Australia has drawn 0-0 with Colombia at Craven Cottage in London and the fondness of the venue has surely played a part in the Socceroos’ return to something resembling an organised football team.
Gone were the clangers in defence that permeated through the performance in Oslo against Norway which led to a 4-1 loss, despite the fact that it was mostly the same personnel charged with preventing the skilful and agile South Americans from finding the net.
Josh Risdon was called into the back four and did well, despite the challenge of tracking attacking players blessed with speed far in excess of that which he faces week to week in the A-League.
I met Josh a few months back and could not have been more impressed with his manner and words, as he maturely reflected on his move to Sydney and the exciting possibility of heading to a World Cup with the national team. His performance against Colombia reeked of the poise and class I took from our conversation.
There was immediately something different about the performance in London, as the speed of ball movement in midfield and the bodies up front were considerably improved from just four days ago.
With Aaron Mooy missing thanks to a minor complication to a knee that is still healing after sustaining a deep gash, it fell to Massimo Luongo and Tom Rogic to control the midfield and distribute.
Our two young stars shone and with Matthew Leckie and Tomi Juric working hard up front, chances were created after an initially stodgy start to the game with little action at either end.
Potentially even more exciting was the performance of Andrew Nabbout, who played in his more natural position today and was dangerous on the left when in combination with Aziz Behich and Luongo.
(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Behich was one of Australia’s best late in the World Cup qualifying campaign, as epic as it became, and continued his good form against the Colombians. Late in the game when he cleaned up an attacking foray and his direct opponent hit the deck looking for the free, the frustration and anger in Behich’s face said a lot about the type of competitor he is.
He was fighting for his country and wanted to maintain parity at all costs, despite the ‘friendly’ nature of the contest.
With honours close to shared in the first-half, the Colombians took the initiative in the second and it became increasingly difficult for the Australians to maintain possession and build up play effectively.
Earlier, Rogic and Luongo had been running through the midfield and distributing ahead, something that Mooy struggled to do in Oslo, yet as the game went on and the Colombians took over, Australia took to countering when given the chance.
Luongo created his own space and fired on goal with Australia’s best chance for the game in a sequence of touches that was probably the cream of the action from the entire contest.
Sadly, it was one of few in the second-half as the Socceroos faced a barrage of balls into the box and others that ricocheted of the woodwork to deny the team making most of the play.
James Rodriguez co-ordinated much of the South American’s attack and the introduction of Miguel Borja bred the most vivacious period of the match.
However, a point-blank miss, interventions by goal frames and a missed penalty seemed to suggest it was neither Borja’s or Colombia’s day.
After debutant Danny Vukovic conceded the spot kick, and an obvious penalty it was, his stunning save celebrated the long wait he has had to represent the Socceroos. It was a pleasant little birthday present to boot.
Bert van Marwijk made more changes and has seen the vast majority of his squad in action, in a performance with which he will be far happier. Tim Cahill had half an hour to impress yet the momentum had swung so far in the Colombians favour his chances were limited.
The match was something of a precursor to the bombardment the team will experience in Russia. France, Peru and Denmark will launch similar wave after wave and the defence will need the stoicism they displayed today.
What will be even more important, however, will be the ability to do what the Socceroos were able to achieve against Colombia today and counter well.
Chances will be limited playing against the powerhouses in the Socceroos’ group and structuring their own play well enough to create opportunities is key and also provides the defence with time to regroup.
Worried
Guest
So where does 60% come from ?? Is football that measurable or is the figure just plucked out of the air?
Caltex & SBS support Australian Football
Guest
Arzani, is an interesting talent. I agree, it would do Australia no harm to include him in the squad to develop him as a future Socceroo.
Newie
Guest
I can't wait to see Spain in the World Cup! https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/messi-watches-on-as-argentina-get-hit-for-six-by-spain-20180328-p4z6n0.html But Argentina - yecch. On the nose! Perhaps we'll meet them in the round of 16.
Barca4life
Guest
Luongo provides us with fluidity in midfield, whilst Mooy gives us the control and playmaking, then you have Rogic and even Petratos. Then you have someone like Arzani whom regardless of his age is the only attacker we have that can go past his 1v1 primary defender and can make something from nothing, Borrello was stiff to miss out so Bert has to make some big calls there too. Nabbout was disappointing for me, he didn't show that much but Petratos was good against Norway. A tough conundrum for Bert, for me the matchups in midfield are really important as that might be the deciding factor if we qualify for the next round or not. Of course, questions are asked if we have the overall quality especially in the final third, but only time will tell with Bert's tinkering and personnel he selects will be the key factor.
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
Further to the above, I think we would all agree that Rogic all but has the attacking mid slot tied down, meaning the two deeper midfield slots are going to be out of Mooy, Luongo and Jedi. Jedi is only in the discussion because he is the most suited to the one out and out holding mid role, but on the flip side, Mooy and Luongo are easily the better all-round midfielders. So the question becomes: if we were to reserve the deep-lying playmaker role for Luongo (and he showed the other night that he's up for it), can Mooy hold down a holding mid role, i.e. play as a pure DM? I'm not sure of the answer, but a midfield triangle of Mooy, Luongo and Rogic looks a lot more attractive than any combo containing Jedi. Also, related to this discussion, at times against Colombia, defensively we often looked like a 4141, now that might just have been the defensive instructions from Lambertus on the night, and/or a consequence of Colombia constantly pushing us back, and obviously a defence minded 4231 looks a lot like a 4411 or 4141, but it provides a bit of a hint to Lambertus' current frame of mind (if we needed one at all).
