Argentina’s press have already begun their dissection of the Socceroos as the Aussies’ Round of 16 opponents try to get to grips with them ahead of the crunch clash on Sunday morning (AEDT) in Qatar.
Buenos Aires sports journos were quick to pass judgement on Australia’s heroic win over Denmark, with La Nacion, one of the biggest newspapers in the country, running a preview of their opponents within an hour of the final whistle in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Poland.
“The Socceroos have a lot more muscle than brains, so to score against them you have to leave them on the road more than once,” wrote Alejandro Casar Gonzalez, who also described the Aussies’ ‘scarce’ levels of talent in an otherwise positive appraisal.
“Four of their eleven starters against Denmark play in second division teams,” he wrote. “They are not even part of the elites in the countries where they make a living as professional footballers.”
That sounds a little patronising, but Gonzalez had plenty of positivity about Australia and lavished praise on Aaron Mooy and Harry Souttar, the gigantic centre back.
“Australia has Aaron Mooy, a central midfielder who, instead of hair, has a field map on his head,” went the column. “The (few) vertical passes start from his feet. Australia, in fact, lost the battle for the ball in all three games they played. Against Denmark, they were thrashed: the team from Oceania had the ball just 28% of the time.
“(Graham) Arnold puts together his formation thinking that the rival will not figure it out. The defense is a wall, with Harry Souttar as the tallest tower in the back line.
“He is almost two metres tall and almost never makes a mistake when jumping. If the rival fights the low block via the wings and aims crosses at the head of the striker, it is most likely that they will fail.”
The author gave clear instructions to his readers of the Australian tactical philosophy.
“Australia does not care about the ball or the context . He has a game plan engraved in his memory and he respects it to the letter: it is a team that bets on one or two plays per game. A counterattack, a free kick or a corner.
“The rest: run and score. And again. And that their central defenders are in charge of taking out everything that the rival throws by air.”
La Nacion flagged Australia’s best players as Mat Ryan and Mat Leckie, and praised the impact of coach Graham Arnold, “the coach of a team of footballers whose greatest virtue is not being afraid of anything.”
Columnist Martin Perelman, writing in Ole said that the Australians “showed a lot of pragmatism” but were strong on the counter and at set pieces.
“They suffered considerably against France but were highly effective in the other two, with Tunisia and Denmark. When attacking, a direct, pragmatic team was seen with a powerful center forward like Duke, who can convert.
“In general, they are not a team with great individuals. Most of their players compete in second-tier leagues worldwide. In this sense, Argentina will go in with an advantage in duels.”
“Another point to keep in mind is that they work well with dead balls in their favour. We have to be careful there.”
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said it was vital to respect their opponents – especially as that had tripped the albiceleste up before in the tournament.
“They are all difficult,” he said to Argentine media after their win over Poland. “(Saudi) Arabia beat us. Even playing well you can lose. Anyone who thinks Australia will be easy is wrong.
“We are not favourites for anything. We are going to fight, but to think that because we won today we are going to be champions is totally wrong. We played a very good game and we have to stay with that. The way we lost to Saudi Arabia still hurts me.”
“We saw Australia (against Denmark) but we always go game by game. We are going to ask questions of our opponent, we are going to analyse whatever, always thinking about how to hurt them.”
Lionel Messi agreed. “The match against Australia is going to be very difficult,” said the Argentinian superstar. “Anyone can beat anyone, it’s all even. We have to prepare for the game as we always do.”
Grem
Roar Rookie
I consider myself a football supporter who has been a full member of Sydney FC for 15 years (except when they had to move out and I had a flexi 6) and I have a flexi 6 to Macarthur games. I like to see Sydney do well, as they are a great club, but I don’t want them to dominate every year as that’s not good for the code. I try and support basketball by getting to some Kings games, get to one day of the test cricket each year (which is nearly as expensive as a yearly membership!) and I was getting a Flexi 4 to the Roosters, but I haven’t for a couple of years as their membership team were pretty ordinary, especially during Covid - a complete contrast to Sydney FC.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
Souttar may a bit slow, but reads the play well, uses his height fantastically in defence.
