The Socceroos may have downed New Zealand 1-0 at Suncorp Stadium overnight, but another laboured display suggests there’s plenty of work to be done before the World Cup.
Awer Mabil’s superb first-half strike separated the two sides on a cool night in Brisbane, with the All Whites clearly not here just to make up the numbers as they turned in a gritty performance.
Is the glass half-full or half-empty on the back of that Socceroos win? Here are five things we learned from the action overnight.
1. Mat Ryan is under no real danger as Australia’s No. 1
Not that there was any real doubt, but the sight of Mat Ryan donning the captain’s armband once again was another reminder of the goalkeeping pecking order.
Mitch Langerak may have reversed his decision to retire from the national team, but Ryan is the long-term incumbent and hardly put a foot wrong against the Kiwis. Langerak has been in the form of his life for Nagoya Grampus, but Ryan is back playing at a high level for FC Copenhagen and recently kept a clean sheet in the UEFA Champions League against Sevilla.
Langerak might feature at Eden Park, but there’s no way Ryan isn’t Australia’s No. 1.
2. Question marks remain over the Socceroos’ defence
Does Graham Arnold parachute Harry Souttar into his starting side if the Stoke City big man makes a last-ditch recovery from his ACL injury? It’s a question worth pondering after Australia’s back four turned in another shaky display.
The experienced Aziz Behich has done enough to nail down the left-back position, but questions remain over the rest of the defence. Neither Trent Sainsbury nor Milos Degenek looked entirely comfortable against New Zealand’s bruising front line of Chris Wood and Andre De Jong, but of equal concern was what was happening on the right.
Fran Karacic reads the game well enough, but several times he was knocked off the ball by the physical Kiwis, and it’s not like he’s blessed with blistering pace. And that’s a problem against Kylian Mbappe and co.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
3. Australia’s midfield won’t worry our World Cup opponents
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Aussies, with Awer Mabil’s enterprising display capped off by a magnificent goal. But it’s hard to see how a midfield comprising the likes of Aaron Mooy, Jackson Irvine and Ajdin Hrustic strikes fear into the hearts of our Group D opponents.
Irvine is Australia’s most willing midfield combatant but tends to give the ball away cheaply, while his all-action style makes him a target for referees. Mooy remains composed on the ball but plays the game at a plodding pace and still turns the ball backwards with alarming regularity, while Hrustic had the chance to stamp his authority on the game in Brisbane – and failed.
Irvine’s physical presence makes him a likely starter in Qatar, but this is a team that looks confused about who its playmaker is supposed to be.
4. Tom Rogic may have left his run too late
Speaking of playmakers, where in the world is Tom Rogic? The former Celtic man only recently pitched up in the Championship at West Bromwich Albion, but after missing the World Cup playoffs against the United Arab Emirates and Peru for “personal reasons”, Australia’s long-time No. 10 may have also missed the flight to Qatar.
That poses another headache for Arnie, because Rogic is undoubtedly Australia’s most creative player. And on a night in which Adam Taggart barely touched the ball, that’s something Australia desperately needs.
The lack of cutting edge in attack is another major problem – besides Mabil, it was actually Mat Leckie who finally provided some attacking thrust when he came off the bench – but Rogic’s strange European summer may mean he’s now surplus to requirements.
5. Cheaper tickets are what draws fans through the gates
Credit to Football Australia, who did a decent job of commemorating the centenary of the first clash between Australia and New Zealand back in 1922. The team of the century was a smart idea, the cap ceremony at half-time was a nice touch and it was great to see some new merch on sale.
But what gets fans through the gates, as was abundantly clear last night, are appropriately priced tickets. Most of the cheap seats were filled; many of the expensive ones were not.
And having squandered so much momentum since winning the Asian Cup in 2015, the game’s administrators have plenty of work to do to rebuild the fan base – as the 25,000-strong crowd in Brisbane demonstrated overnight.
