Socceroos make modest start
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The Socceroos have made a sluggish start to the final stage of World Cup qualifying with a 0-0 draw against Oman in warm conditions in Muscat.
Australia had the better of the chances at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex but Oman captain and goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi was immense for the home team.
Socceroos substitute Archie Thompson had three good looks at goal in the final stages of the match but was unable to put the ball in the back of the net.
Oman striker Amad Al Hosni troubled the visiting team’s defence up the other end and forced a sensational save from Schwarzer in the second half.
The Socceroos were cautious going forward for most of the match, trying to make sure they did not concede the first goal like in last November’s 1-0 loss at the same venue.
This seemed to play into the hands of the part-timers and students who enjoyed the opportunity to take some more points off one of the big fish of Asian soccer.
Australia play group leaders Japan on Tuesday in Brisbane with the reigning Asian champions having made a perfect start to qualification with six points from two matches.
The top two teams from the group progress directly to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Harry Kewell and Alex Brosque started up front with tall striker Josh Kennedy and Tim Cahill named on the bench while Jade North started at right-back and Carl Valeri edged out Mile Jedinak for a spot in midfield.
Australia started the match at a slow tempo, trying to lure the home team up the pitch.
Socceroos defender Sasa Ognenovski picked up a yellow card in the sixth minute while Oman’s Al Hosni found space in the tenth minute but directed his header straight at goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer.
David Carney and Carl Valeri called Al Habsi into action with long-range strikes as Australia started to warm their way into the match.
The English Premier League shot-stopper did well to get down low to a Valeri shot from 12m out in the 35th minute after Harry Kewell set him up.
After conditions cooled during the halftime break, the home team really up the pressure on the tourists.
Al Hosni thought he had put his team ahead in the 56th minute with a header only for Schwarzer to dive sharply to his left and push the ball away.
Al Hosni slapped his arms against the ground in frustration and Schwarzer let rip at his team’s defending.
Archie Thompson replaced his Melbourne Victory teammate Kewell in the 59th minute while Al Hosni was at it again nine minutes later with an acrobatic volley that sailed wide.
Brosque had a good chance in the 75th minute after the ball had spilt following after Thompson and Al Habsi clashed.
Brosque was unable to find a path through the defenders while Thompson could not squeeze the ball past Al Habsi seven minutes later.
Robbie Kruse replaced Luke Wilkshire in the final ten minutes and nearly set up a goal but Thompson was unable to put his backheel away from Al Habsi.
In injury time, Thompson had another look at goal only to put his glancing header wide.
© AAP 2013The Crowd Says (19) | Page 1 of Comments
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June 9th 2012 @ 3:38am
Johnno said | June 9th 2012 @ 3:38am | Report comment
Pim Pim Pim.
I thought it was Pim’s socceroos out there not Holger. Pim would of been proud let night with that style.
-A dour dull lifeless effort from the soccer’s especially in the 2nd half no excuses, none.
-I’d even be tempted to sack holger after that effort it was so lifeless lacking attacking tactics or formations just existing and holding not actually creating anything especially in the 2nd half.
-And it took save from a 40 yr old goalkeeper to save them from losing to a team like Oman with many amateurs in there team.
Pathetic effort no excuses none.
June 9th 2012 @ 9:03am
Stevo said | June 9th 2012 @ 9:03am | Report comment
Don’t worry Johnno, the boys reckon that our physicality will give us the edge over the Blue Samurai in Brisbane
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/all-eyes-on-blue-samurai-20120608-201pv.html
Forget about last night, we got something from it – just, the Brissy game will tell us where we’re at with Holger and the boys.
