Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou has a foolproof tactic for penalty shootouts: avoid them.
The Australians will put some time, but not much, into preparing for penalties in Tuesday night’s Asian Cup semi-final against the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE secured their slot in the Newcastle knockout by winning a shootout against defending champions Japan in a quarter-final.
Postecoglou has a typically straightforward take on shootouts.
“My view is we’re going to try to avoid them if possible,” he told reporters on Monday.
“And then if we have to take them, we have to take them.
“My experience in penalty shootouts, you can practice them all you like but you’re not going to create the pressure that is going to exist tomorrow.
“We will prepare for them … like everything else we do, we will make sure the players are ready for it. But there’s a lot of football to be played.”
Postecoglou and his captain Mile Jedinak expect the Socceroos to be lifted by a sold-out 23,000-strong Newcastle crowd.
But Jedinak warned his teammates they would have to lift their individual performances to prevail against the Emirates.
“Keep building on what we have been doing – game by game, bit by bit, it’s coming along really well,” Jedinak told reporters on Monday.
“And we have to put in performance after performance as a team.”
Jedinak said the most pleasing aspect of Australia’s 2-0 quarter-final win against China was how the Socceroos embraced the challenge.
“Knowing what was at stake, we responded to it,” he said.
“We will have to pick it up a notch again, times two, times three. That goes without saying, it’s semi-final football.
“There’s no second chances and we’re well aware of that as a playing group.”
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