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It may have been the Socceroos’ worst performance under Holger Osieck but skipper Lucas Neill feels Friday’s ugly 2-1 comeback win over lowly Thailand can prove its weight in gold.
Australia looked set to cop their most embarrassing loss in 23 years when the War Elephants, ranked 120 in the world, led 1-0 in the 57th minute at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
With their opening 2014 World Cup qualifying match on their road to Rio expected to be a cakewalk, the Socceroos were anxious, disorganised and made to look second-rate as they attempted to wriggle free in front of 25,540 stunned Brisbane fans.
But Josh Kennedy’s equaliser and Alex Brosque’s late match-winner, both laid on by home-town hero Matt McKay, saved Osieck’s side the indignity of travelling to Saudi Arabia with a winless start.
There were still plenty of red faces at the final whistle with veteran goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer saying the hard-earned win felt like a loss.
“One of the worst performances we’ve had in a very long time,” Schwarzer said.
“We were all over the place. We were chasing things instead of playing with our head.
“The performance wasn’t good enough. The positive was we got three points and we got a big kick up the backside and we know we have to improve vastly on that performance.
“We didn’t see that coming.”
But Neill, who like Schwarzer has been integral to their successful 2006 and 2010 World Cup qualifying campaigns, drew the positives out of the disappointing display.
The central defender felt the wake-up call would reap benefits for Wednesdays (AEST) second qualifier in Saudi Arabia as well as the rest of the campaign.
“We’re a good team, we just had a bad night and we still managed to win so is that a sign of a good team?,” Neill said.
“I dont know, it’s hard to say. A bad performance and three points is something we can look back on in a couple of weeks and say `ah, we got away with it’.
“We will be laughing about it come next June when we’re in the next round, with a bit of luck.”
Osieck admitted he had plenty to think about on the long flight to the Middle East as his surprise decisions to choose Neil Kilkenny ahead of Mile Jedinak at central midfield and move McKay to left back to accommodate Brett Holman didnt bear fruit.
While Australia dominated possession and camped out in the Thai half, they were too predictable in the first half as they launched cross after cross into the penalty area looking to cash in on Kennedy and Tim Cahill’s aerial skills.
“We didn’t really use the space on the flanks like we discussed,” Osieck said.
“The crosses were not of the quality we normally see in our team. It was congested in the penalty area. At times, we neutralised ourselves up front. It was very easy for Thailand to defend.
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