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Australia trained for the first time as a team in San Pedro Sula, with most of the team running through some light stretching routines, or some basic ball work.
There is some dispute over the extent to which the Honduran locals plan to disrupt the Socceroos’ preparations; the more, shall we say, alarmist outlets are making bug-eyed, trembling predictions of the extremely hostile environment the Australians have arrived in, taking especially shrill notice of the fact the Australians’ itinerary, hotel location and travel schedules have been published in a local newspaper.
On the other hand, Trent Sainsbury described his impression of San Pedro Sula in much more benign terms; “People keep hyping up that this is a really dangerous place to come and it’s going to be really hostile. I don’t see it that way … everyone’s really friendly,” he said.
This backs up the protestations of the Honduran Football Federation president Jorge Salomon, who has slammed the Australian media for sensationalising the issue to the point of deliberate misrepresentation.
His point urging against hyperbole was somewhat undermined, however, when he described San Pedro Sula as being so nice that the Australians might “not want to go to Russia to stay in Honduras and enjoy this beautiful country.”
Regardless, it can’t be contested that the Hondurans have no reason to make Australia’s time in San Pedro Sula a restful experience and certainly will be urging their fans to make – at the very least – the stadium atmosphere as intimidating as possible.
Furthermore, the Roos enjoying a tranquil drive to the stadium, or a pleasant night’s sleep at the team hotel are hardly the only things causing a little extra perspiration in the Australian camp; there are internal issues to be overcome as well.
The suspensions keeping Mark Milligan and Matt Leckie out of the first leg are the most pressing problems, two holes in the starting XI against which we’ve been adequately forewarned.
How Ange Postecoglou will plug the gap Leckie leaves is unclear, but it seems likely that Mile Jedinak will be stepping into the defensive midfield in place of Milligan.
As much as Jedinak’s experience and leadership will be valuable virtues in such an important away fixture, his lack of recent playing time is very worrying indeed.
Having been out injured for a month and a half, Jedinak has appeared in two of Aston Villa’s last three fixtures, although he was benched in the most recent match and used only as an hour-mark substitute in the others.
This hardly implies he’s match fit for a crunch international, played in the late afternoon heat and humidity, having flown 11 hours to get there.
The absence Australia has not been long-preparing for, however, is Tim Cahill’s. A rolled ankle in Melbourne City’s loss to Sydney – his first start of the A-League season – will likely prevent him from playing significant minutes in San Pedro Sula, if at all.
He has nonetheless decided to travel with the team to Honduras, but his statement to the media just before departing painted the portrait of an ageing legend with a hobbled body hoping against hope.
“I make a strong commitment to my body. I’m 38 next month, it’s the reason why I’m still playing.” Cahill said.
“I take it so seriously because it could be my last few games for the Socceroos… It might be a serious injury afterwards, but it’s all for a good cause.”
(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Cahill also said he’d spoken to Jedinak about Australia’s famous 2005 qualifying victory over Uruguay, a strikingly similar set of games; Cahill is the only current squad member who can draw from that experience, and his presence in Honduras will no doubt – if only through proximity alone – help in passing on the lessons he learned in Montevideo to the greener Socceroos who will step out in San Pedro Sula.
“It’s going to be pretty much an eye-opener for these guys.” Cahill said, “It’ll be a bit different not being in this sort of situation before.”
So, the Socceroos are preparing for two of the most important matches in recent memory, the first of which involves a potentially spiky away trip, with two key first XI members suspended, and their talisman crocked and limping late into camp.
It’s at a time like this that one wonders exactly why Postecoglou has insisted his own future also occupy a protuberant place at this banquet of distractions as well.
With his team needing to steel their minds against everything else and rally shorthanded behind the cause of qualification, it would be nice to know whether or not the manager will be taking them to Russia if they succeed. In some perverse way, Cahill’s injury has offered relief in the build-up, catching the wide eye of the national attention and letting Postecoglou’s irritating obfuscation slope into the shade.
Imagine allowing your own murky professional future to dominate the conversation to the point where it takes a Socceroos hero wounding themselves to drown it out.
Let’s not forget this is an issue Postecoglou could have cleaned up by now, even allowing the opportunity to do so on a nationally televised documentary series to fall by the wayside, using it instead as another moment to smarmily deny his perceived nemeses in the media any clarification.
The last few weeks have not been easy for the Roos, their manager, and their supporters, a ragged trudge down a lumpen path toward Russia 2018.
Most of the stumbles along the way have been caused by others, or by bad luck. Others have been self-inflicted.
Now, with the end in sight, the sternest test of the Roos’ mental fortitude will be conducted, with the entire country is hoping they can take a breath, block out the noise and pass it.