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
The Socceroos might be average, but history tells us that even an average team can jag a result or two at the WC. I hold out hope that we will surpass our results from the last WC where we failed to earn a single point and ended up with a goal difference of minus 6.
Lee
Guest
Great article (disco) Stu. However The trugh is that the Socceroos are distinctly average and really have precious little talent and thus will be humbled in Russia. When your best player plays for ‘Uddersfield’ as they say in that part of Yorkshire you know you have major problems. As an Australian of aristocratic heritage I urge my fellow Australians to support rugby union and cricket in this sunburnt land. In these sports we have the capacity as a nation to bring ourselves glory by actually winning tournaments not degrading ourselves by being eliminated early.
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
T. Upright was probably the best defender on the park.
Huddo
Guest
if only the post could wear green and gold it was more effective than milligan, deginak was muck better
Grobbelaar
Roar Guru
ST writes: "Earlier, Rogic and Luongo had been running through the midfield and distributing ahead...." Personally, Rogic is many things, mostly good, but the one thing I would not view him as is a "distributor". A unique aspect about Rogic is that he has the balance and ball control of a quality attacking mid, but the height, strength and athleticism of a traditional centre-forward. It's a fairly unique blend and makes him a very important link man in transitioning from defence into attack (and we saw glimpses of what he is capable of in that sort of role this morning) - but I would not really view him as a midfield distributor.
JAJI
Guest
I really wonder if Rhys Williams is a better alternative to the likes of Dagenek or even Jedi now.....he is off the radar though I appreciate from BVM
Lancey5times
Roar Rookie
I think if it was a coach that knew more about him and the rest of our players he wouldn't have got a run. Cahill of course goes to Russia and starts every game on the bench. In other circumstances a familiar coach uses these games as a means of finding an alternative to Cahill. He doesn't really have anything to prove
StuM
Guest
A much better Socceroos effort, but the age old Aus football problem in defence of allowing our opponents far too much personal space on and off the ball still pervades our second rate defence, which then cripples the rest of our game. By contrast, Columbia loses the ball and instantly the nearest Columbian player screams into the opponent to fight viciously for the ball before we can settle, and they inevitably get it back almost straight away, or within a few of our passes at worst. We don't, and have never, shown that instant level of urgency in defence. We allow far too much personal space for opponents to develop whatever rhythm they want. Hopefully BVM will address this asap.
Kangajets
Guest
Thanks mid I really only saw the second half and we held on by the skin of our teeth ... but there was some moments of composed football against a good opposition. So who was effective in these counterattack’s , Luongo seemed to be good when on the ball What abt Behich risdon and Milligan , what did you think of them ?
Kris
Guest
I think he was brought on to defend from the front. Not that uncommon to replace the tiring striker with some fresh legs to scamper about and try and put some pressure on the opposition play makers in deep midfield / defence. By then we were playing for a draw.
haymother
Guest
I wonder about the usefulness of bringing a player like Cahill on in circumstances where, at the back end, they were getting behind us and we were mostly defending. He tends to capitalize on chances rather than make them himself (most of the time, especially more recently) and with Colombia upping the tempo and getting in behind our players, there was not much for him to do. We did really well against a good team, especially in the first half. We were a bit lucky in the second with 4 or 5 chances that on another day would have gone in. It could easily have been 3 nil. If Cahill is going to Russia, why not play him in the first half when we are more than likely going to play our best football, substitute him for a player in the second how can both create chances and hold the ball a bit better when the opposition are throwing everything at us
Midfielder
Guest
Last time have been waiting on this and have already posted this post on other threads but sorts want it said. So sorry for the double up if you have read before. OK small confession and never played this card on the Roar before… I played in some teams with very good players and excellent coaches… by accident and a good deed I did for a player I was accepted into a wonderful team as the worst player and spent 20 years in this team… The technical talk we did and planning was like a drug to me I drank in knowledge and what I think is an inner understanding especially in defence. IMO this was an amazing display of what we called cover the middle… we varied our formation depending on the state of the game and the position on the field. The key to our success was across the box we would be very tight and while the wings were important to close down, the most essential purpose of wing defence was not allowing early balls into the box and secondly attempt to make the cross as ineffective as possible. But with four tight in the box and hopefully always at least one free to watch incoming runners and call positions both zonal and man marking we had a defence that conceded very few goals. Two of the players came from overseas one had played for Westham and the other a US international both brutal in organising the defence. I mention this only because I saw tonight for maybe the first time since the 70’s is an Australian team attempt to play a game where holding the centre of the park from the back tightly set across the box and moving forward can be used to launch quick counter attacks and is very hard to break down. Middy was impressed and hopefully I have explained why.