A slick Egyptian side provided Socceroos coach Holger Osieck with plenty to think about before the Asian Cup courtesy of a 3-0 thumping of Australia on Wednesday night.
Goals from Ahmed Abdul-Zaher, Mohamed Nagy and Mohamed Zidan in the friendly in Cairo were enough to provide the first defeat of Osiek’s short time in charge of the national team.
The Socceroos were chasing a decent hit-out against a skilful, quick side before January’s Asian Cup and the world No.11 and reigning African champions provided that.
It was the last match before Osieck picks his squad for the tournament in Qatar and he didn’t appear pleased with his side’s flat performance.
“When you have a negative experience you cannot be too happy,” said Osieck.
“But we cannot lose our heads and we must analyse.
“Basically we did not find our game, the way we wanted to play and some players, probably the travel, the short notice, the last players arrived 24 hours before the game.
“It is normal there is a lack of freshness and it should not be an excuse but circumstances were not ideal.”
Fresh from leading the Korean side Seongnam Ilhwa to victory in the Asian Champions League, Sasa Ognenovski made his international debut at the age of 31.
He became skipper Lucas Neill’s latest central defensive partner and was solid at the back with the two goals during his time on the pitch coming from lapses elsewhere.
Scott McDonald earned a start up front but was starved of opportunities in his pursuit of a maiden international goal while his fellow striker Tim Cahill was strangely off target.
Mile Jedinak bumped out Carl Valeri for a midfield position and looks likely to hold that position despite the scoreline in the mid-week result.
In ideal conditions, the 76,000 capacity Cairo International Stadium was a third full at best but those who turned up made their presence heard.
In-form Everton star Cahill, who has scored six goals in 12 English premier league matches for the Toffees, fluffed a great chance in the 25th minute.
After being played in by Brett Holman, he splayed his left foot shot wide.
Four minutes later, the home side pounced.
The Socceroos’ defence was opened up and Abdul-Zaher seized on a blocked shot and found the back of the net from ten yards out.
Brett Emerton was taken off for a hamstring concern five minutes later and replaced by Richard Garcia.
Jedinak muscled up by putting Islam Awad into the signage early in the second half before the home side inflicted scoreboard damage in the 59th minute after some sloppy work from the visitors.
Two of Egypt’s star players, Ahmed Elmohamady and Nagy, came off the bench to combine and make the equation just that bit more difficult for Australia.
Elmohamady burst down the right flank and put in a fine cross that Egyptian star striker Nagy, also known as Gedo, drilled home only moments after coming on the pitch.
Cahill continued to find space in the box at corners but could not direct his headers before Neill wrapped up a forgettable performance for Australia by giving away a penalty.
Not that Osieck believed the penalty was deserved.
“I do not know what kind of penalty it was, the only person who saw the penalty was the referee,” he said.
“Nobody knew what was going on, only God and the referee.”
Zidan rifled his spot kick right of Schwarzer in the 89th minute to complete Australia’s miserable evening.
Australia’s next match is against the United Arab Emirates on January 5 in the lead-up to the Asian Cup, where they meet India, South Korea and Bahrain in the group stages.
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