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Australia will find defensive Asian rivals tougher to crack than the attacking juggernauts they met at the World Cup, warns Socceroos stalwart Mark Bresciano.
Bresciano has cautioned the Socceroos must deal with frustration as their Asian Cup foes try to stifle the hosts’ positive, attacking style – in stark contrast to what they faced at Brazil 2014.
“At the World Cup, obviously it was flowing games and attacking games,” said Bresciano on Wednesday.
“This time around we’re going to be coming up against other countries that play in a different style and are going to try and stop us playing that attacking football ourselves.
“We are going to try and play the best of our ability and create as many opportunities as we can.
“But we know what we’re going to be coming up against. For us, they are going to be tougher opponents to play against.”
The gulf in class is obvious between Australia’s World Cup opponents Spain, Chile and the Netherlands and their Asian Cup competition including Kuwait and Oman.
But Bresciano said predicted defensive tactics would worry Australia, who open the tournament on Friday night against Kuwait.
“We expect teams like Kuwait, coming to Australia and playing against Australia, to maybe try and close down every possible way of us creating or scoring goals,” he said.
“So we will expect that from them but at the same time we have to expect everything.
“We just have to go, from the first minute, 100 miles an hour and try and also wear them down physically.”
The Socceroos held a tactical training session amid secrecy in Melbourne on Wednesday, closing the stadium to media and fans after the warm-up.
The session came as Bresciano also warned his teammates and the Australian public against underestimating Kuwait, despite their troubled path to the tournament.
The Kuwaitis sacked their coach a month ago and installed Tunisian-born manager Nabil Maaloul, who has had just one match in charge.
The Socceroos were hoping to sneak a peek at Maaloul’s style in Kuwait’s planned friendly against the United Arab Emirates on the Gold Coast last Saturday.
But the fixture was cancelled because Kuwait wanted to videotape the match but the UAE refused, fearing Maaloul would hand the tape to Qatar, where he worked previously as a coach.
Qatar-based Bresciano has played against sides coached by Maaloul and rates him as a shrewd tactician.
“He has been a successful coach. He has coached in the same league that I am playing in,” he said.
“His experience will probably help the Kuwaiti team because he has coached other national teams as well.”
And Bresciano was also cautious of the usual bounce back by teams who have just sacked a coach.
“There will probably be a new buzz in the team for them. When a new coach comes in a lot of things change… they will come out with a lot more confidence than they would have had before.”
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