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Toothless Olyroos struggle and fall to UAE

14th January, 2016
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Josh Brillante has excelled since coming home from Italy.
Expert
14th January, 2016
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Australia’s qualification for the Rio Olympics took a huge blow early Friday morning, as the Olyroos fell in their opening AFC Under-23 Asian Cup game 1-0 to the United Arab Emirates.

While Aurelio Vidmar’s side dominated the possession statistics throughout the game, his players failed to create enough meaningful chances in a display that often fell apart in the final third of the pitch.

It was another worrying performance from the Australian youth side, with a focus on controlling the football once again falling to pieces due to an inability to produce shots on goal.

UAE, on the other hand, were organised and disciplined, content with surrendering possession and frustrating the Olyroos with a tight backline and hitting on the counter-attack.

The loss is not a great start for the Olyroos, but neither is it a disaster. There is still time for this team to find cohesion and produce results.

A top-three finish was a minimum requirement leading into the tournament, which would secure a spot at the 2016 Olympics. Failure to do so would prove another setback for the Under-23 setup and would put question marks over Vidmar’s job.

The build-up to the tournament has not been ideal, with no less than seven players who had claims to a starting berth refused call-ups by their European clubs. On top of that, captain and lynchpin Mustafa Amini was forced to sit on the bench after being struck down by a virus for the past five days, and Jason Geria also failed a late fitness test.

The Olyroos started the game strong, dominating possession and employing their characteristically high press when losing the ball in a trademark 4-3-3. Josh Brillante, in particular, was busy early on, his distribution looking tidy in a midfield trio with Steven Ugarkovic and Ryan Edwards.

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Yet there was a disconnect between the midfield and the forward line, particularly Jamie Maclaren, whose touch let him down a few times as he struggled to reproduce his blistering A-League form. His work off the ball was exceptional however, forcing his opponents into hurried balls out of defence.

The UAE may have sat back and allowed Australia possession in their own half, yet employed their own intelligent pressing game once the Olyroos moved forward. Wide forwards Andrew Hoole and Connor Pain were continually closed down efficiently when receiving possession, often by two or three players, making it hard for Australia to create clear-cut chances.

An early opportunity for the Olyroos arrived after just five minutes, a sweeping ball from their own half releasing Pain on the left, who delivered a cross back post for Maclaren. Yet the ball was a little overhit and the Brisbane Roar forward sent his shot off target.

The Olyroos almost gifted UAE dangerman Sultan Saif a one-on-one chance versus keeper Jack Duncan soon after, Scott Galloway providing a hospital pass to centre-back James Donachie, who was forced to make a professional foul and cop a yellow card.

Despite all of Australia’s possession, they could not find any fluency in UAE’s half and looked out of sync with each other when the ball arrived in the final third of the pitch. That was more to do with the opponent’s impressive organisation, however.

The UAE ended the half stronger as Australia’s ball retention became sloppier, with Alex Gersbach forced to make a late tackle on left-back Abdalla Ghanim Alalawi in the box and Saif producing a nice turn and shot to test Duncan for the first time.

The UAE recognised early that there was an opportunity to hit their opponents on the break and largely concentrated on sending ball over the top of the defence, as well as getting in the Olyroos’ faces and frustrating them with niggling fouls.

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The Olyroos once again produced the first chance of the second half and really should have gone ahead.

Edwards released Pain inside the box after some neat, patient build-up play, yet the Melbourne Victory forward scuffed his shot into the ground and the ball dribbled wide.

Five minutes later, UAE had the ball in the net after Saeed’s wayward header was diverted into the net by Ugarkovic, yet it was thankfully, and correctly, called back for offside.

A change was needed and Vidmar acted on the 60-minute mark, Amini replacing Ugarkovic and taking on the twin No.8 role alongside Edwards as Brillante pushed back into No.6. Yet the UAE had by then taken a hold of the game.

An end-to-end contest emerged, Kazim sending a header straight at Duncan under pressure from a static Olyroos defence, before a classy turn from Amini set up Brillante for a shot on goal from a tight angle.

Duncan produced a superb save with about 15 minutes to play, UAE substitute Waleed Ambar bursting forward unopposed and unleashing a vicious swerving effort that the Randers FC keeper tipped around the post.

Pain was withdrawn for Sotirio to inject pace into the Olyroos line-up with about ten minutes to play, while Antonis came on for Galloway as Brillante moved to right-back, yet the UAE netted the eventual winner soon after.

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A half-cleared UAE corner resulted in a passage of calamitous defending, which saw first Hoole and then James Donachie beaten to headers, before Giancarlo Gallifuoco unfortunately diverted the ball into his own net with Ghanim ready to pounce for a tap-in.

There was not much the Victory defender could have done, his attempt to divert the ball helplessly flying past a stranded Duncan.

The Olyroos ramped up the pressure and Maclaren had another chance following a decent cross from Sotirio in injury time, but sent his header over.

A draw may have been a more deserved final scoreline, yet creating just two meaningful efforts in 90 minutes leaves obvious room for improvement. An obsession with possession in Australia’s youth setup is again proving difficult to implement effectively.

With Jordan defeating Vietnam 3-1 in the other Group D match, it leaves the Olyroos with a sizeable task to qualify for the knockout stages. Anything less than three points against Vietnam in the early hours of Monday morning will almost certainly see an early, embarrassing exit.

Such a scenario would be unthinkable for a squad brimming with undeniable talent, even considering the absent players, and Vidmar has a big job lifting his team to overturn the early setback.

The line-up lacked cohesion and was not good enough in the final third, and players such as Stefan Mauk, Thomas Deng, Brandon Borrello and, pending fitness, Amini must start the next match.

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It is not all doom and gloom, however, the Joeys managed to bounce back from an early loss to Germany at the recent Under-17 World Cup and the Olyroos have the ability to replicate that fighting spirit.

A ruthless streak is a must, though, and hopefully Vidmar can produce an alternative line-up that can click in the final third.

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