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While much of the attention has rightly been on the tension surrounding the FFA and A-League club owners, for a brief couple of hours tomorrow night in Melbourne the attention turns to matters on the field, and there is much intrigue about how the Socceroos shape-up against Saudi Arabia.
Even if it’s a dead rubber for a team already qualified for the next phase and even if much of the nation remains oblivious to the fact our national team is playing, let alone playing a home World Cup qualifier, it still presents a great opportunity for those given a start.
While the Socceroos sit six points clear of Frank Rijkaard’s second placed Saudi’s, the reality is that Holger Osieck’s team haven’t always flowed throughout the five qualifiers.
Indeed, as I wrote after the fortunate 1-0 win in Bangkok on matchday five, Osieck’s men have only controlled two of their five qualifiers, away to Saudi Arabia and at home to Oman.
For the most part, the Roos midfield has been out-possessed, with Datsakorn Thonglao in particular dishing up a lesson in how to control a game.
As I wrote in November; “Any team hoping to control games needs to have a dominant engine, able to dictate the movement of the ball and break teams down through penetrating passing and incisive circulation of the ball.”
While Mile Jedinak and Carl Valeri have hitherto provided a ball-winning platform, neither has consistently shown the range of passing that allows the ‘Roos to dictate games.
These problems were particularly exposed the last time the ‘Roos gathered for qualifiers, and Osieck’s frustration was patently obvious in both Muscat and Bangkok.
The good humour of his early days in charge was gone.
Sorting out his central midfield was chief among the points I raised at the time, and his 19-man selection here gives a clear hint that he is looking for a solution or two, or at least surveying his engine room options.
Casting an eye over it, there are no obvious stand-outs for the two central midfield roles.
The most likely options appear to include the Brisbane Roar’s Erik Paartalu, the adaptable duo Mark Milligan and Michael Thwaite, and Nicky Carle.
The latter option might surprise a few, but in among all the talk last week about Osieck putting a rocket up some of the youngsters that surround the squad, the German spoke glowingly about Carle and the role he might yet play for the Roos.
Paraphrased, he spoke of being impressed by Carle’s recent work in a deeper midfield role for Sydney FC, one that has seen him drop back from the second striker role he played at the start of the season.
Osieck talked about Carle’s work-rate, but was mainly effusive about his fierce determination and ability to control games through his distribution.
If there is one thing the German is big on, it’s mentality, and he’s clearly been impressed by the consistent will-to-win demonstrated by Carle in the A-League.
Whether he starts Carle or brings him off the bench, there’s no doubt Osieck likes what he has seen.
Certainly, playing him ahead of Erik Paartalu should give the Roos a scattered holding midfield able to play diagonal, forward passes, on the ground, helping bring both the wide players and front two into the game more consistently.
Elsewhere, and perhaps frustrated by the inability of Michael Zullo to seize his opportunity, Osieck has recalled David Carney at left-back, despite the claims of the Central Coast Mariners’ Josh Rose.
On the other side Michael Marrone is apparently ahead of Ivan Franjic and Pedj Bojic in the pecking order, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Brett Emerton restored to right back, even if the adaptable Milligan and Jade North are other options.
In central defence, as much as I’d love to see Thwaite given a chance, I suspect it will be Lucas Neill and either Matthew Spiranovic and Sash Ognenovski, in front of Mark Schwarzer.
More interesting is what Osieck does in the middle and final thirds, and with Mark Bresciano back in the mix, he’s likely to get one of the wide births. Equally though, he could do a job centrally, just off the main striker, or perhaps Osieck wants to see what he can do deeper?
Two others that should be in the starting 11 are James Troisi and Alex Brosque, with the latter a possibility of filling Brett Holman’s second-striker role.
It’s one, I suspect, Brosque would relish, particularly if he has mobility around him through the likes of Troisi, Bresciano and Archie Thompson or Harry Kewell.
With Osieck being a big fan, there’s every chance Thompson will be given another opportunity to lead the front-line, possibly at the expense of his Melbourne Victory team-mate Kewell.
Whoever does feature, particularly in the midfield engine, gets a real opportunity to prove to Osieck and Socceroos fans that they can help control a game.
Indeed, playing well here would likely put a number of these players in a handy position come the next phase of qualifying.
Tony’s preferred Socceroos XI (4-4-1-1) against Saudi Arabia
—————————Mark Schwarzer——————————–
——————————————————————————-
Brett Emerton—–Lucas Neill—-Matt Spiranovic—David Carney
——————————————————————————–
—————————-Erik Paartalu————————————
—Mark Bresciano—————-Nicky Carle——–James Troisi—-
———————————————————————————
———————————————–Alex Brosque——————
————————-Archie Thompson———————————–Subs; Mat Ryan, Michael Thwaite, Sash Ognenovski, Jade North, Michael Marrone, Mark Milligan, Adam Sarota, Harry Kewell
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