The Socceroos head into the Asian Cup on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Japan, who have reinforced their status as tournament favourites.
Poor defending was to blame for Yasuyuki Konno’s 61st minute strike but it was Shinji Okazaki’s individual brilliance that earned the second moments later, while substitute Tim Cahill headed home a consolation goal in extra-time.
After a string of underwhelming performances since the World Cup, Tuesday’s match at Osaka’s Yanmar Stadium was the Socceroos’ last chance to renew Australia’s hopes ahead of January’s Asian Cup on home soil.
Coach Ange Postecoglou has now guided the side to an eighth loss in his 12 matches in charge and while he can take something from the Socceroos spirited first half performance, the second half shows he still has work to do to bridge the gap with Asia’s best teams.
Japan coach Javier Aguirre fielded his strongest side, making just one change to the team who dismantled Honduras 6-0 last week but the Socceroos provided a much tougher contest.
Australia may have looked the better side in the first half, playing the fluid passing, possession-based game Postecoglou has implemented, the Japanese asserted themselves after the break, showing all the qualities that have them ranked more than 40 places higher.
In what was a lively start to the match the Socceroos showed their attacking intent from the opening whistle with James Troisi sent wide a shot in the first minute.
Japan returned fire almost instantly when Okazaki launched onto a through-ball into the box but thanks to good defending by Alex Wilkinson, the striker got no further.
Yoshinori Muto, who had goalkeeper Mat Ryan beaten, hit the crossbar in the 16th minute but was ruled offside.
A minute later, Leckie had the best chance of the half and looked like opening the Socceroos account when he got on the end of a Robbie Kruse cross into the box, stinging gloveman Eiji Kawashima’s palms with his powerful header.
AC Milan star Keisuke Honda struck from long range halfway through the opening stanza, but the weak shot was light work for Ryan.
Honda and Borussia Dortmund’s Shinji Kagawa then combined just before the break to test the Socceroos defence who managed to scramble the ball clear.
Japan continued to terrorise the Socceroos backline in the second half as they began to take hold of the match.
Kagawa got past midfielder Massimo Luongo to put Ryan to work with the keeper pulling off another great save to also deny Okazaki moments later.
But it was second half substitute Konno who broke the deadlock. Left totally unmarked he headed past Ryan, who could do little to stop it, to send the near capacity 46,312 crowd into raptures.
In an effort to bring stability to the midfield Postecoglou brought veteran Mark Bresciano and Mitch Nichols for Luongo and Troisi.
But Japan doubled their advantage in the 68th minute when Masato Morishige laid off a pass to Okazaki, who showed class to score with a cheeky back-heel flick.
Desperate to claw back into the match Postecoglou then brought on talisman Cahill for Matt McKay.
And the move paid off with the ever-reliable Cahill, Australia’s all-time leading goal scorer, displaying the aerial brilliance he’s renowned for to get one back for Australia off a Leckie cross in the dying minutes.
paul
Guest
I think Behich is very underrated.........BUT...i feel he should be playing as an attacking midfielder.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"Man for Man our team last night doesn’t stack up against the Japanese when you consider the teams and leagues they play in." That hypothesis is regularly debunked when we watch international football - not just the odd upset, there are significant number of matches in the current Euro Qualifiers & at 2014 World Cup where teams with players from unfashionable teams & leagues prevailed over nations with highly valued players.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Clearly some people on this site have too much spare time on their hands. As you say, if you don't have the cattle the arguments about players in correct positions are spurious. Man for Man our team last night doesn't stack up against the Japanese when you consider the teams and leagues they play in. Pure and simple. Ange can't change that, only our players have that under their control. Ange and Ante Milicic are doing what they can with the players that are available.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
Bresciano had a shocker of a game last night. He passed the ball straight to the Japanese team on two occasions, one almost resulting in a goal for Toyoda, the other led to Japan's second goal. He fluffed a free kick, and got confused in a possible goal-scoring situation -- and he was only on the field for 30 minutes! I think it was no coincidence that the midfield and defence fell apart when he was on -- I'm not sure how it happened, and certainly the Japanese had been growing in confidence, but they were happy to let him 10 metres with the ball unchallenged in midfield, knowing that he posed little threat, and was likely to pass poorly.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@Kaks At 23 years old Cahill: Millwall: 2nd & 3rd tier England Wilkshire: Bristol City 3rd tier England Chipperfield: Woolongong City: NSL Schwarzer: Dynamo Dresden (2nd tier Germany, 2 games in 2 seasons) If I get the time I’ll post more.
