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Outgunned Socceroos will need Jedi's protection

22nd April, 2014
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Crystal Palace's 5-4 loss to Swansea was a disaster for Palace fans.
Roar Guru
22nd April, 2014
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Crystal Palace captain and Socceroos defensive midfielder Mile Jedinak scored his first Premier League goal in a desperate match against West Ham at Upton Park, London, where fellow Australian Dylan Tombides was farewelled with a moving tribute.

The goal and the one-nil victory was a significant result for Palace, but Jedinak’s reaction to his perfectly taken penalty was very subdued, out of respect for Socceroos teammate Tombides, who had one of Australia’s brightest football futures ahead of him.

Only 20 years of age, Dylan died on Friday after a tense battle with cancer. He was honoured by his club West Ham with the laying of his shirt on the centre circle and a minute’s applause before the sides kicked off at Upton Park last Saturday.

Jedinak, known to fans as the Jedi, scored his first goal in 35 EPL appearances. This was Palace’s fifth straight win and should all but guarantee they stay in the Premier League next season.

Jedinak is a fan favourite at Selhurst Park. During the 2012–2013 season and after regular club captain Paddy McCarthy’s injury spell, Jedinak was handed the captain’s armband, first by Dougie Freedman and later Ian Holloway.

Mile scored an 89th-minute winner on the final day of the 2012–13 season in a 3–2 win against Peterborough United to secure a playoff place for Palace. Jedinak then captained Palace to a playoff win to gain promotion to the Premier League. He was voted Crystal Palace’s player of the season.

Crystal Palace only a few weeks ago were in the thick of the relegation battle and looked set to go down after a run of poor results. As captain, Jedinak has steered his team out of danger and revived their fortunes, leading them to impressive victories against title-chasing Chelsea and Everton and fellow strugglers West Ham, Aston Villa and Cardiff City.

We are just over six weeks away from the 2014 World Cup Opening Ceremony, yet Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou hasn’t named his squad yet, let alone who will captain Australia.

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Our chances of progressing in the tournament beyond the round robin stages – where we face current World Cup Champions Spain, runners-up the Netherlands and the most improved South American team Chile – look remote indeed.

Australia’s fourth FIFA Football World Cup campaign will not be built around the attacking prowess of Tim Cahill and Josh Kennedy, or even Adam Taggart and James Troisi. Ange will no doubt follow the example of Guus Hiddink in Germany 2006 and spend most of his time improving his team’s stamina, durability and appetite for defence in preparation for huge tests of character against such good sides.

The Jedi will be the cornerstone for the delivery and execution of Postecoglou’s strategy. Players like Lucas Neill and Sasha Ognenovski won’t even get a look-in for the defensive line-up, let alone a shot at the captaincy.

While not leading the goal-scoring charts at Palace, former Central Coast Mariner Jedinak heads the defensive statistics, particularly in defensive duels won, average passing accuracy, passing length, average defensive actions, and the least number of defensive errors (two). These characteristics will see him captain the Socceroos at Brazil 2014.

Postecoglou will play a tight defensive formation with at least two holding midfielders patrolling just ahead of the defenders or just behind the opponents’ attackers. They will need to control the midfield and clean up any half chances falling to the world-class strikers and attacking midfielders of the Spanish, Dutch and Chileans.

It’s a massive task that needs strong leadership and excellent organisational skills on the field. It’s also a thankless task, often gets overlooked in today’s football world of marauding fullbacks, attacking central playmakers and hero-worshipped strikers.

Australia’s results in these games will depend more on how many attacks and goal-scoring opportunities we prevent than how many we create ourselves.

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Our attacking chances will come from infrequent but incisive and lighting-fast counter attacks in a sprint to the other end of the field, initiated by quick, accurate passing out of the holding midfield area.

It’s a complicated and complex role that most will fail to recognise. Jedinak’s potential contribution to this team should not go unappreciated.

The way Jedinak and our midfield go about their business will be key to whether we can pull off a huge upset or find ourselves unbalanced and mercilessly picked apart.

May the Force be with us!

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