Harry Kewell of Australia is challenged by Mohammed Addullah of Oman and team-mate Mohamed Rabia Jamaan Al Noobi during a FIFA Asian Cup qualifying match, played at Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009. Australia is leading 1-0 deep into the second half. AAP Image/Joe Castro
Losing may not have been an option according to the marketers, but for much of the first half last night, Omani attacking midfielder Fawzi Basheer threatened to shift Australia’s planning post-South Africa from Qatar to Brazil.
Had Hassan Rabea taken the chance that Basheer delightfully teed up for him midway through the half, and had Mark Schwarzer not got his gloves to Basheer’s effort from the byline a couple of minutes earlier, losing may well have been the only option.
As it was, the Socceroos survived the first period, upped the tempo in the second, and ultimately did enough to deliver the killer blow, which came from the usual source.
It was an intriguing match, right from the start, with the Socceroos delivering on their promise to get at Oman and try and grab an early goal that would settle a nervous and expectant nation.
Kewell did some lovely early one-on-one work down the left, but the route to goal was more obvious; get it wide, especially to Brett Emerton and Luke Wilkshire down the right, and get it in to Josh Kennedy and Tim Cahill.
A direct header, knock-down or some second-ball-scraps, whatever it would took, that would be the mode. It is the Pim Verbeek attacking template.
Despite some good aerial outlet from Kennedy and Cahill, the ball just didn’t drop. That and some excellent aerial work from giant goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi.
Early the Socceroos defence, which has had many question raised about its age and subsequent lack of toe, kept a high line, even trapping Oman offside on one occasion.
But then, on 20 minutes, Basheer released the quick Amad Al Hossani down the right. He sped past Lucas Neill, drew Craig Moore across, only to miss his target in the middle.
That warning, the pace of Rabea and Al Hossani, and the trickery of Basheer forced the Socceroos back. For the next 25 minutes, the Socceroos were in retreat mode, a common trait under Verbeek.
The centre backs dropped off, the holding midfielders started treading on their toes, and the gap between defence and attack grew wider.
There was the odd bit of encouragement in attack, but, generally, heads were being shaken and quizzical looks were being exchanged, on the field and off it.
It is at times like this where eye-brows are raised about just whether there are enough legs in the starting 11 to compete at the top level. Whether Verbeek has refreshed the starting 11 enough since Germany?
Certainly there remains an air of predictability not only about the start 11, but much of Verbeek’s tactics.
Refreshingly, Dario Vidosic offered a little bit off the bench, but even Verbeek will admit there is still much to do to get this team ticking in the front third.
There were better signs in the second period as Jason Culina lifted his game and lifted himself higher up the pitch, and the Socceroos started to get a little more joy down the flanks.
Scott Chipperfield and Neill were battered in the first period, but showed they are made of stern stuff by bouncing back to influence late on, while Cahill and Kennedy kept offering themselves, eventually jagging a winner.
Surviving what looked a fair shout for a penalty, it finally looked like Australia’s night. Suddenly, job down, pressure released, the football came out.
On one occasion they even knocked a delightful 20 or so passes.
But it was a tense up until then, confirming Verbeek has much work to do.
Commercially, Cahill’s rescue-acts are priceless, for they allows the FFA to sign their Hugo Boss deals, crucial to the ongoing development of the game, but between now and June 2010, the focus should primarily be on ensuring the team suits-up on the field.
A reality check against the Dutch and a nervous night at Etihad should at least ensure that heads remain level ahead of South Africa, and that mightn’t be the worse thing.
AA
Guest
NZ won't be in Asia for a while mate, if at all.
danny
Guest
i reckon so. the best russian sides are clearly better, but i think the championship has more depth. of course, that opinion is based on some fairly limited knowledge, so feel free to disregard it. but the point stands, if you claim the russian league as a 'serious league' then we have heaps of lads in serious leagues.
Simmo
Guest
He certainly does well with the ball at his feet. For some reason he was just lobbed lots of long crosses. Not a lot of variety and not hard for the defence to read. I'm a fully paid member of the "Pim Verbeek has no imagination" club.
Simmo
Guest
Put your money on it.
David
Guest
i agree with the fact that his tactics are predictable and he hs been lucky but when usay this is not europe thats fair but if we had an Australian coach we he try play more A-league players lik Archie Thompson god help us if that ever happens again. One thing pim has done is convert n grow the squad with some young players rhys, dario, Lowry etc. But his tactics are pretty poor i must say compared to guus but i admire how he stands up to Australian media and effectivly tells the truth the A-league isnt good enough and players should go to europe. Pointing out the problems the HAL has we allowing too much space, being to slow, technically our players are poor n d list goes on. We all saw how poor the passes n skill was in our under 21s
David
Guest
Dickroo i agree with u Chippers, Moor, Kennedy should be droped they too slow. Kennedy especially come on he plays in japan is shocking on the ball his only good against Asia opposition case his tall - Vidoic is better in my opinion he at least plays in germany, Mc D can at least run and set up plays like he did in ireland with Cahill. Culinas got worst since joining the A-league so has sterjovski etc in my opinion Rhy and Dario should make the squad from now to the world cup they are young have pace and are the future for the socceroos. Reality is we will prob not make it too far in the wrld cup if we struggle to beat teams like Oman at home and absolutly get dominated by a quality oppsition like Holland. Anyone who thinks we are better then we were in 06 hsn o iea ys we hve more players to pick from but out starting 11 in 06 was better then it will be in 2010. Guus is a10 time better coach then Pim n even though pim has done a good job to qualify for the WC2010. He hasnt made a go team out of the socceroos they play unattractive and in my opinion uneffective football. Everyone knows we dont have any stand outs in our squad i would personlly pt Cahill up in world class but the fact is not one player we have plays for a truely big club example man u, Real Mardrid etc. Heres a sad fact the only player we have thatplays in the champions league its holman and although i dont think he is as bad as ppl say he is, we struggles in the green n gold
Midfielder
Guest
On the topic of how popular are the Socceroos... a good read from the age... http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/soccer/so-just-how-far-can-this-crazy-affair-go/2009/10/13/1255195784825.html
AndyRoo
Guest
Spiro has only played once this year, Dario nearly every game for Nurenburg and getting good reviews. Similar to how jedinik was no good while at the mariners but morphed into a Socceroo as soon as he set foot in Turkey. I agree it's un Pim like though, but so were the Williams and Lowry selections. I think he might be looking to insert some new blood in the team. Dario is a better player than Holman in my book so I don't see the risk ;) .. but i see your point about the inner sanctum. Pims trusted few.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
Championship ahead of the Russian league??