Game 2 of the series in Auckland kicks off at 2pm (AEST) on Sunday.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Thanks Sheek, this is what we all want. The issue is football is so competitive these days. Look at 3 top EPL players not playing in this years world cup Salah (Egypt) Haaland (Norway) Diaz (Colombia). Look at some recent results Japan 2 USA 0, Iran 1 Uruguay, Ubekistan 2 Cameroon 0. The current European champions (the powerhouse of world football) not in WC. No offence to Rugby, which I like & much to the displeasure to my Kiwi fans, the fact that New Zealand a country of only 4 million, is the favourite or near favourite for every WC in a team sport shows it's not that big a sport WW.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Respect
sheek
Roar Guru
Football is Life/Punter, Actually I'm with you, I wish Aussie soccer was doing much better than it is. I'm not going to respond anymore because I'm not actually looking to put soccer down. I wish it well, & there would be nothing better to demonstrate our quality as a sporting nation than win the FIFA world cup. That will be very special, whenever it happens! We're a bit of a false sporting nation at present with our historical success in sports like cricket, rugby league & swimming, which are not embraced by most of the world. Even our past dominance in rugby union is debatable. Rugby likes to say the game is played in over 100 countries, but only about a dozen play it with any competence. And of course, we can never know how good our Australian football champions are because they never get to play against anyone else! So yeah, upwards & onwards is a most desirable ambition for Australian soccer.
sheek
Roar Guru
Chris - alright, we'll call it a draw. Sorry, I think I've tune out!
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Please see my extended response below, but a statement like that is completely and utterly dismissive of the approximately 2 million football participants in this country and suggests that if you are not 100 percent into the backyard codes, you're not Australian.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Educated answer Sheek, but what generation are you talking about? Are you talking about the current adult generations i.e. Boomers, Gen X and Millenials? I would suggest you are, and you cannot make a call beyond that. There is tangible evidence to suggest that parents these days don’t want their kids associated with the drugs, the drinking, the violence and racism associated with Australia’s “biggest” sports. I would suggest you have to analyse culture. There is a culture that Boomers, Gen X and Millenials have grown up with but there is no assurance that culture will remain the status quo. Take a look at St Joesph’s in Sydney, 800 rugby players at the one school. Take a look at the survey of sporting field distribution recently undertaken by the NRL in Queensland,the results showing that AFL fields and football fields were in greater proportion. Most importantly, you cannot discount that with the number of kids both boys and girls, growing playing football, supporting football, idolising Australian footballers like Aaron Mooy and Matt Ryan, Chloe Logarzo, Sam Kerr and Ellie Carpenter culture wont change. “Aussies” might not care now, but there is very real evidence that the culture is going to change. I have to ask if you are aware of what next year’s Women’s World Cup entails? As much as I enjoy Rugby, and have attended several rugby WCs no RWC has had a potential attendance of 7 million. The bottom line is that history dictates all great empires eventually fall, and noting that football’s only been serious about its professionalism for 17 years, in that time we have played 4 WC’s with the next one in only 8 weeks, and that the number of kids playing the world game dwarfs what “Aussies” want, my suggest is that all bets are off.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Sheek, normally respect your views, but Australia has made the WC finals the last 5in the last decade & half, while a country like Italy has missed out twice. I think while the Socceroos aint setting the world on fire, they are going very well considering the lack of resource it has.
chris
Guest
I'm talking about Oz too. What part of my response was not about Oz?
chrisc
Guest
huh? You're talking about what Aussies care about. Or something like that. The fact that millions of Aussies are engaged with football tells me there is some care with it. And you comparing AFL and NRL with the A-League gives you an even more distorted view. Aussies watch way more football than just the A-League. The only thing I agree with you is that Rugby is just about dead and buried. Hardly anyone watches it and even less play it.
sheek
Roar Guru
Chris, I'm talking about Oz. Aussie fans don't care what the rest of the world is doing. I thought I clarified that.
chris
Guest
But you're only viewing sports as who is watching on TV. There are so many other ways to consume football. And football is played by more people (across all age groups and sexes) than the other 3 combined. So whether you accept it or not its part of the Australian psyche and ritual every Saturday and Sunday morning. Millions of people involved which your metrics obviously doesn't count.
ockeroo
Roar Rookie
Perhaps this website could introduce a poll for the faithful here to select their Top 23 players (including three goalies) that should represent us in Qatar. Arnie can pick the other three to make up the full squad of 26.
