With World Cup spots still on the line, the Socceroos won’t be going easy on an understrength South Africa on Monday night.
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Bafana Bafana have been hit by a string of withdrawals with coach Gordon Igesund forced to bring a severely depleted squad to Australia for the friendly at ANZ Stadium.
Among those missing is Kagisho Dikgacoi, the Crystal Palace midfielder and the only South African playing regularly in the English Premier League.
Goalkeeper and captain Itumeleng Khune and his Kaizer Chiefs teammate, attacking midfielder Bernard Parker, were also among those to pull out.
The South Africa clash will be the final chance for some players to impress with Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou to trim three from the 30-man squad on Tuesday before naming the final 23 on June 2.
Defender Ryan McGowan, who plays for Chinese Super League side Shandong Luneng, knows Postecoglou won’t be taking the match lightly.
“Sometimes it makes it more difficult when they’re a so-called second team because they will be wanting to go out and impress just as much as we are,” McGowan said after training on Saturday.
“He’ll (Postecoglou) want to have some rhythm to the game and play certain players but he’ll want to see a few of the younger boys too.
“But at the same time, he doesn’t even like losing training sessions so I can’t imagine if we have a bad performance, he’ll be too happy.
“So he’ll definitely be wanting to put on a show … and we want to make sure we leave Australia on a high.”
Skipper Mile Jedinak is unlikely to feature on Monday admitting it’s “a little too soon” to play a game as he recovers from the groin injury he picked up in Crystal Palace’s final EPL game.
In a possible indication of who might start against South Africa, Postecoglou teamed McGowan with Matthew Spiranovic in the centre of defence in an 11 v 11 game at the end of Saturday’s training session at Kogarah’s Jubilee Oval.
Brisbane Roar’s Ivan Franjic was at right-back, with Jason Davidson on the left in a new-look back four.
While Western Sydney’s Spiranovic is considered the first choice centre back and a certain starter in Brazil, the other central-defensive spot appears up for grabs.
With Curtis Good, Bailey Wright and Alex Wilkinson are also vying for that spot, McGowan knows a good performance at ANZ Stadium is crucial.
“There’s an opportunity there but it’s up to the boss as to who he thinks will do the best job,” he said.
“If he picks me, I just need to make sure I go out there and play well and give him a selection headache.
“I’ve known Spiranovic for a while, coming through the younger national teams, but haven’t really played with him too much.
“If we do get to play together on Monday, it would be good to get that game time together.”
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With AAP
Charging Rhino
Roar Guru
Pretty embarrassing that South Africa can't beat Australia at soccer - which is considered our biggest sport by far. Millions and millions play the game in SA. That's not so in Australia. What it the 4th biggest code? Also pretty embarrassing that SA did not qualify for the WC this year..... Good luck Socceroos. I'll be cheating you on.... But not expecting fireworks ;-) The ironic thing is some Aussies think it's embarrassing that Australia did not beat South Africa.....!!!!!
Titus
Guest
Agreed, got a good look at Oar in the first half and he was looking very tidy indeed. Overall it wasn't too bad apart from the failure to create chances and a lack of ideas in the final third, which admittedly could be a problem.
James Anderson
Roar Guru
Enjoyed the opening 25 minutes, didn't enjoy the remaining 65. Troisi was good in the first 15 minutes, but only because the South African Midfield were finding their feet. When they begun to defend in an organised structure, he found no room in between the lines, and his touch grew increasingly worse as the night wore on. Milligan has been a great player, but last night he gave away the ball more times than I've ever seen him do so. And as I said, if we throw Bresc back into the starting line up, then either Troisi/McKay misses out on a starting spot which the younger generation cannot afford, or Holland/Milligan. For the sake of regeneration we have to continue to suck for a few more games.
JAJI
Guest
Modric has been a revelation at Madrid this year and certainly is going to test Australia's sketchy defence out Rhys Williams gone, Trent Sainsbury gone. Curtis Good almost gone Ryan McGowan has been dropped by his Chinese club no one has ever heard of. I really wonder if Milligan should be moved back into defence
Cpaaa
Guest
i dont know who that is, so I googled it.....but i still dont get it ?? Im just confused now.
midfielder
Guest
Fuss good side
Danno
Guest
I thought oar was by far the best from what I saw. Though I was at the game (being ANZ, probably the worst place to see the game incl. tv). Didn't think Milligan and Holland were good enough defensively, back 4 we already knew was a bit of a weakness so no surprise. This could seem ridiculous (im not particularly tactically astute) but: I think Oar should get a go centrally with Halloran and leckie out wide. Then Bresc to come on and Oar move out wide and Leckie up front ( cahill or Kennedy off).
AZ_RBB
Guest
Bit of a mixed night. We looked excellent at times and in complete shambles at other times. The back 4 has a lot of work to do but I felt our midfield looked pretty solid. There was nothing remarkable about the performance nor was it a disaster. Really about all you expect from a glorified training run. The 50k in attendance tonight might've left a little let down but you can't expect much more from a friendly.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@James Anderson 1, Our best midfield was missing Jedinak & Bresciano 2. You must have missed the opening 25 minutes, when Australia had 9 clear shots on goal that were either saved, blocked, or just wide? 3. Milligan was outstanding, Troisi bossed the opening 25' along with Oar
James Anderson
Roar Guru
Lots of positive comments about how bad we were in the past before World Cups, so therefore we'll get better. A couple of things to learn tonight: 1. Our midfield - which we first thought was the national team's best asset - is not strong at all. 2. Ben Halloran will make a decent winger one day, and unfortunately he was the only good thing that happened tonight. 3. Milligan and Troisi painfully demonstrated the level of A-League isn't up to scratch with the South African B team's quality. 4. We're to expect far worse results before we eventually get better. But if Postecoglou wants to rebuild the squad, then we can't just throw Bresciano back into the midfield, and Wilkshere back into right back to try and play better football.
70s Mo
Guest
Sounds good Fuss (I can't put my comment in the right spot). One thing confirmed tonight is that Cahill will start. Wonder if Bresc's fitness is a worry though...
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Still 19 days. Right now the lads are being flogged on the training track to reach peak fitness. I think the Starting XI against Croatia will be much closer to the Starting XI against Chile. I'd expect Spiranovic, Bresc,Jedinak to come in; Wilkinson, Leckie & Holland to go out. Hope fully Franjic is ok. So we'd start with ---------Ryan Franjic (Wilkshire) --Spiranovic--McGowan--Davidson --------Milligan--Jedinak Troisi--------Bresciano--Oar -------------Cahill
Haven't seen the match, but thanks anyway. ;)
70s Mo
Guest
There's not much time left for experimenting. Do you think it would be just about the starting 11 against Croatia?
AZ_RBB
Guest
NSW govt pays the FFA good money to host these games. At least more than other states do. 50k is an awesome turn out.
Patrick Hargreaves
Roar Guru
Why do Sydney get every socceroos game? They didn't sell it and the ground wouldn't have been used for grazing. AAMI Park or Suncorp. Had enough of the Sydney Roos. "But AAMI only has 30k" Rather a sell out on a pro field than a half filled concrete monstrosity surrounding a paddock.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Let's just say that it can only get better than this. But the state of the ground as an absolute embarassment.
Kurt
Guest
Wilko held up the players quiet well, has to stop jockeying though
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
I watched a bit of the Croats final Group A game in the UEFA WCQs. They got beaten easily by Scotland and didn't have it all their own way against Iceland in the play-offs. Not saying Croatia are not good; but, they've shown they've also got issues.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Well played Bafana Bafana :-)