Socceroos need to loosen the attacking strings

Roar Pro

By Paddy Higgs, 26 Mar 2009 Paddy Higgs is a Roar Pro

Tagged:: football, Socceroos

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When Australia braved the damp conditions to thump Qatar 4-0 last October, everything seemed too easy for the Socceroos. But a number of worrying signs to emerge since then indicates that all is not well. Particularly in attack.

While Verbeek has not had his full arsenal in four international fixtures since, the Socceroos have – worryingly – not scored in more than 270 minutes of football.

A closer look at Australia’s almost-full strength squad for next Wednesday’s match with Uzbekistan is proof. While a late call-up for Bruce Djite yesterday added to Verbeek’s stocks, he joins just Harry Kewell, Joshua Kennedy and Scott McDonald as options up front.

Good on paper, sure.

But Kennedy hasn’t tasted action for club side Karlsruhe this year, McDonald is yet to open his account for his country and it can be argued that Kewell’s best football comes from a free midfield role.

Even the promising Djite has been limited to substitute outings for Turkish club Genclerbirligi of late.
Verbeek’s own conservative tactics since that Qatar game have not helped, either.

As effective as they have been to bring the Socceroos to the cusp of the 2010 World Cup, they have nevertheless not fostered the unearthing of further forward options.

Nor – as evidenced in the domestic-based Socceroos’ barren outings against Indonesia and Kuwait – do there seem to be any A-League based candidates.

There have been rumblings about Mark Viduka’s return to the national fold in the lead up to South Africa, but as welcome as that would be, he can barely make the field at English Premier League club Newcastle.

The other options are unproven or unlikely.

Richard Garcia is in the squad but is regarded mainly as a midfielder for Hull City.

Nikita Rukayvtsya and Nathan Burns are still finding their feet in Holland and Greece respectively and League 1 doesn’t seem high enough for Australia-bound Joel Porter.

There have been calls for Verbeek to loosen the attacking strings in the remaining World Cup qualifiers if his side does clinch qualification against the Uzbekis.

Many of these calls come merely from a desire to see Australia play some of the attacking football on show on that sodden Suncorp Stadium turf against Qatar.

But more than that, Verbeek would benefit from seeing what options he has going forward and if new players need to be given opportunities in the side. Because, while getting to the World Cup is terrific, spiraling limply out of the first round (as with the Beijing Olympics) would be disastrous.

And if Australia is not confident in attack when June 2010 rolls around, that could be a distinct possibility.

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The Crowd Says (42) | Page 1 of Comments

Joe FC said | March 26th 2009 @ 7:48am | Report comment

this time next week (Thur 2/4/09) we could have already qualified for Sth Africa. The goal that matters is getting closer.

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andanotherthing said | March 26th 2009 @ 8:01am | Report comment

this seems to be a growing theme on the “blogs”…. caution and securing qualification or entertain and build for a more inspiring WC (if (when) we get there). no right answer here. maybe the first half defend and the second attack. keep everyone happy. Maybe with carle captaining the second half?

personally i would like to see Djite, Troisi and Jedinak get a run at some stage in these WCQ’s…

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DS said | March 26th 2009 @ 12:29pm | Report comment

There is no escaping the very, very clear fact that we are only top of the group because of major good luck against Japan and Bahrain. Take away those 6 points, which are due to luck and not to football, and we would be perilously close to not qualifying at all. The team isn’t playing well, and after a proper camp, the game against the Uzbecks will show us what the team under Verbeek can really do. I agree that making the World Cup FInals is one thing, but it will all be undone if we play there like we did against Japan and Bahrain. Imagine if we played like that against Spain or Germany? Doesn’t bear thinking about.

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DS said | March 26th 2009 @ 12:52pm | Report comment

Sorry – I should have said take away those 4 points. And course hand them over, deservedly, to Bahrain and Japan.

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Norm said | March 26th 2009 @ 1:02pm | Report comment

DS that’s BS.

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Pippinu said | March 26th 2009 @ 1:25pm | Report comment

With Macca and 2M Jesus not setting the world alight at international level – Djite’s time may not be too far off (whichever way you look at it, he’ll be in the 2010 WC squad – perhaps taking Dukes’ spot?)

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DS said | March 26th 2009 @ 1:49pm | Report comment

So, Norm, you think the team is playing well? That it wasn’t sheet luck in the end that got us the 4 points against Japan and Bahrain? Did you actually watch the games? If you were, what were you drinking?

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Pippinu said | March 26th 2009 @ 1:58pm | Report comment

You can experience a spot of luck in an individual game, but it’s quite rare to experience it over the course of four games – so I honestly wouldn’t say that luck is a factor – dour game plan, yes – luck, no.

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DS said | March 26th 2009 @ 3:11pm | Report comment

But you can ride your luck over 2 games, Pippinu – I didn’t say 4 games. I was at the Qatar game at Suncorp. Luck certainly had nothing to do with it that night.

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Ben of Phnom Penh said | March 26th 2009 @ 6:27pm | Report comment

Come on Paddy, have some heart. Macca needs to get the monkey off his back, sure, however his domestic form says that he can do it. Bruce creates huge gaps in the opposition defence which our midfield, where we seem to score most of our goals, can exploit. James Triosi has found his shooting boots in Turkey yet still can’t get a look in. Things are not that bad.

Let’s talk about the ability to score or not after the game against Uzbekistan.

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