Socceroos set sights on outclassing Oman

The Socceroos get the chance on Wednesday for some belated revenge against the team who stunned them at the 2007 Asian Cup.

Only an injury-time equaliser from Tim Cahill allowed Australia to escape with a 1-1 draw against Oman in their opening match of the 2007 finals in Bangkok.

The Socceroos never recovered fully from that setback, just scraping through to the quarter-finals before losing on penalties to Japan at a tournament they had been expected to win.

Fast-forward two years and Australia face two vital 2011 Asian Cup qualifying matches against Oman – the first of them on Wednesday at Etihad Stadium.

The middle Eastern nation currently tops the Group B standings with four points from two matches, with Australia in last spot after second-string sides could do no better than a scoreless draw away to Indonesia and a 1-0 loss to Kuwait in Canberra earlier this year.

This time Pim Verbeek will be fielding a full-strength lineup, with few changes expected from the side that drew 0-0 with world No.3 the Netherlands in Sydney over the weekend.

“It’s going to be difficult and I think we all got taught a lesson in the last Asian Cup where we thought we were going to go out there and stroll through it,” Australian forward Harry Kewell said on Monday.

“It’s something to put the record straight.

“We had a chance to go through … but we lost out that time in a penalty shootout and it was hard to swallow.

“It’s important we win on Wednesday.

“Our next two games are against Oman so if we win them we’re ahead of them by three points.”

Kewell said it was important for Australia to perform well in the Asian Cup – even though the tournament’s public profile was still dwarfed by that of the World Cup.

“It’s a competition that we’re favourites in,” he said.

“You look at the World Cup and we’re not favourites in that, but in an Asian Cup we’re up there with the best teams of Asia.

“That’s where pressure comes in.

“Pressure comes on us, pressure comes on the whole nation to perform.

“We didn’t perform that well in the last one so we’ve got to set the record straight this time.”

Australia have worn some criticism for their performance against the Netherlands, where they were outplayed for much of the night at the Sydney Football Stadium before escaping with a 0-0 draw.

Defender Luke Wilkshire said it was a totally different scenario against Oman, where nothing more than a win would be acceptable.

“We need to score so I’m sure they’re going to be sitting back and defending and we’ve got to break them down and get the goals,” he said.

“Of course it’s difficult (playing against a team who are expected to defend deeply and in numbers).

“We’ve experienced it before, so we know what to expect.

“These teams can sometimes be unpredictable but we know they’re going to defend and look to break on us.

“It’s up to us to create and to make the goals.”

The Socceroos are unlikely to make many personnel changes for the Oman match although midfielder Vince Grella is set to miss after sustaining a thigh injury against the Dutch.

His likely replacement is Carl Valeri.

The return match against Oman is in Muscat on November 14.