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Australia's Harry Kewell, center, controls the ball through Paraguay's Claudio Morel Rodriguez, left, and Enrique Vera during their soccer friendly in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. Australia won the match 1-0 . (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Plenty of positives came out of Australia’s 1-0 friendly win over Paraguay on Saturday night, even if Holger Osieck’s new attacking style didn’t amount to playing two strikers up front. A commitment to entertain and an easy-going rapport with the media suggest Osieck is a very different coach to predecessor Pim Verbeek.
“Controlled football” seems to be Osieck’s mantra, and the Socceroos certainly controlled the tempo of the game against a frustrated Paraguayan side.
It was a measured display in Australia’s first match on home soil since the World Cup, with Osieck favouring a 4-4-1-1 formation that saw Tim Cahill play off the shoulder of beanpole striker Josh Kennedy.
That probably says as much about the goal-shy Scott McDonald as it does Osieck, although there’s no doubt Australia tried to make the most of Kennedy’s height from set pieces, with Cahill constantly lurking in behind to feed off any knock-downs from the Nagoya Grampus front man.
Indeed, there’s a predictability about Australia in the front third of the pitch, although that may change the more confident the likes of David Carney and Richard Garcia grow going forward.
Blackpool man Carney was arguably more solid marauding down the touchline than he was in defence on his former home ground, but on the whole the much-travelled defender looks an adequate long-term replacement for the retired Scott Chipperfield.
Jade North also had a good game in defence, and he and central defensive partner Jon McKain will be delighted to have kept a clean sheet in front the watchful eyes of the new coach, not least because it’s far from clear who will partner Lucas Neill in the heart of the defence at the upcoming Asian Cup.
Yet, it’s the Asian Cup that appears to have held Osieck back somewhat, and aside from introducing Middlesbrough striker McDonald with half an hour remaining, the German tactician refrained from making wholesale substitutions.
Rather than planning for Brazil 2014 by trying some untested combinations, Osieck looks likely to prefer a real tilt at the Asian Cup in Qatar, and he’s using much the same personnel we’ve grown accustomed to over the past few years.
That should come as no real surprise, caution was the watchword when Osieck took over from the care-free Guido Buchwald at J. League giants Urawa Reds, but it delivered results if the 2007 AFC Champions League title is anything to go by.
Hong Kong-based journalist Michael Church was a big fan of Osieck’s Reds during his time in Japan, but warns the softly-spoken German will need to keep egos in check inside the Australian dressing room.
“There were a lot of big egos in that dressing room, just as there are within the Socceroos, so it will be interesting to see how he handles those in the coming months and especially at the Asian Cup,” Church recently told me.
About the only disappointment in Sydney on Saturday night was the crowd of 25,210 – less than the derby between Melbourne Heart and Melbourne Victory reeled in at AAMI Park the previous evening.
Australian fans may have grown weary of Pim Verbeek’s dreary approach, but surely Football Federation Australia need to start looking at ticket prices if they’re to fill venues for friendlies.
Plenty of fans may have paid upwards of $80 for the chance to see the Socceroos in the flesh on a cool evening in Sydney, but just as many no doubt watched the game from the warmth of their living rooms or in pubs across town.
That’s only a minor gripe though, and on the whole the clash with Paraguay was a worthwhile affair, if only because it suggests the Socceroos are on an upwards trajectory once again.