June 9th 2012 @ 12:29pm
nordster said | June 9th 2012 @ 12:29pm | Report comment
Blame the coaches why? We are not up to standard right now in general, it’s not pim or holger it is australia (us) who are rubbish just now…
I hope we still clock up the points to qualify, but they seriously need to regenerate the squad with playing players …from Asia, oz or europe wherever …because now we are just not in it. If we get to brazil turn over the squad then for experience, no world cup rewards for anyone not performing or playing. Ruthless holger please…first in for me should be Joel griffiths when available, in season, scoring and playing in last 12 months. Thats what counts
June 9th 2012 @ 9:24am
The Cattery said | June 9th 2012 @ 9:24am | Report comment
Modest is an apt description.
The Socceroos didn’t come out for the second half primed to play and Oman almost made them pay for it.
I think it’s hard to judge this game, extreme conditions, and the frame of mind was to survive the 90 min and get the hell outta there.
It’s amazing that a few opportunities opened up for the Socceroos in the last 12 min or so – it shows that under normal circumstances, Oman would have been put to the sword.
But it’s easy to be down on the game if you happened to catch some of the Japan game that preceded it, even if you only caught a few minutes of it, and then watched the Socceroos, you’d have to come away thinking: how the hell are we going to stay with them? Their passing, their movement, their understanding, their tactical nous – it seems a completely different level to where we find ourselves right now.
Hard to rate the Socceroos, because they were completely switched off for most of that second half, here’s my attempt:
Schwarzer – 7.5 – made two good saves from the head of frontman, Al Hosni, the second being a close range reflex save that looked a certain goal and was the chance of the game
North – 5 – did better than I expected, managed to overlap with Wilkshire, especially in first half, some wasted crosses to be honest, but there wasn’t much to aim for, was defensively sound, but like the rest of his team mates, was caught napping a few times in second half – likely to be replaced by Williams for next game
Neill – 6 – didn’t let too much through, but as the back four dropped deeper, Oman were waltzing into the box with the ball with frequent regularity
Ognenovski – 5.5 – gave away a silly early yellow and free kick just outside the box, found Al Hosni a handful for much of the game, at times allowed Oman frontment to get into box with ball
Carney – 6.5 – thought he did all right in the first half, got forward, probably didn’t put in as many crosses as would have liked, put in one ripper shot that forced a save, likely to stay in team, depending on how quickly he recovers
Wilkshire – 5.5 – busy in first half, was able to find space on the right regularly, faded badly in the 2nd half, made errors, was subbed, depending on formation will probably get another run against Japan
Bresh – 6 – had a good first half, brought players into the game, but had trouble finding the front two, another that faded in second half, likely to be back for the Japan game depending on his recovery
Valeri – 5.5 – had a good first half, two good shots that needed saving, faded badly, allowed the Omani mids too much space in the second half and just couldn’t get the ball back and couldn’t help keep it whenever we did, depending on formation, might invite Jedi into team for next game
McKay – 5 – disappointing for most of the game – completely unsighted in second half – when he’s not there presenting, makes it hard for us to keep the ball, and that was the case in the second half
Kewell – 4.5 – not one of his best, marked really heavily, not given an inch all game, never got into it, subbed mid 2nd half for Arch. could make way for Cahill in next game
Brosque – 5 – prett much the same, couldn’t find any space, had one opening wich he didn’t really latch onto, faded badly in second half, I can’t see him starting in next game
Thompson – 5 – got involved in last 15 minutes, added a bit of run that was lacking, got some chances on goal, nearly set up a goal but forced a good save, right man for the right time
Kruse – 4.5 – didn’t get much time but he too added some badly needed energy that helped the Socceroos lift for final 10 min and pinch an unlikely win, worked extra hard at one point to win the ball and got flattened for his problems, but would have given his team mates a bit of a lift
Was there a third sub? I can’t remember – a sign that Holger was saving things for the next game – at least let’s hope there is some sort of plan!!
My advice is to not judge this game too harshly – like the Wallabies game earlier in the week – it was a victim of extreme weather conditions – best to put it behind us and focus on the next challenge – and boy – it’s a big challenge!!
June 9th 2012 @ 3:16pm
Bondy said | June 9th 2012 @ 3:16pm | Report comment
All offensive players recieve poor scores Cattery, wonder why .
