (And what of the other stat, that Spain has never beaten Australia?):

Noting the absence of Xavi Hernandez, Charles Antaki laments the mooted move of the great Barca midfielder to Qatari minnows, Al Arabi: "The idea of a footballer like Xavi going off to waste his talents in Qatar is, even if one is no particular fan of tiki-taka, deeply depressing. It’s hard to think of another footballer of the modern era whose presence on the world stage will have fallen off so precipitously. Xavi is unlike pretty well all other modern superstars in having been at the heart of a system that brought his club and country exceptional success at the highest level. Possibly he means to transfer some of the Barcelona style to a Qatari club, and by extension the Qatari football. But, after the bang, it’s hard to see his career ending in anything but a dispiriting whimper."

He certainly can't need the money.

And so are the inflatable kangaroos. Anyone who says Australia has contributed little to world culture needs only look at this and feel a little foolish.

The stadium is ready...

Some thoughts/observations/incoherent blatherings on those teams? I'm glad you asked. Let's see.

Well, Cahill's not there, obviously. That's what you get for bone-headed challenges, precisely like the one he made on the Netherlands' Bruno Martins Indi last match. Such a shame. Australia will miss him dearly. Bresciano is also not there —replaced by Oliver Bozanic it looks like— though he's listed on the bench (although so is Ivan Franjic, and he's currently in a TV studio in Australia, so we can safely count him out unless someone's invented a teleporter I don't know about). But the big news is that the Newcastle Jets' Adam Taggart is in, presumably to start in Cahill's position up front. Talk about a big step up. God's speed, young Adam.

For Spain, Pepe Reina is in as expected for Iker Casillas and Melbourne City's David Villa (yes, that sounds weird) is starting too, which will give him a chance to acquaint himself with some of the players he'll be facing in the A-League later this year. And the once great Fernando Torres has also got a run-on spot. He’ll probably score five or six and win himself the golden boot for one afternoon’s work.

And here are your starting teams for tonight's match. Don't say I never give you nothin':

Australia: Ryan, Davidson, Spiranovic, Leckie, Taggart, Oar, Bozanic, Jedinak (c), McKay, McGowan, Wilkinson

Spain: Reina, Albiol, Juanfran, Iniesta, Villa, Torres, Alonso, Ramos (c), Koke, Alba, Cazorla

On the other side of the pitch it’s just the beginning for the Socceroos who, as we’ve discussed, have plenty to play for tonight. Here’s Postecoglou saying as much:

More on Spain, whose demise has been one of the talking points of the World Cup to date. Seems they came into the World Cup unfit, uninspired and so bloated with success that the thought of sweating for glory was banished as a idea well past its use-by date. If you haven’t seen it already, this from the Guardian’s redoubtable Sid Lowe:

[After Spain’s loss to Chile] it was impossible not to feel [when in the Spain dressing shed] like this was the end. Some players tried to claim that this was not the end of an era but it is. Not just because for the first time in eight years they have been defeated but because of the way they were defeated: the team that had gone ten consecutive knock out games without conceding had now let in six goals in two games. And also because much of this group has reached a natural close, or perhaps they have passed it. Perhaps the transition should have come earlier.

Carles Puyol has already retired and others are heading into semi-retirement. David Villa is going to play in the US, via Australia, and Xavi looks set to play in Qatar. Asked if it was his last game for Spain, captain Casillas responded: “I don’t know, we’ll see.”

“We’re sorry,” the goalkeeper added. “Don’t be, you have given us so much,” ran the editorial in AS. “It was lovely while it lasted,” the headline said. A picture of sadness was accompanied by three pictures of joy: Casillas and his team-mates lifting trophies in 2008, 2010 and 2012. No national team has ever had a run like this. But no one expected them to collapse like this either. It was cruel. “This group of players didn’t deserve to end like this,” Casillas said.

The question was how and why they had. Casillas admitted: “the commitment was not what we would have wanted.” At one end of the room, furthest from the exit, the analysis had begun. Xabi Alonso sought an explanation. “This is a completely unexpected failure, but that’s sport,” he said. “We have to take moments of great sadness the same way as we reacted at times of great joy: as men. This hurts our pride a lot.”