Melange
Guest
+1
chris
Guest
Is it really the least watched or the most watched? You said "least watched football code". You probably only watch channel 7 and 9 right?
sheek
Roar Guru
Football is Life, Short answer is yes. Please excuse me for using "soccer" here, but it's common sense when you also have an indigenous code. Something the 'politically correct' failed to recognise & appreciate. Using soccer for world football; rugby for rugby union; league for rugby league & footy for Australian football just makes easy, common sense. So world order is as follows: soccer or world football, rugby union, rugby league, footy or Australian football. Australian order is as follows: footy, league, rugby, soccer. It's probably true soccer is ahead of RU, but I've used the completely diametrically opposite to illustrate the point. So yes, this is a reflection of Australian society if I understand correctly the thrust of your question. I don't have a problem with this. It's great to have an indigenous game, which is actually very good. But it would also be great if our Socceroos were better. What Aussies like shouldn't & doesn't reflect how the rest of the world thinks. And I believe that's very healthy. A decade ago I loved the satirical sports site Convict Creations. They eventually shut down because some sports & some clubs were sensitive at having the p*ss taken out of them. In fairness to Convict Creations, they ruthlessly attacked everyone equally. Anyway, they predicted the Aussie market was too small for 4 codes & fingered RU as the most likely to be sidelined, even though RU was still doing okay a decade ago. Supporters of soccer & RU continually argue their world standing will save them. But the Aussie fans don't care. What matters is the local market satisfies them, not what is happening elsewhere. This was the huge failing of super rugby which arrogantly thought its world footprint would help the domestic market. It didn't. I don't know if this answers your question directly but there you go. Back to the Socceroos, & the halcyon days of 2005-06 are rapidly receding. Okay, the Socceroos won the Asian Cup in 2015 & the Wallabies made the world cup final in the same year. But these are brief rises in otherwise a gloomy decade & a half for both codes. AFL & NRL are clearly winning, & the fans don't give a toss what the rest of the world thinks.
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
Sheek looking at your Roar history, you're an appreciators if the 15 man game. The commonality here is that the 15 man game and football are those with reputations far beyond the felonies and misdemeanors of the AFL and NRL,therefore the question has to be asked, is this a reflection of Australian society?
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
I beg to differ. The reason we have this perception is that nobody else gets a look in whilst Arnold's in the driver's seat. GA has progressive thinking that makes Tony Abbott look like a SNAG, and if you're not a fomer player of his or one of his regulars forget it. We have lads playing good football in France Scotland Denmark etc you just don't see them because they don't have a vague chance under Arnold
Football is Life
Roar Rookie
You just provided tangible evidence that supports my point.
sheek
Roar Guru
Lesson #1, Socceroos are probably as bad as the Wallabies. Both codes languishing behind AFL & NRL.
Will
Guest
Why is hard to find Australian teams play good football? Especially having functional midfields that can play through the lines and build pressure that way instead of relying on chaos and transition moments through speed and power like they also do? If we can’t improve on that aspect then we will be relied on winning second balls and playing on the counter and hope teams don’t press us out from the back. I wished we had an world class No.6 in our team nothing against Mooy but I can understand why they are trying to use inverted full backs to play inside to free him up to play and turn forward but he’s not an No.6 maybe as No.10 with runners around him. But they need more work with the inverted full backs especially Karacic who looked poor in that role. Also great strike by Mabil who should be starting for us regularly by the way.