June 9th 2012 @ 9:40am
The Special One said | June 9th 2012 @ 9:40am | Report comment
By all accounts it was a horrible game to watch. If that’s the standard of play you see in 40 degree temperatures, then the 2022 world cup needs to be played in winter. Will be interesting to see how Australia recovers from that game, flying back to brisbane and playing on what looks set to be a heavy pitch with a lot of rain forecast in Brisbane over the next few days.
June 9th 2012 @ 9:57am
Mahler said | June 9th 2012 @ 9:57am | Report comment
I suspected we were in for an ordinary night when they started having a practice session in their own half straight from the kickoff..You know the sort of stuff..Hey, I’ve got the ball, I’ll pass it to someone else and they can pass it straight back to me..On and on it went most of the game…We only seemed happy when we were fiddling around in our own half…There was a tendency throughout the game to pass the ball back and lose ground, rather than try to be creative and push forward. I think the Japanese will rip us apart if there isn’t a dramatic improvement. We have to face facts – this is not a great Aussie team. It’s struggling to be a good team.
June 9th 2012 @ 10:00am
jbinnie said | June 9th 2012 @ 10:00am | Report comment
Cattery -An excellent summation of the game & the playing performances.One thing is standing out ,that being the speed, or lack of it, in which we turn defence into attack & that became more & more evident last night in the “engine room” of the team where,with a little movement & quick short passes our opponents were forcing our own play maker back causing the gap between him & the front men to widen even more. The “chances” we did get in the last 10 minutes were not unexpected for by that time the part-time status of the home team was starting to show on the field with cramp much in evidence. The more important factor is that none of these late “chances” were converted into goals. The problem continues. jb
June 9th 2012 @ 10:26am
The Cattery said | June 9th 2012 @ 10:26am | Report comment
jb
thanks – you remind me of something on my mind – we have replacements for most positions (in some cases, better options), except for one crucial position – and that is Bresh – he played the whole 90 min, faded with his team mates in the second half – he’s 32 years old – what if he’s not fully recovered by Tuesday? Who can play his all-important central mid role these days? That is a huge question mark.
On the other side – they have half a dozen quality mids putting their hand up – the contrast is quite stark.
The positive? The top two go through!!
June 9th 2012 @ 2:27pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | June 9th 2012 @ 2:27pm | Report comment
I wasn’t reading The Roar 4 years ago, during the qualifiers for WC2010, but I reckon if I searched through the archives I’d read the same doom & gloom comments about that campaign.
What was the outcome 4 years ago? Australia qualified for WC2010 with a game to spare (the 2nd team in the world to qualify). We conceded only 1 goal in 8 matches & were 5 points ahead of Japan.
Yes, that’s right, we finished 5 points ahead of Japan but people still weren’t happy with how we qualified!
Away results last campaign:
10.09.2008: UZB 0- 1 AUS
19.11.2008: BHR 0 – 1 AUS
11.02.2009: JPN 0 – 0 AUS
06.06.2009: QAT 0 – 0 AUS
If we can carbon copy the results from the 2010WCQs, I’ll be absolutely delighted. So far, we are right on track with 0-0 in Muscat equivalent to 0-0 in Doha.
I’m confident that, on Tuesday night, AUS will, once again, beat JPN by 1 goal at home.
June 9th 2012 @ 2:51pm
nordster said | June 9th 2012 @ 2:51pm | Report comment
I’d just like us to be more like where Japan is playing wise …how do we get to that?, it’s probably good to want to see some renewal in the national team. Even if it means we are going to sacrifice results for a while. You’d like this after we clock up enough points to get there or almost, then turn the keys over to the next group and give them experience. Maybe for more NT games during the a-league season we see more of those guys? Would some of the senior players mind not going to brazil if it meant the next gen gets to benefit? Obviously Schwarzer (and some others) the exception.