“I think it’s a bit of everything,” he continued. “Mentally we weren’t ready, physically maybe the same is true. And putting that all together we weren’t in the best shape. We haven’t been able to maintain the same levels of conviction, of hunger. The success, the happiness of before is gone. We’ve made lots of mistakes; we lost a bit of that know-how and we paid for it. We lost the solidity that had helped us win so many games. We weren’t able to maintain the same ambition and hunger, that real conviction that we were going to go for the title.”

“Is this the end of an era?”, he was asked. “Things are going to change. Eras end with defeats ... and this was a painful defeat. Now we’re going home,” he said, beginning the long walk out of there and out of the World Cup.

Ahead of the World Cup I stumbled upon this clip during one of those wild journeys you go on when you get on YouTube and end up watching a 30-minute clip of cats in bikinis falling out of boats, and I put it aside thinking it might provide some light relief, and a metaphor of sorts, for when Australia got battered from pillar to post and was looking for inspiration. Turns out it’s relevant enough, but more so to Spain than Australia. Enjoy.

Just on Australia’s “brave” performances, for a moment. You’ll know when the Socceroos have made it as a football nation (despite the competition from other football codes for Australia’s athletic youth) when their losses are no longer referred to as brave and gallant and whatever other words sound like a lollypop in the mouth, a pat on the head, and a hand out the door. At that point we’ll have matured as a football nation and we’ll be allowed to crucify our team despite competitive losses to, oh, I don’t know, let’s say football powerhouses like Italy and Uruguay.

Socceroos' captain Mile Jedinak gets it:

I definitely think [Australian football is] heading in the right direction, it’s just kicking on from here now. It’s all about keeping that buzz going. We’ve captivated the nation again and, to a degree, the world... But we all know this industry we’re in is driven by results and had we got two results in those two games, it would be a different story altogether again... I think going forward now it’s a major step with what we’ve done but the next step is to start getting those results in those big games... We know, although Spain haven’t had the results, they’re still a fantastic team in world football. This is still their golden generation and we’re going to have to be at the top of our game to try and get something out of this game.

For a dead rubber there’s quite a bit of interest in this fixture. “Isn’t there?” he asks hopefully, perhaps even desperately, as the clock ticks through the wee hours and his family sleeps in tantalisingly close bedrooms while his trusty dog, Murray, nestles at his feet, intermittently releasing pockets of noxious gas that for all their nose-hair singeing quality at least have the effect of keeping him awake.

Yep, as the Netherlands and Chile battle for top spot in the group, there’s still plenty of interest in this one. Really there is. Take Spain, for starters. The reigning World Cup holders have been so dire in their two losses, such a shadow of themselves, that surely they'll rouse themselves to their former glory one last time. Overnight, it seems, they’ve turned from a whip-quick matador with a dancer’s feet, a mane of jet-black hair and an abdomen you could chop chorizo on, to a melancholy middle-aged man with a fog of fond memories and a good superannuation plan but the pressing problem of whether to buckle his belt above, or below, his kettle-drum of a gut. Given this one last chance to beat up on someone and recapture their youth —which seems like it was only yesterday (because it pretty much was)— will Spain make the most of it and rack up the olés! tonight along with the kind of goals you can mount and display in a gallery, let alone a pool room?

The Socceroos, meantime, came into this World Cup as the lowest-ranked team. Given the youth and inexperience of their squad, and the strength of their group-mates, you could have described them as cannon-fodder on the streets of Melbourne without provoking too much disagreement. But Ange Postecoglou has done a brilliant job in such a short time, and his pledge that his team would play attacking football was not, it turns out, just a throwaway line intended to placate the national sporting psyche —which likes its teams to throw kitchen sinks, not park buses— but an actual promise.

Against Chile, Australia recovered from a nervy start to get within an inch of a draw in a game in which they held their own. Against the Netherlands, Australia were bold, scored a beautiful, curse-inspiring goal (NSFW), and even led the Oranje 2-1 into the second half before the Dutch rallied. Yes, it all adds up to two losses, as predicted by most, but have zero World Cup points ever been put together with such surprising verve and endeavour? I don’t think so! And who’s to say that if Spain continue to play like they’re already on the plane home that Australia, even without Talisman Tim, can’t pinch their greatest World Cup result and cement Spain's position at the bottom of Group B?

Kick-off: 1pm Arena da Baixada, Curitiba, Brazil, 2am AEST, 5pm BST

Paul will be here shortly.