It wasn’t always pretty but the Socceroos got the job done with a 1-0 win over Vietnam in Hanoi to make it two wins from two to restart their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Australia stands alone at the top of Group B after Rhyan Grant’s first ever goal in a national team jersey saw Graham Arnold’s men grind out a 1-0 win in energy-sapping conditions.
The Sydney FC defender stooped to head home Ajdin Hrustic’s cross shortly before halftime, after the Socceroos bossed possession but struggled to break down Vietnam’s deep-lying defence.
Hrustic looked the most likely to bust open the packed Vietnamese rearguard, but the Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder eventually faded after a bright first-half showing.
Victory marked Australia’s tenth qualifying win in a row – a feat matched only by Germany, Spain and Mexico in World Cup history.
Grant was the first to admit the performance was far from perfect but said the three points were all that mattered.
“I sort of just snuck in at the back post. I think Ajdin put in a nice cross and it sort of just bounced up for me,” Grant said after the game.
“I didn’t know whether to square it or go for goal, but I just went for glory then and (I was) lucky it snuck in at the back post.”
Coach Graham Arnold admitted there’s room for improvement but said he was delighted with his team’s resolve.
“I was very happy with the effort,” Arnold said. “The performance obviously could have been better but you’ve got to look at the circumstances and the conditions we played in.
“At the end of the day, it’s another clean sheet and the effort was fantastic.”
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Arnold was full of praise for his former Sydney FC club-mate Grant, with the defender set to delay his return to Australia and remain overseas to maintain fitness for the campaign.
“I’m so grateful for Rhyan himself,” Arnold said. “One of the only A-League players to put his hand up to come and he is so proud to play for the country, he will do anything to play for the country.
“I know from the personal conversations I had with him beforehand he was a bit worried about his fitness and the fact that he hadn’t kicked a ball since the end of May.
“But as I said to him, ‘freshness and adrenaline will get you through’ and he has done a great job, both games.”
Vietnam created a few half-chances in front of an empty My Dinh National Stadium but lacked the composure to genuinely test Mat Ryan in goal.
Midfield schemer Nguyen Quang Hai turned in an enterprising first-half display, but the few chances his side fashioned were wasted by Phan Van Duc and Nguyen Tien Linh up front.
The result made it eight clean sheets out of ten for an Aussie outfit currently on a roll.
Harry Souttar has proved a real find since making his debut in 2019, but Trent Sainsbury reminded fans of why he was once the first name on the team sheet.
“The defending starts from the front and our central defensive pairing was great again,” Arnold said after full-time.
“Obviously (Vietnam) had a couple of half-chances but the boys put their bodies on the line to block shots and that was fantastic.”
Sainsbury admitted the challenging conditions played their part in the scrappy affair.
“Humidity is quite intense, the pitch is not great. Very ‘fluffy’ I guess is the word you could use,” Sainsbury said of the pot-marked and spongy pitch.
“They had a couple of half-chances when they were getting a bit desperate (on the) counter-attack and that sort of thing, but overall… three points away in Vietnam, a clean sheet, I’ll take that every day of the week.”
Sainsbury went so far as to suggest that better conditions would help produce better Socceroos performances.
“I think you can see when we play on a good pitch, we can outplay any team in the world,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to playing on good pitches with this team because we can produce some exciting football and score some good goals.”
Excitement might have been in short supply in a largely forgettable second half, but few could argue with the result.
When it comes to flying starts, the Socceroos have nailed the brief.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Teams parking the bus is not unusual but not with all the following criteria. Rarely do they have double the chances parking the bus over the team attacking. Rarely do you see a much shorter team park the bus and hardly any crosses go in. Rarely do you see a much taller team against a parked bus go for tiki taka into the goal. The ultimate cherry on top is all that happened on a cow paddock of a pitch.
