Brisbane, it’s time to show your true colours

 
Tony Tannous Columnist

By , 2 Mar 2010 Tony Tannous is a Roar Expert

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The Australian Socceroos during a training session in Brisbane, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008, ahead of their World Cup qualifier match against Qatar on Wednesday. AAP Image/Dave Hunt

When Frank Lowy managed to convince Asia to accept Australia into the region more than four years ago, it promised to produce regular clutch matches, often. Tomorrow night’s Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia, in Brisbane, is one of those moments.

With the Socceroos second on goal difference behind Kuwait, a point ahead of Oman, the Socceroos need a point against our bottom-placed neighbours in order to be assured of a place in Qatar next year.

A loss and we’re relying on Bader Al Mutwa and his Kuwaiti mates to do us a favour in Muscat a few hours later.

On the surface, against a team that can’t qualify, a result looks a given, but scratch beneath the surface and it’s no sure thing.

Indeed, in football, at this level, there are no such guarantees.

In Maman Abdurahman and Charis Yulianto, Indonesia have a very formidable central defensive pair, and in Bambang Pamungkas and Budi Sudarsono, they have enough quality to cause the odd threat at the other end.

We saw this in 2007, at the most recent continental showpiece.

Even in Jakarta, 13 months ago, the Socceroos struggled to grab a point as Indonesia sat deep and denied any opportunity for Archie Thompson and Danny Allsopp to get in behind.

Pim Verbeek famously described the strikers’ efforts that night as “absolutely hopeless”, but of course that drew some attention away from the efforts of Yulianto and Abdurahman.

Look closely at Indonesia’s results in this phase of qualifying and they have been far from a soft touch.

Three draws, two clean sheets, two loses by the odd goal and only five goals conceded from their fives games suggests Benny Dollo’s men will take a bit of beating.

Their manager has already been on the record saying a draw would be a decent enough result, and while Verbeek says the Socceroos are playing for a win, there’s little doubt he would sign for a draw right now.

That is especially so given that his starting 11 is likely to comprise a number of A-Leaguers, guys who have yet to set the world on fire at this level.

Couple that with the departure of father-to-be Alex Brosque yesterday and it appears the Socceroos lack a bit of a cutting edge in the front third.

Fortunately there are a few first team regulars on the scene, the likes of Jason Culina, Luke Wilkshire and Josh Kennedy, to add a sense of stability.

Let’s hope that doesn’t lead to complacency, from the manager, his players, the city of Brisbane, or the country.

Put it this way, if the unthinkable happens, and the Socceroos do lose, and Oman and Kuwait go through, the post-mortem will be long, painful and pointed, especially with Verbeek, Graham Arnold and Henk Duut unlikely to be the brains trust come Qatar (Arnold, we already know, won’t be there).

In that respect, and given, for once, some very reasonable ticket prices (the most expensive adult ticket is $50, the cheapest is $25, with a family able to attend for $65), nothing short of a 25,000 crowd should be considered satisfactory. Even with rain on the horizon.

While there is no Kewell, Neill, Cahill, Bresciano, Emerton or Schwarzer, there is still a valuable point to be had, so this match looms as a real litmus test for Brisbane and its surrounds.

This season’s A-League was meant to be all about the Sunshine State with the addition of two new teams and the Brisbane Roar meant to be challenging for honours, but for so many reasons it was an abject failure north of the Tweed.

Crowds, particularly in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, were a big part of that failure.

Questions, in some quarters, have been raised about just how much the round ball game means to Brisbane, particularly when the superstars don’t come out to play.

A big crowd was on hand at Suncorp Stadium in 2006 for a fitting farewell to Zeljko Kalac, Tony Popovic, Tony Vidmar and Stan Lazaridis, and again for two World Cup qualifiers in the second half of 2008, but that was to witness mainly full strength Socceroos outfits.

Now, having not seen the green and gold’s for over 16 months, and with plenty at stake, it’s time for the city to show its true colours by getting behind the Roos and providing an appropriate atmosphere in this crucial clash.

Follow Tony on Twitter @TonyTannousTRBA
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