It was much a case of more of the same at a bitterly cold Homebush last night. The Socceoroos were up against a well organised and defensively set-out Bahrain intent on poaching a point by dropping ten men behind the ball and inviting Australia forward.
Once again the Socceroos struggled to find the front third fluidity to consistently break-down the Bahrainis, who were marshaled well by the towering Abdulla Marzooqi.
Ultimately Pim Verbeek’s men had too much power and run, and control, and Milan Macala, who had been on the record stating that his side had to find a net and couldn’t rely on shutting out the Socceroos, was proved correct.
Leading into the game and having seen Verbeek’s “experimental” eleven, you sensed it would be a very important night in the life of a number of fringe Socceroos; McDonald, Sterjovski, Holman, Jedinak, Milligan and Carney.
In truth, none of them really stood out and demanded to be putting pressure on one of Verbeek’s preferred “starters”, but there were a couple of measured, professional performances, proving Verbeek does have some depth, and that the pool of players who can be relied upon to squeeze out a result is spreading.
Let’s start at the back.
After a nervy beginning, where Jaycee John almost got in behind him a couple of times, Milligan soon settled down, and started playing out from the back.
A mess only six or so months ago, it appears the move the China has brought him back to earth, and for the sake of his career, let’s hope that’s where he stays.
Alongside him, to his left, Carney also looked vulnerable early, but when he was asked by his manager to bomb-on after the break, he did a much better job, providing a forward outlet.
Just in front of them, Jedinak worked hard to win the ball, but despite showing signs during the recent A-League season that he is starting to use it better, his range of passing was found out on a couple of occasions.
Little doubt he has the ability, but Jedinak’s battle at the moment appears to be about believing he can live at this level. Verbeek’s man-management could be crucial here.
Further up the pitch was where most of the interest was however. Could McDonald bag his first and building his confidence ahead of this crucial 12 months, and could Holman fill the hole in behind him, keeping the Socceroos ticking?
Had the Celtic striker composed himself in the 25th minute chance, after being neatly teed up by Holman, it might have been a different story, but after missing such a golden opportunity, it appeared the pressure only multiplied, and his play thereafter was that of the stressed Socceroo, rather than the relaxed and confident Celtic striker.
His goal will eventually come, we hope, and his case last night may have been helped with some better service from behind.
Aside from his defence splitting pass for that chance, Holman ran the house down, running angles and getting forward to support McDonald, but hardly made a massive contribution to Australia’s front third fluidity.
A couple of times, toward the end of the first half, he did link well with McDonald, Kewell and Sterjovski, but too often he bordered on the frustrating, surrendering the ball and then getting a foot in to win it back again.
By the time Carle was introduced he had ten minutes and was lucky to get ten touches, the first two of which were to win the ball back.
In the build up to the second goal he had a couple of touches and kept a long move ticking.
Out of the right, Sterjovski had an interesting duel with Fouzi Ayesh. Early on the Perth Glory bound man looked to have it over him aerially, but Ayesh was making him work defensively. In the second period Sterjovski got on top, moving infield, getting closer to McDonald and finishing with the composure that comes from having been a part of things for a while.
Here is a bloke who doesn’t always get the headlines, but he can finish, and is definitely worth keeping high up the pecking order.
The others, you sense, are still feeling their way a bit, and the key to unlocking their ability, and the rest of the teams fluidity, will be in Verbeek’s ability to instill more confidence and empower his men to play.
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