Of all the coaches in international football, you’d have got long odds on Graham Arnold being the one to transform his side from struggling also-rans into a genuinely exciting outfit.
There was a moment deep into stoppage time of Australia’s 3-1 win over Ecuador in Parramatta on Friday night – not picked up by Network Ten’s cameras – which summed up exactly why Socceroos fans have every right to feel excited.
With Marco Tilio fouled near the sideline, a quickly taken free-kick caught the Ecuadorian defence off guard.
But it wasn’t the speed of the set piece that sent Brandon Borrello galloping clear of the visitors’ defence. It was the deftest of first-touch flicks from debutant Alex Robertson, who tormented the Ecuadorian defence after coming on shortly after the half-hour mark.
Borrello ultimately sent his skidding shot just wide of the far post, but the move highlighted exactly why Football Australia was so desperate to get Manchester City midfielder Robertson to pledge his allegiance to the Socceroos.
Following in the international footsteps of his grandfather and father, the ‘third generation’ angle no doubt makes for a fantastic storyline. But the bigger picture is that Robertson is clearly a serious talent.
The 19-year-old barely put a foot wrong in a stunning cameo off the bench, and even found time to get embroiled in a bit of argy bargy after he thought he was tripped in the box.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
It was no surprise to see Socceroos enforcer Harry Souttar step in and protect the Scottish-born teenager, with the bigger surprise surely the fact that a number of players who had the option to represent other nations choosing to play for Australia.
Robertson’s measured display was hardly the only impressive performance, with virtually every player on the pitch playing their part in what was a comprehensive victory.
Following all the headlines around Mitch Langerak missing out on selection for the 2022 World Cup, Mat Ryan has silenced his critics with a series of outstanding displays in goal.
He was faultless on the night and pulled off a handful of reflex saves to remind everyone just why he’s Australia’s No.1.
Australia’s central defensive pairing of Souttar and Kye Rowles was rock solid once again – even if Souttar isn’t the most mobile of centre-backs – while Milos Degenek did an adequate job in the problematic right-back position.
Aiden O’Neill overcame a couple of shaky early moments to turn in a decent performance on debut, but it was Jackson Irvine who bossed proceedings in the centre of the park.
Irvine has taken his game up a level since his switch to 2.Bundesliga side St. Pauli and the cult midfielder opened the scoring after Mitch Duke’s acrobatic cut-back some 12 minutes in.
It was Irvine’s pressing that led to Australia’s second goal as well, as he pressured Ecuador defender Piero Hincapie into turning over possession in a dangerous area, allowing Awer Mabil to smash home an unstoppable second from close range.
And the Socceroos didn’t let up in the second half, with a marauding Aziz Behich teeing up teenager Garang Kuol for his first goal in a Socceroos jersey.
Never mind the fact that Kuol was offside – and almost deflected the ball away from goal – the strike will do much to boost the on-loan Hearts attacker’s flagging confidence.
Mind you, I doubt the Aussie coaching staff were overly thrilled with Kuol’s celebration – he went the full knee-slide route but got caught in the spongy Commbank Stadium turf – but here’s hoping it’s the first of many for the attacking live wire.
It will be interesting to see what sort of starting 11 Arnold puts out in the second fixture in Melbourne on Tuesday night.
Whoever he selects, it’s impossible to argue with the fact Arnie has overseen a remarkable turnaround in fortunes.
From the verge of unemployment, Graham Arnold has suddenly transformed the Socceroos into one of the more intriguing outfits anywhere in world football.
Mike Tuckerman
Expert
Time's have changed. The Socceroos don't play two friendlies a year and two meaningful games every four years anymore. If it takes flying a kid down from Manchester to help him feel part of a squad he's almost certainly going to be an important member of for many years, so be it.
William Doughty
Roar Rookie
Javier Masherano debuted for Argentina before he played any football at senior level, playing for Argentina before he made his River Plate debut
Garry
Roar Rookie
20,668
Grem
Roar Rookie
I’m sure Arnie would have Celtic leading the Scottish Premiership too.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
not much experience? gnoto has played over 50 matches of mens first team football compared to robertsons zero at the same age lol, hes got plenty of experience italy are struggling (and have been for many years now) to develope attacking players and thats why they are looking elsewhere for dual nationallities - like retegui (argentinian born) a large portion of the fan base are unhappy with capping players who arent born there (as they should be, given the sheer amount of quality players they produce - unlike in australia) and a lot are still uncomfortable with italian born players with african heritage wearing the famous blue shirt (eg gnoto, balotelli, kean, liverani) - let alone brazillian born players like emerson and jorginho. but i digress. my views on garang kuol have not changed, i was not the only one who felt he shouldn't have been selected - jamie young was asked that question during an interview and agreed that he shouldnt go and gave his reasons. hes done nothing of note this season to warrant a call up and should have not been selected, no international side does this outside of australia. the only exception to the rule recently has been sweden, selecting ibrahimovic - who's only just come back from injury. (for what its worth, if i was swedens coach; i would not have picked ibra regardless of his legendary status as hes done nothing this season to deserve it)
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The FFA has slacked off, along with the biggest slackers Channel 10. Most people in Australia didnt know it was on. I remember in the Lowy days and there would be ads in the SMH for every Socceroos match. The weirdest thing is the FFA did not even have a preview on their own website. The worst thing is they did an article about a premier league derby in Perth before the match, This would be a sacking offence at most companies this slacknesss.