Melange
Guest
Grem, got your Whispering Jack Live Final Tour #14 playing? Voice of Reason
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
We have more creative players now than at any time in the past though mostly physically challenged. Mooy was good when he was younger, but now he is clearly past it gone to China. Also his game does not work with Rogic. Now we are playing Hrustic out of position to accomodate Rogic and Mooy Hrustic should be top priority as out best creative player and also capable physically. Okon would not rate him as creative enough , Rhys Williams best creative passer from the back since Zelic. He seems to be ignored. He was the best to fulfill the Ange ball fantasy but not picked by him. Petratos, Antonis both creative and both good physically ignored. Petratos is actually our top scoring midfielder playing in the Saudi league where Duke struggled to score recently. Amini, Clut are the sorts either injured or lazed off and cant be bothered. Amini sub par career then injury . Clut cant even stay in the A-league Kewell more in the tricky players that can beat players one on one. Not something again Australia used to produce but now we have a lot of them. Kewell who was super fast and worked hard to improve when he played for Australia in 1997 he wasn't anywhere as good. Arzani has the full range of tricks beats players, his passing though is erratic, he is lazy. He was great at a young age, but hasn;t improved. if he trained hard and worked on his fitness I think he could play any level. Thats the main issue, is it more drug use these days, is it the life style is it the easy money, going to Asian clubs and taking it easy partying. The Golden Generation had to work so much harder to succeed, most of the players who went to Europe were on next to nothing, where someone like Amini was on a big contract and thats maybe why he did nothing in the end. We also have heaps of other players around the world I dont have a clue about. Petrillos why haven't we seen him either, Bulgaria is a good level. There are lot of Australians around the world, and both Ange and Arnie dont seem to want to pick them. They should make it like the hunger games you get a go and if you dont play well then off you go. Is it the agents they have not being friends of the coaching staff, when you have agents and their circles it can lead to incredible amounts of bias against players and irrational support of other as we see from that Adelaide crazy. Degenek the number of stuff ups this guy has done and he is part of the furniture under both Ange and Arnie not even top ten of current center backs. Taggart hasn't performed for the Socceroos yet kept around.
chris
Guest
Yes because Deschamps bowed to public pressure and is now playing Benzema. Coincidence? lol
Grem
Roar Rookie
I remember regularly getting up at 3.30am in 2009 watching our golden generation qualify under Pim Verbeek. They had some good wins and qualified quite easily, but I also remember last minute goals in the heat of the Middle East to beat teams like Oman, etc. I remember stacking our defence and toughing out a 0-0 with China in China thanks to good goalkeeping by Mark Schwarzer. They didn't always win pretty or well and we had many top European players. Last night was ugly, but we won. If we win enough games to qualify and win some playing good football then the team has been successful. If we continue to play like last night and don't qualify then we have a real problem. Apart from failing to qualify we also won't be smashing any ratings surveys or attracting new followers.
sportstar111
Roar Rookie
In terms of stats - both goals and assists - Peter Makrillos pretty clearly outperformed Stefan Mauk if we want to adopt that argument.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
there was barely a percentage difference between those players. if you're talking midfielder wise, there was a massive difference between the players last year
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
because france are doing so well this year lol, last night was there first win in how many matches ? lol
Hudddo
Roar Rookie
Isn't this the same argument you had with me yesterday when you put Strain above Grant???that aged well.
chris
Guest
Does your name suggest you score? We need you! Give Arnie a call.
chris
Guest
Deschamps plays his favourites all the time at the expense of what some would say are better players. Eg Benzema. His record is not too bad don't you think?
chris
Guest
Agreed. And then I'm thinking that Smith was too slow on the left. Underhit passes and slow to bomb forward. So when I saw Behich come on I thought "great..we'll see more movement down that side". It was even worse lol - so i just put it down to it being too hot, humid and bumpy for good teams to shine and dominate.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Based on?
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
Well they could have gotten pissed to the eyeballs and behaved like some other sports "stars" on public flights no less
NoMates
Roar Rookie
Yeah man the panel is dire, like there in a morgue. I actually get depressed listening to them after a win.
AGO74
Guest
No if it was true platinum class luxury it would have been a 787 Dreamliner rather than an A330. As Guppy says though, it works so sometimes to make money, you've got to spend money.....and it paid off. As for your closing comment, you've obviously got a low threshold for whingeing if one of your primary outtakes is that they are complaining and whingeing. Some of the comments here today.....
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
no one can dispute the stats from the 20/21 season. - in that he was the best performing australian central midfielder in the world anyone that wants to try and say a player with those statistics doesnt warrant a place in the national team, has a vendetta against the player
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
select the australian central midfielder with the most goals in the world last season or select a player that has barely kicked a ball in 4 years? hrmmm seems like a tough choice to me..............
AGO74
Guest
Hrustic is our primary up and coming hope at the moment. Gee, I wish Mooy could get out of China. Playing in the CSL is a career graveyard.
jupiter53
Roar Pro
Yes, and so what? Better to get there, and at least have a chance of performing above expectations, than not to get there at all.