Franko
Guest
Agreed, Davidson is no Roberto Carlos but he’s our best option at LB. He’s been well schooled, played in a WC and has moved to the prem (would be ideal if he was playing more regularly) . He can fill the hole for the Asian Cup and possibly Russia whilst Brad Smith matures in to the footballer we all hope he can be.
Batou
Guest
I honestly don't get the hype about Jason Davidson. He looks OK going forward but is too flaky in defense and that is not the hallmark of a good fullback in my opinion. Behich is similar though as are most of the other options I can think of (not that I think Behich is a decent option at all personally). It's still a problem area for us and we aren't going to pull a great LB out of thin air before the Asian Cup so I think Ange is going to have to be especially careful to communicate to the fullbacks exactly what their role is each game. I guess that applies to every player regardless of their position, but I see a greater need for detailed instructions to the fullbacks as we have been getting badly exposed there time and time again and it appears that they are either unsure of when to push forward, or are doing so too frequently without cover from the rest of the defense.
Kaks
Roar Guru
Feel sorry for Ange because the players at his disposal are some of the worst we have had for a while Dont feel sorry for Ange because he doesnt play the players at his disposal in their correct position or use them properly.
Kaks
Roar Guru
I have seen where most of these "Goldern Generation" players were at the start of their league. And your notion that most were playing in Amateur/NSL squads until their mid 20's is a blatant lie. Go and have another look at where Kewell, Moore, Neil, Cahill, Skoko, Culina, Chipperfield, Bresciano, Schwarzer, Viduka etc. etc. were playing in their mid 20's.
Steve
Guest
He hasn't played in his preferred position in any match under Ange.
Franko
Guest
A few points on the Socceroos ahead of the Asian Cup in Jan: 1. If we are going to achieve anything, it will largely be off the back of Cahill and Bresciano the next gen are good in patches but aren’t there yet. 2. We don’t seem to be able to concentrate for 90mins. Through the WC in recent friendlies (particularly against Saudi and Japan last night) we play well for a period and then completely drop away. 3. Matt McKay should only be viewed as a midfielder that could fill a gap at LB if needs be. 4. Matt Ryan is clearly our No.1. There may be times he makes mistakes and the likes of Federici could do better but 95 games in 100, he’s our man for now, Russia and beyond 5. Jason Davidson is our LB. Aziz is a good back up, and McKay can fill in a pinch, but Ange needs to settle on Davidson at LB 6. Wilko and Sainsbury made a decent pairing at the back, but we need Spiranovic to get fit and hope that Good gets some first XI football to own the other spot 7. We need Williams at RB to replace Franjic who is not up to international standards
Dwight Forke
Guest
with the exceptions of the chipperfields and even emerton who stuck around at olympic until he was 21, most of the golden generation were overseas by 18-19 (Wilkshere 17, Cahill 18, Bresciano 19, Skoko 19, Grella 19, kewell as a teen). Surely the median age of a european move is now 24-25 if not later. simply too late and the expsoure to the professionalism in europe is lacking in these crucial years.Oar (and Kruse) these are guys that have fallen into this gap. Perhaps @Fussball ist unser leben we can agree that that even the younger guys who are going at a prime age (luongo, davsion, herd) just are quality players without a doubt and would flourish in the a-league, maybe they just can't cut it at an international level like the golden generation and we should stop hoping so and start being satisfied with competitive performances.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Tommy Oar is currently injured.
Franko
Guest
Oar didn't play last night....
jamesb
Guest
That's a good question Steve.
Steve
Guest
I like Tommy, and think he is being played out of position. The question is if he is playing well in the Eredivise, why is Ange not picking him in his preferred position?
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@Dwight Forke "Most of them did so at the start of their career and well into their early-mid 20s ." You should check out the leagues where the "Golden Generation" were playing when they were in their early-mid 20s. The majority were playing semi-professional NSL, or the lower leagues in England.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
"Oar was labelled the next Kewell……I cant think of one good performance by him in a green and gold jersey" You must have missed the Qualifiers for WC2014. Without Tommy Oar assisting goals, Australia would never have qualified. PS: Tommy Oar didn't play last night. He is currently the player who has created more chances than any other player in the highly-rated technical Eredivisie. Source: http://www.benefoot.net/tommy-oar-the-shining-light-of-fc-utrecht/
Dingo
Guest
Jeez it's going to get pretty grim once Cahill retires huh? Can't see how we can score goals without him.
kurt
Guest
Bring back scotty mac