Socceroos and Green Falcons put focus back on football

Dead rubber? No such thing, if tonight’s Australia versus Saudi Arabia game is anything to go by. This was by no means the best performance by a Socceroos team.

However, the sheer excitement and action of the AAMI Park World Cup qualifier shifted the emphasis back onto the pitch, after a day of off-field related headlines.

The Socceroos didn’t give themselves the best chance, starting slowly. Saudi Arabia, however, began like a team that was intent on securing their qualification for the next phase with plenty of breathing space.

Salem Al Dawsari looked dangerous every time he ran at the Australian back four, who were not being helped by Jade North appearing as if he was playing in sand shoes, such was the number of times he slipped on the wet surface. It was no surprise when Al Dawsari opened the scoring, with a decisive dribble at the heart of the Australian defence before unleashing a wicked shot into the bottom corner.

With four central defenders at the back, the Socceroos were not playing with the width afforded a team who have overlapping full backs. However, as the game went on, the team began to gel.

Much of the credit for that must go to Mark Bresciano who proved himself to be anything but an afterthought. Bresciano was outstanding, and stamped his authority on the game by splitting the Saudi defence with a superb pass for Alex Brosque, who finished with aplomb.

Al Shamrani struck at the heart of a maligned Australian defence right on half-time to give the Green Falcons the lead. While I still have great faith in Lucas Neill and Sase Ognenovski in the heart of the Socceroos defence, they were not “protected” in the first half by the screening of Mark Milligan.

It was a gratifyingly different story in the second half with the back four pushing up with more confidence. It allowed James Troisi and Brett Emerton to play higher up the park. With Bresciano, Brosque and Harry Kewell forming a deadly attacking triangle, the Socceroos started punching holes in a tiring Saudi defence. Kewell was magnificent, and it shows that his return to these shores has not blunted his attacking potency.

In a crazy four minute period, the Socceroos scored three times, this just after Lucas Neill had a header wrongly ruled out for offside. He still awaits his first goal at international level. Kewell, Brosque and the tireless Brett Emerton (who also hasn’t lost a step in his transition from the EPL to the A-League) turned the game on its head.

Without doubt, the impetus for this came with the introduction of Archie Thompson to the game. Thompson was electrifying, using pace many feared he had lost to stretch the Saudis and create holes for Brosque and Emerton to exploit.

And so a tumultuous day for the domestic game ends with a thrilling win for the Socceroos. There are issues for Holger Osieck to address and only those with rose-coloured glasses would rate this as a great performance. But it was a great game, and took the focus off the stoush between a deluded mining magnate and a fed-up administration.

The focus, finally, was where it belongs: on the pitch.