Understandably nervous to begin with and then characteristically relishing the fight back, this was the type of performance from the Socceroos that sends a message to the world that Australia is back, and ready to climb the credibility ladder.
And what’s even better, they want to do it with an Australian-raised manager, encouraging his team to take the initiative to more storied opponents.
Not that fans around the world would have guessed that from early exchanges.
A right mess in the opening quarter of the match, undoubtedly struggling to handle such a huge occasion, it looked like the Roos would fold and might cop the type of embarrassing scoreline that put paid to Holger Osieck last year.
Retreating to the 18-yard box, on the back foot, hesitant, no-one taking ownership, unable to sustain possession, the opening exchanges had all the hallmarks of a new team with limited experience trying to get familiar with its surrounds.
As much could be told about the mindset of the respective teams at the national anthems, the Chileans pumped and passioned as the young Socceroos looked very anxious, not quite sure if they belonged at this level.
Ange Postecoglou has spoken much over the past month about having belief and showing no fear, but the reality is his team is so fresh, and still feeling its way on the international stage.
To be thrown into the deep end that is a World Cup opening match was always likely to be a sink or swim moment, and early on they were undoubtedly gasping for air.
Trying to channel the Chileans wide was a noble concept, but the mindset of the Roos was one of uncertainty. They didn’t know whether to commit or sit off, and paid dearly.
The likes of Alexis Sanchez and Jorge Valdivia preyed on Australia’s back-foot defending, and pulled the shape all over the place. It looked ominous.
During the warm-up game in Salvador last week against Croatia I tweeted that the Roos could do with a goal to boost their confidence.
It sounded like an obvious statement, but for a team so fresh, building from almost nothing, it needed a moment to make them believe they belonged in this elite company.
While defensively they were much better against Croatia than against South Africa, that moment didn’t come.
Here, 20 odd minutes in, down 2-0, they were still looking for that moment.
Jason Davidson, who had been the only bright light in the opening exchanges, misplaced a square ball to Matthew Spiranovic, who was in his own box, and it looked like he might get dispossessed and Chile might punish them and go three-up.
Australia held its breath.
But Spiranovic was alive, and his composure helped the Roos out of a tight mess.
The ball was moved upfield down the left, and then, through Mark Bresciano, switched out to the right where Mat Leckie and Ivan Franjic were in space.
Nothing came of the build up, but in that moment the Socceroos started to believe they could play, and find space in the opposition half, exactly how they’d planned.
Franjic had had an unhappy opening 20 minutes, but made a key contribution a short time later, stepping up to cut-out a Chilean counter, and then reacting by running off his stricken opponent and joining Leckie high.
Leckie, as he did throughout, made the right choice in feeding Franjic, who spotted that Tim Cahill had isolated Gary Medel inside the box, and promptly delivered a gem.
It was the type of fearlessness that had been spoken of in the lead up.
The belief started to flow. Bresciano was getting on the ball, Cahill proving a menace among the Chilean back three, Davidson dominating his flank, Leckie carrying the ball and the back two of Spiranovic and Alex Wilkinson started to settle.
The impatient outlet balls that typified the opening quarter of the game were suddenly replaced by the Roos putting their foot on the ball, and hitting Leckie, Bresciano, Davidson and Franjic in space.
Aurelio Vidmar, one of the Roos assistant coaches, confirmed the half time message was about looking for that extra short pass in midfield before looking for the forward ball, and it was the perfect message.
In the second half Australia showed good tactical control, organised in defence, prompting Leckie forward on the right, switch out to Davidson on the left.
But for a save sharp down to his left by Claudio Bravo to deny Bresciano, or a little more combination around the box, the Socceroos might have found an equaliser.
There’s no doubt Chile were rocking, and there for the taking, but the Roos lacked the requisite front third creativity to make enough openings.
With Cahill immersed in a verbal and physical tug-of-war, it was left to the outstanding Leckie to try and unpick the defence with some inspirational ball-carries.
