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“At times, an eye-opener at the right time is definitely one thing that can be beneficial for the future,” said Socceroos coach Holger Osieck after his team were thumped 3-0 by Egypt in Cairo.
He’s right, although no doubt most Socceroos fans would prefer to see their side lose a friendly in difficult circumstances far from home, rather than an opening Asian Cup group stage game against India in Doha.
The problem for Osieck is that his first defeat as Australia coach exposed several glaring weaknesses, and with less than two months until the Asian Cup kicks off, there’s little time left to tinker with what already looks a shaky Socceroos line-up.
Slow at the back, lacking width on the flanks and struggling to connect between the midfield and attack, Australia were second best in virtually every department against the defending African champions.
How different might things have been had Timmy Cahill slotted away a glorious opportunity in the 25th minute: but then, how many times have we said that before?
Cahill looked Australia’s best attacking outlet – although that’s hardly saying much – and Osieck will need to decide how best to utilise the talismanic attacker, particularly with Scott McDonald once again offering little in front of goal.
Sasa Ognenovski – championed by many, myself included – endured a testing debut in the green and gold, at times defending too deep and struggling positionally against the pacy Egyptian attack.
Once again, there were too many chipped balls from the back and as soon as Egypt went ahead, Australia looked in danger of being hit on the counter-attack they minute they started playing further up the park.
Several negatives then, but it’s not all doom and gloom for a side which rarely shows its best form in friendlies, not least because the Socceroos always seem to be missing key personnel through injury.
The question at hand is whether Australia has what it takes to win the Asian Cup.
The first real test comes on January 14 when Osieck’s men take on Korea Republic at Al Gharafa Stadium, and perhaps the biggest difference between the South Koreans and Australian is the number of talented youngsters coming through the ranks of the Taeguk Warriors.
Lead by 21-year-old Celtic midfielder Ki Sung-Yong and 22-year-old Bolton Wanderers youngster Lee Chung-Yong, new coach Cho Kwang-Rae also has a number of youngsters plying their trades in the domestic K-League and neighbouring J. League to call upon.
And while Australia and Korea Republic are both expected to breeze through their group, they’ll face one of defending champions Iraq, Asian heavyweights Iran or the enigmatic DPR Korea in the quarter-finals.
In other words, winning the Asian Cup or even coming close to the final is hardly a sure-fire thing, although a shocking 2007 campaign already told us that.
At least the temperatures in Qatar will be comfortable this time around: there’ll be no moonsonal downpours or crushing tropical humidity to contend with in the Middle East.
But on the park, it’s hard to imagine Australia as favourites going into the Asian Cup, especially not after the kind of performance we saw in Cairo.
It wasn’t a humiliating defeat – the decision to award Egypt a penalty late on was farcical – but nor was it the sort of convincing display many Australian fans were hoping for.
And the truth is the Socceroos haven’t look convincing for a long time.
Osieck can only work with the players at his disposal, and the fact is some of those players continue to struggle at international level.
It’s hard to know what the answers are, but if Australia are to succeed in the Asian Cup, it looks as though it will be on the back of a good old “never surrender” attitude rather than any kind of technical acumen.
Which is a shame, because if Egypt taught us anything in Cairo, it’s how to play attractive, attacking football.