keeper11
Guest
another clueless SEN comment on football... geeez can't wait for their 'take on WC .....NFI.. .
danny
Guest
i agree, i definitely think that other cities should get to host some games. but i think the point is that the support is there in melbourne, sydney, brisbane. it just needs to be appropriately harnessed. no doubt hindmarsh and me bank would have been full for last nights clash. but if prices, advertising etc had have been more reasonable docklands would have been full too. by all means share the love. but the ffa can't expect the socceroos brand to sell itself. they need to demonstrate some respect to the australian sporting public. of course, the next game to be held in melbourne will be the send off next may at the 'g, which will sell out regardless. last night will appear a long-forgotten aberration, and will be disregarded by the ffa. to their detriment.
Ben Somerford
Roar Guru
On your comment Danny, I'd think the turn-out of 20k would perhaps make the FFA re-think more than just relocating these games to other venues in Melbourne, but rather other cities in Australia. Perth & Adelaide haven't seen international football in years.
danny
Guest
i agree with your conclusions but not your reasoning. i'd put the bundesliga, eredivisie and championship ahead of the russian league just for starters. luke's incredibly versatile, adaptable and has decent skills. wouldn't be surprised if he attracts some interest next year, if he keeps playing at this level.
Pippinu
Roar Guru
The thing about the Schwatter is that by now we should have had a ready replacement - but we now find ourselves in the embarassing situation of having absolutely no one (right now). By that I mean a keeper who is in coo-ee of where the Schwatter is right now (but it was a different situation only a few years back). With Luke - it won't be long before he is one of a handful of players left playing in a serious league.
The Bear
Roar Pro
Andy, Dario was deemed not good enough for the final Olyroos squad. James Troisi probably has had similar exposure to the Socceroos, yet apparently not up to scratch in Turkey regardless of his goals. Spiranovic has never been drafted into game day squad with any regularity, yet has similar club credentials. Meanwhile, Vidosic gets some token time to play for Socceroos in the last few games, locking him into Australia. He's on the bench for both games this last week, without much of a mention from the media or Pim, who has Love child Holman on the bench in Melbourne, older, more experienced, similarly club hardened attacker midfielder-cum-striker, who Pim ALWAYS plays, i mean ALWAYS. Now in Melbourne Dario gets a run as an attacker when we are CHASING the game. Since when has Pim let Dario in the inner sanctuary?? Since when is Holman on the outer of this Dutch, Feyenoord old boys club?? I must have missed it. It was "different"...it was a risk, in my opinion...and it's just UNLIKE Pim to have put him on. OK, I am going to leave this bone of contention alone now. I have chewed it a sloppy pulp and my jaw is starting to hurt. Well done Dario, and Pim. I hope this is the beginnning of something.
Robbos
Guest
I would have to agree with to Danny, a backline with Williams at RB & Wilshire at DM, this leaves us looking for womeone to cover for both Moore & the LB position. Both Moore & Chippers are great players & are great servants to the socceroos but their days at this level is limited.
danny
Guest
disagree with you pip mate. schwarzer's giving timmy a decent run these days. luke is right up there though and for mine a future captain considering the age gap from the current crop to the logical next gen. i want to give pim the benefit of the doubt as he's seen all the lads in person, but i can't help but think that from the outset he should have given decent runs to lads like spira and lowry (21 and 20, respectively) rather than coyne or moore (30 and 33) when the former are just going to get better, are faster, etc etc. but it's easy to be the coach from the safety of my living room...
AndyRoo
Guest
Mark Schwarzer is why we qualified for South Africa and why we beat Oman and Neil is more important than Luke too. But luke has been superb, a bit like grella was leading into and including the world cup in germany.
cab711
Guest
Who cares about Oman, we won! This is football, on any given day even Australia can beat England or Argentina. Oman knew exactly what we were aiming for, we made no secret of it. Yet we still achieved what we set out to do, which was to get a win. It will be a long time before we can win games based on team effort rather than the individual effort of football greats like Cahill and Kewell. With more and more HAL teams and our National youth teams adopting a european style of football under foreign coaches it will be better for our national game in the long run. I have always favoured club competitions like Champions League or the loosers cup aka EUFA or EURO or whatever it is now to National teams slugging it out. I mean in terms of watchability. IMO the SFC v The Vic had far better quality play, technique, tactics and atmosphere. I just like watching Asian Cup and WC for national pride. If there is some good football its a bonus.
danny
Guest
the poll from the age website: Different ball games : Which Australian sporting team is your favourite? Soccer - 63% Cricket - 37% Total Votes: 1224 Poll date: 13/10/09 didn't even include the wallabies as an option, for what it's worth.