A loss to the Netherlands tonight will almost certainly knock Australia out of the World Cup. So, with the Socceroos needing to score goals, we must take a look at how the Aussies can attack against the Dutch.
Tim Cahill enters tonight’s crunch match as one of only four players to have scored at the 2006, 2010, and 2014 World Cups. The negative side to this awesome accolade? The Netherlands’ Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben are two of the others.
It’s a statistic that only makes tonight’s game even more exciting. With the Aussies needing to find the back of the net, they will be up against a side that has just put five past the current World Champions. Did someone say goal-fest?
But whether or not the Australian backline can snuff out the Dutch threat becomes almost irrelevant if the Socceroos strikers do not perform. The tenuous state of the Group B doesn’t permit Australia to play for a draw.
If the Aussies do share the spoils with the Oranje, to be a hope of qualifying they will need to beat Spain in their final game and hope Chile do to Netherlands what the Dutch did to the Spanish.
Confusing, isn’t it? Thankfully, it boils down to simply needing to score.
Dutch media has already warned their national side to not be complacent about Tim Cahill’s aerial threat. Australian fans will be hoping the Socceroos’ all-time leading goal scorer can muster one more, or two, like he did against Japan in 2006.
But as we saw against Chile, the Socceroos’ options in front of goal don’t end with Cahill. In the second half, Mark Bresciano’s stinging volley seemed destined to level the ledger until it was parried away, and only just. Tommy Oar’s incisive crossing game created several chances, one of which was turned into the back of net by Cahill, only for the former Everton striker to be deemed offside.
On the other wing, Mathew Leckie, who scored ten goals in 31 appearances for FSV Frankfurt last season, menaced the Chilean back four with his pace and smart dribbling, and will look to do the same against Netherlands. What will be interesting to see is if Ange Postecoglou plays the 23-year-old as a second striker alongside Cahill, or if he will stick to his regular 4-2-3-1.
A comforting fact for Australian fans is that the Socceroos have never lost to the Netherlands. Their last meeting was in 2009 and for them to defeat an in-form Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben, Postecoglou will need to chance his arm.
This leaves us with Adam Taggart. The Newcastle Jets striker scored 16 goals in 25 appearances this season to take home the A-League’s Golden Boot award, and his penchant for scoring will be the sort of impact Australia will need coming off the bench.
Although not yet a household name, introducing Taggart into the game could prove just as inspired as Holger Osieck’s substitution of Cahill for Josh Kennedy that booked Australia’s place in Brazil. Will Postecoglou play his cards with equal gall or will Cahill yet again save the Socceroos?
To the armchair managers of Australia, what would you do? How can Australia swim against the orange tide?
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