June 9th 2012 @ 3:04pm
The Cattery said | June 9th 2012 @ 3:04pm | Report comment
I’ve said a few times now, we should have used the Asian Cup to regenerate the team. That was 2011, with Brazil in 2014, we should have said: ok, who do we want in the NT for 2014? Let’s assemble a team of U27s and put them in the Asian Cup, throw them in the deep end, teach them what it’s all about, see how far they can go, let’s see who has the mental strength to survive tournament conditions, etc, etc.
They may have bombed out, they might have surprised us, but we would have learned something – the better players would have developed.
The opportunity is lost – here we are focusing again on just making it through, relying on the same ol’ names again.
It’s pointless replicating what Pim achieved 4 years earlier – there’s no point to it.
June 9th 2012 @ 3:35pm
nordster said | June 9th 2012 @ 3:35pm | Report comment
Yep very much agree, use the brilliant experience of a world cup in brazil as a gift from golden generation to next. Still mix some of the current group in, but about 2/3s turnover.
So something like …Schwarzer; franjic, neill/wilko, og/Bosnar, rose; brosque, McKay, partaalu, ruka; joel g, kennedy.
They could even play this for the next batch of qualifiers after these. Then bringing more into the backup spots for brazil.
June 10th 2012 @ 3:50pm
Brick Tamlin of the Pants Party said | June 10th 2012 @ 3:50pm | Report comment
Cattery the Asian cup was held during the club football season,if we took some some of the younger lads(oar,zullo,herd,ruka etc)to the tournament that could have had a real damaging effect to their club situation they are fighting tooth and nail as it is trying to break through at their clubs and the welcome mat wouldn’t have been laid out when they returned believe me.Herd for instance if he went that could’ve put him down the pecking order amongst the youngster at Villa and maybe he wouldn’t have had the break out season that he did this year.The younger players need to be holding down their position in their respective teams first and then they’ll be a real asset to our National side.2 years to go lets hope the Leckie’s and oar’s are banging in the goals in the Bundesliga and Eredevisie by then and giving Osiek no choise but to pick them.
June 9th 2012 @ 4:28pm
jbinnie said | June 9th 2012 @ 4:28pm | Report comment
Fuss – Four years is a long time in a football career & when drawing comparisons between the results attained by squads of 4 years ago & today, one should take into consideration the old economic question,who,where,why, when & how?
Take the Socceroos squads for both comps. Gone from the OZ squad for various reasons are Moore,Chipperfield,&Aloisi, all retired,Culina, Grella & Emerton,injured,Holman for personal reasons & Beauchamp & Vidosic,out of favour .That’s 9 out of 23.Out of the remaining 14, 7 played in the game last night. Now it should be pointed out that out of that “original ” 9 at least 5 would have been playing a reasonable standard of football in Europe 4 years ago,but, of the 7 who played last night, at least 4 have dropped down the ladder of standard, so it could be argued that our standard has “slipped” accordingly..
Japan on the other hand had 4 players out of 25 in their 2010 squad playing in Europe but their latest squad has 13 out of 25 playing there,most of them in Germany,& surely this has to be regarded as a huge improvement in “individual” standard.Do you get my point?
Now to your hopes for this competition. I think most people who spend time in these sites would heartily join you in hoping for success,but that does not stop them expressing opinions on what they see. I for one could not believe that North had retained his place last night for although he is a passable tradesman for most positions he is most definitely not an “attacking fullback” in the modern style & to play the modern possession game two of these types of fullbacks are an absolute necessity.IMO the right fullback playing for CCM, (if he could be coached into better self control) would be a far better prospect for that position than any I have seen tried recently,he is supremely fit,willing, aggressive (sometime uncontrolled),fast,fearless & has a natural “go forward” side to his game that is sadly lacking in others.
I use that position simply as an example. I don’t personally begrudge North his place in a Socceroo squad but I do wonder when I see an opportunity to try someone “new ” in the position, just because Emerton & Holman are not available, is missed. I feel that & am not afraid to debate the issue. That does not mean I don’t want the Socceroos to succeed in the WC.
