I’d give the Socceroos a six out of 10 for their performance against Japan on Tuesday.
Australia started brightly against their Asian rivals and for the first 50 minutes of the match looked equal to the Japanese.
Yet, as the Socceroos looked like they were getting comfortable, Japan reminded us in the second half why they are the dominant force in Asian football.
Ange Postecoglou’s side may have slipped to a ninth defeat in his 14-match reign, however there were positives to come out of the performance.
Aziz Behich looks to be a quality fullback with the Turkish-based defender pushing forward on multiple occasions. Meanwhile, Matthew Leckie continues to shine with the winger easily Australia’s man of the match.
Leckie was the one giving the Japanese the most headaches in the first half with his ability to get in behind the Blue Samurai defence creating some decent chances for Australia.
Behind Tim Cahill, Leckie is the most important man up forward as his creativity is a rare commodity in the current squad. Yet for all the positives, the defeat once again exposed Australia’s biggest frailties.
Two wicked crosses combined with some woeful defending gave Javier Aguirre’s side the victory and further wounded Asian Cup preparations. The spine of Australia is still below Asian Cup winning standard and this was brutally exposed once again in Osaka.
Trent Sainsbury and Alex Wilkinson are improving as a defensive partnership but their inexperience showed in both goals. Japan’s first was the result of what can only be described as poor organisation. How six players felt the need to rush to defend a front post ball is beyond any reasoning.
Add Wilkinson’s poor defending that led to the second and the frailties of our centre partnership were dreadfully exposed.
If Ange is serious about picking players on form and winning the Asian Cup, he needs to recall Sasha Ognenovski for the January tournament.
Watch Sydney FC and you’ll see how a good central defender marshals a defence and ensures that the back four remains tight, compact and aware of their roles at set pieces. He’s the type of player that could not only fit in and help win a tournament but perform a mentoring role to the two incumbents.
Further down the spine, central midfield remains a sticking point.
With Mile Jedinak performing such a deep defensive midfield role, it’s key to have playmaker slotting in between the midfield and strikers. Japan on Tuesday had Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda at their disposal, with the two easily switching play, directing traffic and creating attacking opportunities.
In comparison, Australia has Marco Bresciano, who made that position in the Australian line-up his own over the last decade, but behind him there are very few youngsters who posses his quality. It was glaringly obvious on Tuesday as to the lack of direction in midfield when Australia went forward.
And with no-one staking a claim to make that position their own, it’s a worrying sign going forward considering Bresciano is in his mid 30s.
The biggest concern for me going into the Asian Cup is a lack of potency up forward. Unless we can clone Tim Cahill, the Socceroos have very little goalscoring options heading into the future.
The amount of times that Mathew Leckie and company got into promising positions down the wings and crossed, only to be met with one gold shirt among five or six Japanese defenders, was both unbelievable and disgraceful.
Too many Socceroos were lazy in supporting the winger’s efforts and that resulted in many decent crosses and set pieces going unrewarded.
Cahill has now scored 75 per cent of Australia’s goals during the Postecoglou era and the cupboard is a little threadbare for secondary options.
Tom Juric and Bruce Djite are the most in-form candidates while Josh Kennedy is a reliable back-up. Behind the above trio however, there are very few goalscoring options for the Socceroos.
Tuesday’s game was both refreshing and worrying. While it was refreshing to see some young talent make a case for the Asian Cup, there is genuine concern about the future of certain positions heading into January.
Australia’s central spine is still a massive worry, and judging by Tuesday’s performance it shows no signs of abating quickly.
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