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Well, we’re through. That’s perhaps the best that can be said for a Socceroos performance which delivered more questions than answers. With Brett Emerton now suspended and coach Holger Osieck sweating on the fitness of David Carney, there weren’t too many bright spots from a gloomy evening in Doha.
So much for a desert state: the relentless driving rain made for European conditions at Al-Sadd Stadium as both sides were forced to adapt to the tricky conditions underfoot.
And it was Australia who started the brighter as Brett Emerton flashed an early effort wide, with the Socceroos looking to assert themselves against a Bahrain side coming off a 5-2 thrashing of India.
But if Japan were the epitome of professionalism against Saudi Arabia a day earlier, Australia found the going far tougher against a Gulf state side still in the hunt to qualify for the knock-out stage.
The Socceroos looked more accomplished going forward than they did at the back in the first half, and were it not for the width of the post, Australia would have gone behind to Ismaeel Abdulatif’s close-range effort on the half-hour mark.
And it wouldn’t have been a completely undeserved opener from a Bahrain outfit which occasionally ventured forward, even though it was palpably obvious their tactics were to try and keep Australia scoreless until at least half-time.
It wasn’t to be thanks to Mile Jedinak’s wonder-strike in the 36th minute, and how the Genclerbirligi man has looked an improved player since his goal against South Korea.
“It’s great to get another one, in a so-called trademark way through a shot,” Jedinak said after the match, as his bullet strike helped steer Australia through a tricky encounter.
Jedinak has got confidence and a thunderbolt shot behind him, but while the defensive midfielder is in form, a more pressing concern is a mounting absentee list.
“It was very soft for me,” explained Brett Emerton after picking a second yellow card for the tournament and a subsequent suspension.
“To get a yellow card for that when many challenges throughout the game definitely deserved a yellow and went unpunished,” he added – and Emerton is clearly crushed to miss another critical knock-out game through suspension.
On the plus side, Matt McKay did reasonably well as a makeshift left-back.
He was earmarked by Holger Osieck as a utility player as far back as last year’s friendly against Paraguay, but it’s a risky tactic to employ when a 23-man squad affords room for two specialist players per position.
Fortunately it appears David Carney, Luke Wilkshire and Jason Culina will all return for Australia’s quarter-final on Saturday, and the fact Carney was on the bench against Bahrain suggests his shoulder injury was not as bad as first feared.
Coach Osieck deserves some credit for his sensible handling of the injured trio, and the affable German is a very different personality compared to the often tetchy Pim Verbeek.
Where Verbeek seemed content to stand propped against the dug-out as the match unfolded in front of him, Osieck is far more active, patrolling his technical area and barking instructions from the sideline.
He also consults assistant coach Aurelio Vidmar at every opportunity, and the hands-on effect seems to have rubbed off on a team eager for a leader.
If only Osieck could get on the end of a through ball and slot it away – something Tim Cahill has struggled to do in the tournament so far – and for all their gritty determination, Australia will need to improve if they are to reach the final four.
“Probably didn’t play our best football, but we did get the result,” was how man mountain Sasa Ognenovski summed up the performance against Bahrain – an assessment shared by many.
A pass mark for the group stage, then, but tougher tests await, and that’s something the Socceroos are acutely aware of.