Last night we had a team of well prepared ,extremely experienced, full time professionals playing against a team of mostly part timers,& despite the horrendous playing conditions I was sorely disappointed,not by the overall result, but by the way the Socceroos tackled the game when they had possession of the ball .That was not of a particularly high standard & that ,more than anything, worries me ,after watching the way Tokyo FC & The Blue Samurai are going about their business this season. I still hope fervently we beat them on Tuesday night but at the moment my brain is controlling my heart. Your fellow supporter. jb
June 9th 2012 @ 5:37pm
Bondy said | June 9th 2012 @ 5:37pm | Report comment
jb,
Nice post it helps when you watch domestic football J Rose is a case in point an attacking fullback although a little hot headed I think he should get a run ,most footballing brains here would realise that either or both channels get rarely used with the national team , now I didn’t expect last night to run the flanks for 90 minutes in 43 degree heat, but occasionally or well timed would be suffice .
I’m sure some have questioned the quality of the A League player vs the Overseas N.T. player when watching the National Team.
June 9th 2012 @ 3:07pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | June 9th 2012 @ 3:07pm | Report comment
“I’d just like us to be more like where Japan is playing wise …how do we get to that?”
Spot on, nordster – I’d like that, too.
However, we don’t have the players to play that style of football at international level. We’ve tried to play this type of football at the last u17 & u20 WC and got smashed.
There are 4 building blocks to a successful professional footballer:
1. Technical proficiency
2. Tactical awareness
3. Physical/conditioning & fitness
4. Mental strength
AUS NTs have always been strong with points (3) & (4) but we are well behind the rest of the world in our technical levels – or, I should say, junior community coaches have ignored technically-gifted footballers in favour of physically strong footballers. I reckon, if Messi played in Australia, his junior coach would have probably overlooked him b/c he was too small.
Hopefully, this attitude will change. It’s interesting to note that England – the nation that founded our Game – is also facing the same issues. For too long, their junior coaches have championed physical strength at the expense of technically proficiency.
June 9th 2012 @ 3:42pm
nordster said | June 9th 2012 @ 3:42pm | Report comment
I dont think we should play like that right away, but we could be bringing in more different types of players to get us going in a different and new direction …which is overdue anyway. I have put a dodgy nordish XI above lol.
The players there now will get us better results for the next few. So stick with them for these games and try and clock up points. Beyond that maybe its the time to be a bit bolder?
If we get to brazil i’d be forgetting results and taking a much younger squad. No rewards this time, even if its the older heads who will get us there largely.
June 9th 2012 @ 4:53pm
jbinnie said | June 9th 2012 @ 4:53pm | Report comment
Fuss – Agree,agree,agree,agree,agree “. “. “. ‘. You’ve hit the nail right on the head with this one & as I said to you before, my heart jumped when I read the joint statement put out the other day by BB of the FFA & The JW Foundation but hope you go along with my cynicism for I’ve heard of all these grand plans before (as far back as 1973) & I’m still waiting to see the results.We did get a stuttered attempt in 1975 & I would hope those involved then did help in the education of our “Golden Generation”, but once again our elite management of the game at the time soon gave those people the big “A” as soon as the sponsorship money (from a tobacco company) was withdrawn. That’s the type of management we had at that time,they could not see the forest for the trees, & I can assure you ,down at the real “grass roots” ,nothing much has changed to alter the status quo.I talk regularly with coaches of junior teams & schools elevens & the lack of knowledge in even the basic principles of coaching is very,very evident. That has to change if we are to succeed at the top of the pyramid.
ps Note another “promising” coach was put on the books at the AIS as an “assistant” . What is he going to do?,help in the education of the 20 or 30 individuals lucky enough to be selected for that austere establishment. Would he not be put to better use touring the country educating the thousands of “coaches” who are trying to educate the thousands of kids who are active in the sport?????jb