World Cup 2014: Australia Become First Team to Arrive in Brazil While Hosts Begin Training

Australia were officially the first team to land in Brazil for the Fifa World Cup 2014 after the Socceroos arrived at the Curitiba International Airport around 6 pm local time on 28 May.

Despite being considered as the underdogs for the tournament, the Socceroos are hoping to take their opponents by surprise.

"We are the underdogs. It will be a good opportunity for the Australian team to surprise, so this is all very exciting. And being in the 'soccer country' is an extra motivation, of course," Utrecht midfielder Tommy Oar told Fifa's offical website.

"We've been training for the last few days and things have gone well. We still have some two more weeks to keep on training, so I think we will be well prepared for the World Cup."

While Australia were knocked out of the 2006 World Cup after losing to Italy in the round of sixteen, they were unable to make it out of the group stages in 2010.

This time the Socceroos will be hoping to do much better despite being placed in a tough Group B alongside Spain, Netherlands and Chile.

Meanwhile, hosts Brazil have also started training at their base camp in the hills outside Rio de Janeiro despite thousands of locals protesting against the cost of organising the competition.

The weather was reportedly rainy and gloomy as the Samba boys started their exercises at their Granja Comary complex in the town of Teresopolis.

The 23-man squad consisting of some big names including Neymar, Oscar, Hulk, David Luiz and Thiago Silva began their sessions around 10 am under the watchful eye of 2002 World Cup winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Most of the squad, who arrived on Monday, underwent a series of fitness tests to determine whether they are in tip-top shape before Brazil's opening game against Croatia in Sao Paulo on 12 June.

However, before kicking off their World Cup campaign, Brazil will be playing two friendly games against Panama and Serbia on 3 and 6 June respectively.

Brazil, who last won the tournament in 2002, have only managed to reach the quarterfinals of the last two World Cups, losing 1-0 to France in 2006 and 2-1 to Holland in 2010.