Unfortunately, Tommy Oar didn’t have his greatest night, and nor did Ben Halloran or James Troisi make enough of an impact late.
But they are young and their time will come.
The hope is the belief garnered from the Cuiaba fight-back will embolden them for the next couple of games, as daunting as they are.
The Dutch will pose a completely different challenge to Chile.
As we saw so thrillingly against the defending champions Spain before the Roos match, the Dutch play the most ruthless and rapid reaction game, with Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie the perfect front three for such a plan.
Daley Blind’s ability to find space on the left and pick an accurate long pass in behind the central defence has to be watched, as does van Persie’s one-touch finishing.
Rather than have space up high, there will be little for the Roos. Instead, they’ll need to be more compact, and keep the ball better.
The Dutch will press and prey on any loose stuff, shifting the ball forward quickly. Any error will be punished.
The Roos’ defence has to stay alive, especially when in possession. Controlling the counter, which Sergio Ramos and Gerard Piqué weren’t able to do, will be key.
Another huge test awaits, and with Franjic likely to miss, the likes of Ryan McGowan, Mile Jedinak, Mark Milligan and Oar will need to step up, while the performers against Chile have to re-produce.
The Socceroos must look at Cuiaba only as the start, but at least the reaction to going behind 2-0 will give them the belief they can achieve more and continue to improve.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
@voetbalzonenl 17m Van Persie: ‘Denk dat we ons eigen spel moeten aanpassen aan Australië’ #ausned (I think we have adjust our game for Australia) http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=217085 This is definitely worth a read: Het Nederlands elftal won vrijdag met 1-5 van wereldkampioen Spanje en bondscoach Louis van Gaal wordt met zijn 5-3-2-systeem door velen gezien als de grote architect van het succes. Woensdag speelt Oranje tegen Australië en dat land hanteert een compleet andere speelstijl dan Spanje, maar aanvoerder Robin van Persie voorziet geen problemen. Via de officiële kanalen van de wereldvoetbalbond FIFA wijst hij op de tacticus Van Gaal. “Australië hanteert een compleet andere stijl en ik denk dat wij ons moeten aanpassen om te winnen. Het is een interessant proces, hoe je iedere keer weer aanpassingen moet doen. Wij hebben echter een fantastische technische staf. Ze weten precies hoe ze ons voor moeten bereiden, dus ik maak me geen zorgen.”
Bondy
Guest
magila Agreed..
magila cutty
Guest
On SBS coverage, the match coverage has been great but i find Jimoin to be a massive come down from Santo, Sam and Ed.
Lionheart
Guest
Thanks Tony. Good read.
Brian Orange
Roar Guru
Socceroos did better than expected, but only scored one goal. They'll certainly go into the next game with more confidence and shouldn't concede 2 goals in the first 14 minutes. But . .. Holland beat Spain the world champions by 4 goals and their confidence and teamwork is sky high too. Would be happy with one or two goal loss against Holland, otherwise it could get very bad indeed, especially if we carry false hopes into the next one.
Kasey
Guest
Ahh another one of those "Who cares its only Soccer" delusionals. Interesting article linked below on why people continue to believe 'false' beliefs. OZTAM ratings have been 100% proven to fail to accurately measure the ratings of SBS and ABC.(consistenly UNDER-reporting the numbers for both SBS & ABC.) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/08/26/575454/-Stopping-false-beliefs-lessons-for-journalists-from-brain-science
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Middy The video streaming numbers are in addition to the TV numbers. So, the total figure for AUS v CHI was 2.8 million. Note: The OzTAM figures are for households & don't include the massive numbers watching in pubs, cafes, restaurants, football club rooms, etc. I'd say this has been the best quality WC since 1982 - goals galore; underdogs winning or pushing the favourites... and after 8 matches not a single "boring sockah draw". Currently 1-1 between ECU & SUI, so 16 of the 18 teams that have played have scored.
