Confidence is one thing, but Socceroos coach Graham Arnold is edging dangerously close to arrogance with respect to the Socceroos’ chances of World Cup qualification.
A humbling quarter-final finish at the Asia Cup this year and a comprehensive 2-0 defeat at the hands of South Korea – admittedly with a somewhat experimental line-up – demonstrated that while Australians can remain optimistic about making a fifth-straight World Cup, it will not be a straightforward qualification campaign.
Speaking ahead of tonight’s AFC World Cup qualifying Round 2 draw, Arnold called on the Socceroos to be “ruthless” throughout the qualification process.
“We’ve got a very good group of players and we’ll treat every one of these games as a way of being ruthless,” Arnold told AAP.
“We need to start being ruthless in a sense of nailing the opposition. I expect that over the next few years.”
“Every opponent that we play we treat with respect, but we go out on the pitch expecting to put in a great performance.”
The Socceroos have drawn Jordan, Taiwan, Kuwait and Nepal in what – on paper – looks a straightforward group.
Of course, as we so often learn in Asia, Australia cannot afford to get ahead of itself, especially if the standards of a “great performance” align with Arnold’s comments following Australia’s exit from the Asia Cup.
“I’ll be honest, I think that we’ve done very, very well this tournament,” he told reporters after the game.
To recap, Australia entered that tournament as defending champions and exited with just two group-stage wins, a penalty shoot-out victory after a goalless draw against Uzbekistan before a 1-0 loss after extra-time to the UAE.
The Socceroos also lost 1-0 to World Cup qualification opponents Jordan.
In Arnold’s defence, Australia dominated the majority of those games in terms of possession and spent plenty of time in promising positions.
Unfortunately, the Socceroos just could not find an answer to the packed defences that were set out before them and struggled to deal with the pace and direct nature of their opponents on the break.
Arnold complained after the tournament that his players had not had enough time to learn his style of playing.
“The style that we expect to play takes time,” Arnold said.
“You’ve got to remember I’ve been in charge only for four months, I’ve only had eight games with these boys.”
“The style is completely different from what they’ve ever played.”
These are not unreasonable comments from Arnold, but the issue with this is that he will remain starved of opportunities between now and the start of the qualification process.
Since the Asian Cup, he has had just one game with the Socceroos – the aforementioned 2-0 defeat to South Korea.
The friendly gave Arnold a good opportunity to mix it up and take a look at some new players but, in isolation, it will do little to help the first-team regulars acclimatise to Arnold’s demands of them, nor did it provide enough of a chance to decide if the likes of Mustafa Amini, Brandon O’Neil or Jimmy Jeggo are ready to usurp the first-team regulars ahead of them.
I personally remain unconvinced by Arnold as Socceroos manager, but there’s no doubting the lack of friendly matches in recent times has been a massive contributing factor to the disjointed nature of Socceroos performances.
(Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
In between the World Cup in 2018 and today, the Socceroos have played just five friendlies.
Add in the Asian Cup games and we’ve seen Arnold’s team in action just ten times in the last 13 months.
By comparison, Japan had played five matches courtesy of the annual Kirin Challenge Cup it hosts on home soil, in between the World Cup and Asian Cup alone.
In total, Japan has played 19 matches since the last World Cup, including the 2019 Asia Cup and Copa America tournaments.
South Korea has played 16 games, including the Asian Cup.
Moving into what promises to be another tough World Cup qualification campaign, our Socceroos will be learning on the job and while Arnold may be thankful that the nature of the World Cup draw keeps Australia away from some of Asia’s bigger teams, our Asia Cup campaign proves that he cannot afford to take any game lightly.
The Asia Cup in many ways provided a blueprint for teams looking to get a result against Australia and as a result of that Arnold’s Socceroos need to earn the right to be feared by so-called minnows of the game.
The best way to do that is to stop talking about “nailing” opponents and start winning games of football.
Sonny
Guest
Simple, wrong man for the job!
That A-League Fan
Roar Guru
Tyke, we can 'domimate' South Korea with a second string team away from home. We've dominated nearly all of games under Arnold but results have been poor. He and a few others can talk the talk but can't walk the walk.
That A-League Fan
Roar Guru
I disagree. Mooy, Leckie and Rogic hasn't done much for the Socceroos recently. Ikonomidis is overrated. Mabil is inconsistent. Boyle and Arzani just returned from injury and we don't know enough about them. The injury could have ended their careers for all we know.
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Extremely harsh to blame Behich for that own goal
Redondo
Roar Rookie
I think you might be right Tyke. Mooy, Arzani, Leckie, Boyle, Rogic, Ikonmidis, Mabil etc - it could be good to watch.
Tyke
Roar Rookie
I’m 100 with Arnold; Kuwait, Taiwan, and Nepal all know Australia are going to dominate. He hasn’t even played with a full strength Socceroos side yet, we WILL dominate those 3 teams, and do need to be ruthless, and we need to be mad about what happened with Jordan. I think in due time people will be eating their words. Imagine supporters getting up the coach for G’ing up his team? that is soft, get behind him you sooks, and to the author, pull ya head in
That A-League Fan
Roar Guru
The way things are going, I don't think that will last for long.
