Kuwaitis shock Socceroos 1-0 in Asian Cup qualifier
By Liam FitzGibbon, 6 Mar 2009 Liam FitzGibbon is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Asian Cup, football, Kuwait soccer, Pim Verbeek, Socceroos
Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek maintained he still had faith in his A-League players despite their shock 1-0 loss to Kuwait in last night’s Asian Cup qualifier at Canberra Stadium.
The result left Australia at the bottom of their qualifying group after two matches, and served as a reminder that qualifying for the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar will be anything but a formality.
Although Verbeek’s opinion of the A-League has been questioned recently, the coach said prior to the match he had faith in the domestic players to get the job done in Canberra.
And despite the loss, he said he knew they could do much better in future matches.
“I think our players can play much better than the showed tonight,” Verbeek said.
“They showed me on the training sessions, the showed me during the A-League they are much better.”
Verbeek did not completely rule out calling in European reinforcements when Australia’s Asian Cup qualifying continues against Oman on November 14, a FIFA-sanctioned date, but indicated he would continue to trust his domestic players.
Australia fell behind to a 37th-minute goal by Kuwaiti defender Mesaed Alenzi and never recovered in front of 20,032 fans, the biggest ever soccer crowd in the capital.
“The field was fantastic, the atmosphere fantastic and you want to win the game but we have to be honest also and win didn’t deserve to win this game,” Verbeek said.
“Second half we played too much with our hearts and not with our head any more.”
Australia’s defence looked suspect, the midfield turned over the ball too much and they failed to make the most of their chances.
Their best chance to score came in 23rd minute when Melbourne grand final-winning pair Tom Pondeljak and Archie Thompson both blew golden opportunities.
Pondeljak scuffed a close range shot after a Kuwaiti error and Thompson, criticised by coach Verbeek for his “hopeless” performance in January’s 0-0 draw in Indonesia, hit the bar with an open goal from a tight angle.
Verbeek and captain Craig Moore singled out Pondeljak, the Victory’s grand final hero, as the only Australia player who was not below his best.
Although there had been several nervous moments in the first half, the Socceroos had been looking gradually more threatening until the goal came against the run of play.
Alenzi was left unmarked inside the box and nodded home a soft goal past Eugene Galekovic, sending the visitors into joyous celebrations.
Verbeek made his first attacking move in the 62nd minute by bringing on Queensland youngster Mitch Nichols.
He also introduced Adelaide pair Fabien Barbiero and Robert Cornthwaite in the second half but Australia could not break the deadlock.
Central Coast striker Matt Simon, handed his first start, looked the most dangerous at times while 19-year-old Adelaide defender Daniel Mullen didn’t have the happiest of nights on debut.
There were several late chances but Kuwait held on to give new coach Goran Tufegdzic a win in his first game in charge.
“It was a very good result and a big win for our team and because it’s a young team get more motivation for the next match,” Tufegdzic said.
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- Explore:
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jose said | March 6th 2009 @ 4:32am | Report comment
i knew it .people i live 15 mins to were australia was playing last night but when i saw the australian line up i said to to my self im not going to waste my money on this all i can said is please a-league hurry up be more competitive cause what pim verbeek thinks about the a league i dont blame him (it will take years 4 the australian football to be competitive)thanks.
Sam said | March 6th 2009 @ 7:28am | Report comment
What is a real worrying sign is the quality of the a-league. The speed and technique of these Kuwait players made our players look very average. Credit must be given to Kuwait who showed our players how football is played. Is the a-league really that slow?
Perhaps salary cap needs to be scrapped to attract better players and coaches, and create a couple of big superclubs. A lot of people would have been turned off last night’s performance, and lucky there is no a-league games on next week. You might as well have got Kossie to have coached the team.
Sam said | March 6th 2009 @ 7:30am | Report comment
Also after that dull atmosphere at Canberra last night do they really want an a-league team? Were they doing the Mexican wave at one stage?…
True Tah said | March 6th 2009 @ 7:57am | Report comment
Sam I have to agree, it didnt seem that the crowd was very lively in Canberra when I watched a bit of the match on TV, there was over 20k there, and yet the atmosphere was not as pumped as the match between the Brumbies and the Crusaders two weeks ago.
cosmos forever said | March 6th 2009 @ 8:09am | Report comment
Yeah that’s right Sam and Tah. In a wrap up of perhaps one of the worst performances by an Australian side in over a decade (out-enthused, out-thought) have a go at the Canberra crowd…
“Do they really want an A-LEague team” Spare me. Do they really want quality football to engage with, yes.
I mean – that’s like saying Sydney should lose all major sporting events because on a per capita basis Wagga Wagga gets more people to games!
Anyway – back to the game – shocking. Either the players found it hard to work for a coach who had basically written off their skill before they hit camp (likely) or they WERE simply incapable of sticking to a game plan.
Calexico said | March 6th 2009 @ 8:16am | Report comment
The crowd was frustrated at the complete lack of skill displayed by anybody on the field except for the Kuwaiti forwards. For lots of people it would have been the first international football they had seen live – and most were pretty frustrated by the end. Everyone was pretty excited when I got there – but by half time it was clear how ordinary we were and this was probably reflected in the atmosphere. Certainly not a good way to promote football in Canberra.
Sam said | March 6th 2009 @ 8:27am | Report comment
Calexico
Fair enough. The way the players played it would have been hard to create an atmosphere, although maybe some of them might have enjoyed the show that the Kuwait players put on. Especially with their counter attacks and pinpoint running and passing. I actually found them to be quite an entertaining team.
dasilva said | March 6th 2009 @ 8:31am | Report comment
In a way it’s a romantic story. Kuwait teams all semi-professional players (there sole professional player was on the bench and wasn’t used). Working as lawyers, PE teachers etc. Beating a fully professional A-League team 100 place higher in the FIFA world ranking.
It’s likes those socceroos stories back in the 70′s where the amateur teams sometimes upset the big guns in Uruguay and Greece.
Pippinu said | March 6th 2009 @ 8:35am | Report comment
It’s interesting to compare last nights starting XI with what we might have been about to put on the park 18 months ago, think: Burns, Djite, North, Carle, Holland – and that’s just for starters.
Clearly, players coming in like Simon, Nichols and Mullen were never going to bring the house down in pretty much their first ever international, and considering his age, surely Tommy P is a marginal player at best at this sort of level?
Kuwait increase their win ratio against us to 5 wins from 9 games.
Boy do we struggle against gulf nations (Oman to come, who we have also struggled against in the past with our full complement).
Very ordinary, very disappointing.
Calexico said | March 6th 2009 @ 10:23am | Report comment
Sam – yeah agreed. Some of the Kuwati counter-attack was awesome to watch – can’t recall which player it was but one of them looked twice as fast as anybody else on the field.