Pat Malone
Guest
Right on Fuss, I reckon it would be closer to a million
Pat Malone
Guest
I think the true ratings were closer to 15 million for that game. Everybody watched it, I think oztam suppress ratings for football
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Chile are about 50 places higher than the Aussies in the rankings. It was an excellent effort by Australia.
Broken-hearted Toy
Guest
Chilean defence started getting nervous once Cahill scored. He took up Chilean defenders' time, too many of them were worried about him so that opened up attacking space for other Aussies. It was a good match, very pleasing with the way the Aussies never dropped their heads despite being 2 down.
Midfielder
Guest
Fuss Was the streaming included in the overall numbers released by SBS...
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Middy "526,000 World Cup Video Stream Views were served on sbs.com.au, SBS On Demand and The World Game Mobile App" This is truly amazing!! More than half a million Aussies watched AUS v CHI via SBSTwg's online streaming or the SBS World Cup App. These online data numbers have been ignored during the HAL season. We know football attracts a tech-savvy demographic. This World Cup will give us some clear data points to observe the trends for online/Apps vs TV. The Giant is Awake & Kicking.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Thanks whiskey - it definitely was from the abyss - that's the thing we will always remember.
Hamish Alcorn
Guest
Please at least note that this is not how Australian fans respond to all Socceroos losses. Graham Arnold's tilt at the Asian Cup was roundly criticised not because we lost but because we lost without looking any good, and with a team that should have had the experience to win. Same as the two games before Ange took over (perhaps not to win but at least look like a top competitive team). I too am not routinely impressed with the "glorious defeat" narrative, unless! A defeat is useful if things are being learned and we become stronger through it. The game against Chile was this. We are impressed because we have got *better* and look like continuing to do so, and with a young team with its training wheels barely off. So overall, I don't accept your analogy with the English bleating about their Rugby failures. If we don't get to the finals at least of the Asia Cup, the 'glorious defeat' narrative will just sound lame. It's about realism and expectations.
Mitch
Guest
Yes we ALL know what “Oztam” will say the ratings were! BUT what we ALL want to know is - "what the REAL TRUE ACTUAL RATINGS figures were NOT the manipulated and downgraded ones from Oztam !!" We can ALL remember how Oztam fraudently misrepresented the figures during the 2006 Cup! Australia vs Japan Roy Morgan - more than 7.8Million Oztam - 1.5Million Just like the corrupt, crooked and TOTALLY discredited US Credit Ratings Agencies - Standard & Poors, Moodys and Fitch who sold AAA credit ratings to whichever company and/or country that payed them the highest prices - NOBODY takes Oztam Ratings Agency seriously anymore either as they are 100% owned by the 3 commercial networks who are totally biased towards their own programming and so have ZERO credibility and their figures are a TOTAL farce!! It means we will just have to wait to hear from Roy Morgan Research to get the REAL figures.
Midfielder
Guest
Mitch Agree
Midfielder
Guest
Mitch Agree
whiskeymac
Guest
Well said. The difference isn't we applaud a gallant loss, it's that in all of the circumstances this was a memorable effort from a written off team on the ropes. Unlike the union team ( wealthy, resourced and with a large playing pool to draw on) this was a team with limited experience, credentials and a coach installing a new system who came back from the abyss and almost drew against very good opposition.
Mitch
Guest
Yes we ALL know what “Oztam” will say the ratings were! BUT what we ALL want to know is - "what the REAL TRUE ACTUAL RATINGS figures were NOT the manipulated and downgraded ones from Oztam !!" We can ALL remember how Oztam fraudently misrepresented the figures during the 2006 Cup! Australia vs Japan Roy Morgan - more than 7.8Million Oztam - 1.5Million Just like the corrupt, crooked and TOTALLY discredited US Credit Ratings Agencies - Standard & Poors, Moodys and Fitch - NOBODY takes Oztam Ratings Agency seriously anymore as they have ZERO credibility and their figures are a TOTAL farce!! It means we will just have to wait to hear from Roy Morgan Research to get the REAL figures.