That A-League Fan
Roar Guru
We certainly wouldn't have gotten a single point if Arnold was in charge and probably wouldn't have scored a single goal. Was getting Van Marwijk worth it? He was very conservative but we managed to grind out a result against Denmark and were 'unlucky' against France. Peru was far too good. I don't think the Socceroos would have been any better if Arnold started earlier. He has done tons of experimentation before and after the Asian Cup for very little reward. That being said, if we kept Van Marwijk we would probably have the same problem, not being able to score. I'm not sure keeping him would have made much difference at the Asian Cup.
That A-League Fan
Roar Guru
Graham Arnold is simply arrogant. He says he is very happy with the draw despite the disastrous 1-0 loss to Jordan and says that he has 'experience' against them. They did exactly what we expected (parking the bus and hitting on the counter) and Arnie did little about it. In addition, despite Millsy's terrible performances at the Asian Cup and the fact that he will be 34 in a month (36 in June 2022), he is STILL in Arnold's plans. Arnold still denies that the Socceroos don't have enough quality, stating 'we have a very good group of players', 'we'll be ruthless', 'we expect to put in a great performance and win'. The questions are 'When was the last time the Socceroos were ruthless against decent opposition under him?' 'Were there any notable performances against decent opposition under him?' 'Who are the players who have performed well under Arnold?' And 'Who could perform well in the future?' The answers for the first two are no IMO, and I can't really think of anyone who did perform well, except Mathew Ryan, except to a lesser extent Rhyan Grant, Chris Ikonomidis and Awer Mabil. I am quite unhappy with Aziz Behich as well. He is overrated, struggled for gametime in PSV last season, has only done a satisfactory job in major tournaments for the last couple of years (no assists in eight matches, o.g. against France, poor perfomances in Confederations cup, missed a pen against Uzbekistan etc.), 28 years of age, and is overconfident. I have no idea what he did to deserve the armband in the second string, I repeat, second string side against South Korea. When we lost (deservedly so because we only created ONE clear cut chance against them, from a corner) he went on about how we took away positives 'that Australia had lots of possession, has lots of depth (well, only in midfield tbf) and that there's exciting times for the national team'. He also talked about 'the great atmosphere in training and how the 1-0 loss was a 'great night'. Yesterday he also talked about the 'Socceroos making a statement on the Road to Russia'. I have a few questions that need answering. 'What's depth in midfield good for if none of them can create enough chances?' 'What's possession good for if we struggle to score from open play?' 'What's the atmosphere in training good for if they can't perform on the pitch?' 'How can there be exciting times for the national team when results have been poor, Arnold's play is so conservative and boring to watch, with no potency going forwards (there is an exception)?' 'How can we make a statement in WC Qualifying if no Socceroos except Taggart are making statements for THEIR clubs?' 'And how will we make a statement if we couldn't make a statement at the Asian Cup?'
Nemesis
Guest
Yes, I think this will happen. From what I've been hearing the company that just paid US$8 BILLION for AFC broadcast rights is planning massive changes to the formats for club competitions & national competitions in Asia. This company is from Asia & they're perfectly placed to understand & leverage the power of the Asian sports consumer market.
Tyke
Roar Rookie
Our youth could do with some game time anyhow
Tyke
Roar Rookie
An Asian nations league is hopefully in the pipeline, I think it’s inedible all the continents will have a nations league tournament soon.
Nemesis
Guest
A tournament like this is not a meaningful game. It's just more friendlies. It would have to be held on FIFA international calendar dates. It would end up being countries sending their B or C senior teams, or become a youth tournament. Australia needs to just start winning games in the Gulf. That's it. We are fine at home. Only lost 1 World Cup Qualifier at home in the past 37 years and that was a dead rubber, so the loss was of no consequence.
lapsedcyclist
Roar Rookie
Australia has to spend money for the Socceroos to improve, they need meaningful games. An annual tournament like the Kirin Cup invite 3, 4, 5 or 6 national teams i.e. continental champions (Qatar, Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, Cameroon, New Zealand) or continental finalist's (Japan, United States, Peru, France, Egypt, Papua New Guinea).
Chen Yang
Roar Pro
Arnie has a tracke record of arrogance against asian opponents. In 17/18 he proudly proclaimed that he was gonna win the damn champions league...before crashing out at the group stage :P
Nemesis
Guest
Arnie didn't want to be manager at the World Cup. He wanted a fresh start after the World Cup. But, let's make a subtle dig at the FFA for something that was not their fault. Ange quit the job. The FFA didn't sack him. Arnie didn't want the job straight away. The FFA didn't say "we don't want you".
Waz
Roar Rookie
Yeah. I think Arnie needed more time. Either that or stick with Jonnie Foreigner after the WC
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Even though Johnny Foreigner had previously made a WC final?
Fadida
Roar Rookie
Agree. He's much better to keep these thoughts to himself. All it does is put unnecessary pressure on his own team and give incentive to opponents . How about we work out a way to beat these sides first, before we worry about being "ruthless"? As for his comments "none of the players have ever played this style before (paraphrasing)". What, they have never played a 442 variation, moving the ball slowly around the field before firing endless crosses in against a packed defence ? They are masters of it!
Jack
Guest
I tend to agree, Arnold needs to be more respectful. His record so far is awful, and it’s not always results it’s performanxe as well but we were well outplayed in Asia cup. Just be modest Arnold then smash them all. don’t see Kuwait away in Kuwait City being a walk In park.... sure we beat them in a pointless friendly