Chris Lewis
Roar Guru
Grem, excuse me from not knowing, but which A-League team do you support? I don't really have one, but used to support South Melbourne a long time ago and attended quite a few matches. Saw Melbourne Victory play one at the rectangle stadium on a visit to Melbourne.
ockeroo
Roar Rookie
I think we should maul Argentina ruthlessly, just to annoy everyone.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
And the clincher for that is they are all on the one shelf ... at least l think it's one shelf.
Ben Pobjie
Expert
I googled it. It said there are seven. Of which one is Australia. Step outside Australia and say Australia is a continent and you will be told, “yes I know.”
Ad-O
Guest
I don't know if Argentinian sports journalists are ignorant or not but I thought the assessment from the 2 quotes was fair and realistic. It's the same assessment any of us would make of the Lebanese rugby league team or the Afghanistan cricket team.
Ad-O
Guest
I was in a pub in London after Italy 2006 and a bunch of Italians were surprised at how well we played. That 2006 side could play. Doesn't matter what a few Brazilians in Munich think. This current side? Not so much.
Ad-O
Guest
It's not patronising it's a fair and realistic assessment. I know many people here don't want to accept it. They certainly get upset about it when I say the same.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Actually...Afro-Eurasia. All three continents are joined, and only a thin man-made chasm (Suez canal) separates them.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Explain continental shelf in relation to landmasses? ------- If you referred to Oceania as being socio-political or socio-economic division l could handle that. But if Oceania is geographical division then l vehemently disagree. ------- I also don't agree that there is Europe or Asia but rather Eurasia.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
There's clearly a bit of ignorance amongst the Argentinian media, and in all likelihood, they're probably the sharpest tools in the shed. Having said that, ignorance of Australia aside, they live and breathe football, and it's understandable that they will focus on things that a) are verifiable, and b) are incomprehensible in equal measure. One of those key things is, and we all know it because we've been talking about it for 3 years solid, is that the majority of the squad plays in 2nd tier leagues (and that's a charitable description), and not only that, often they are not even the key players of their respective clubs - and Argentinians are used to seeing their national team as not only representing the very best clubs in the world, but being key players in those clubs. It's understandable that they will scratch their collective head at that one.
Redsback
Guest
Step outside of Australia and say that Australia is a continent and you will get laughed at. In any event, whether you agree with Oceania being a continent or not, that is what the majority of people call it and Australia is the majority of it. Google it and how many continents there are and you will see what I mean.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
I would agree that the team has to be of sufficient calibre in the first place to shut down the two teams the socceroos were able to shut down. So yes, that shut down process, game plan, etc, is a deliberate strategy that requires disciplined execution across the whole team for the full duration of a game. That aspect is no fluke. But even then, taking the Tunisia game as an example, despite being quite abysmal on the day, they ended up with a higher xG than Australia. So both keeping Tunisia scoreless, and scoring one of our own, under the circumstances, shows a degree of "luck" at play (as much as can be mathematically measured under the circumstances). I haven't seen the xG for the Denmark game, but I'm guessing Australia came out higher because Denmark rarely intruded on the Australian goal, despite its overwhelming advantage in possession. So what I had to say in regard to the Tunisia game I would not venture in relation to the Denmark (even if that might appear counter-intuitive on the face of it).
Griffo 09
Roar Rookie
Roberto, if fluking a win is possible then it must be possible to fluke 2 or more wins, it's just it becomes increasingly unlikely with every extra time. However, to me thing that illustrates that these are not mere flukes is the oppositions' scores in both Australia wins. You have to be strong enough in defence to keep the opposition scoreless, and if you do that, luck or no luck, you are more likely to win.
sheek
Roar Guru
Careful Rowdy, These small Pacific Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga & Cooks, are the future of the mighty international rugby league takeover of world sport! Or, otherwise known as Australia B, C, D, E, F, etc.
sheek
Roar Guru
Rowdy, Humanity! Very little makes sense with humanity.
sheek
Roar Guru
Roberta Bettega, Thanks for that. I think you were commenting on my reply to Khun Phil, which was a very general response. You are right. To win the FIFA world cup you need to be a very good team, right at the top of your game.
Marcel
Guest
Ignorance is Strength
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
Oceania is at war with Eurasia and Eastasia. Ministry of Peace