Simmo
Roar Rookie
Just to throw some realism into people (rightly or wrongly) criticising the 19k crowd. The fixture was only announced on 2 March. Barely 3 weeks of publicity and planning for fans to work with. Contrast to the very high sales of Matildas tickets which have had several months of publicity so far. Time is a really important factor for these things Personally, I'd give the crowd size a Pass mark on that basis
Punter
Roar Rookie
Exactly, while a big fan of Arnie at club level to not a big fan at International level before the UAE game & questioning why he'd picked a player like Duke, 2 minutes before he scored in that game, to his game against Argentina & admitting maybe he knows a little more then I do in the coaching arena.
chris1
Roar Rookie
And you get to a point where you put hand on heart and say "I was wrong". There was a time where I didn't like the way Arnie coached especially when he was national coach. But he is a different coach now with his own style. And that style is shown on the pitch and where we are saying that we can/should be beating teams like Ecuador, Peru, Denmark etc. 6 months ago we had geniuses on here saying NZ would beat us.
chris1
Roar Rookie
My point was that even a team like Italy with it's array of talent sees an advantage in selecting a young player with not much experience. You have a particular standard which is not shared by Arnie. If Robertson was playing in Australia he probably would be playing 1st team football which is your yardstick. You were also saying Kuol shouldn't have gone to the WC. As it turns out he was a whisker away from getting us into extra time against the soon to be world champs. The world is different today and players are much more mobile. We need to do what Arnie is doing and I support the decision.
Punter
Roar Rookie
The alter ego of Vinnie Grella.
Punter
Roar Rookie
Did we beat a strong quality technical football team, yes. Did we beat them playing free flowing football, yes Did we play some young guns, who gave us some hope for the future, I mean at one stage it was Borello up front with Robertson, Kuol & Tilio just sitting behind him, YES. Was it just a friendly Yes Will we go on & win the WC with this team NO. However, looking at this performance, missing some players like McGree, Mooy, Leckie & add a few young guns coming thru in Irankundra, Bos in the squad & the current u23s & u20s, are we a little excited that the Socceroos can be an exciting team to follow & will be very competitive going forward, Yes. Maybe for SS it's GA that is the issue or the 2-3 different players decision that he doesn't agree with that comes with all this negativeness.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
i can be the voice of optimism or pessimism depending on the subject lol - in this case its pessimism. like i said above, nothing against the players abillity - its the fact he hasnt earnt a call up that bothers me. the highest honour in a players career (should be) pulling on the shirt of your national team you gave an excellent example of a young player at the time (irvine) going out on loan and playing a lot of first team football. another thing people also fail to realise with robertson, is he is incredibly injury prone (missed over 2 years of football already at his young age with serious injuries - that doesnt bode well for his future)
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
thats a poor comparison massive difference between gnonto and robertson - gnoto was playing in the first team in switzerland andd has played probably 20 games in the premier league this season as well robertson has not even played 90 mins of first team football in his career. happy for you to give me another example of an almost 20 year old who has not played a full match at first team level, representing their national team (cannot be countries either like PNG or fiji lol)
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
i get more excited these days about the NPL than i do the a league or internationals if you really must know my 'excitement levels' :laughing:
chris1
Roar Rookie
Punter not only those penalty decisions but Kuol was onside. Freeze frame it and the Peru leg keeps Kuol onside. It never ceases to amaze me the negativity of some people. Even when you can show them they are wrong they will find something else to moan about.
chris1
Roar Rookie
SS you make it sound like we are the only country that takes a chance on a player who hasn't played much first team football. The thing is, it's happening more and more. Even first tier nations are playing players with hardly any first team experience. Look at Gnonto for Italy. He played last year for the Azzurri at 18 and had hardly any first team eperience.
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
Roar Rookie
"non Sydney teams playing NRL than see the national team play the world game?" Sadly yes... However, that doesn't mean we are not on the cusp of a new exciting era of young Socceroos coming to the fore. You should see it as I do, it was only a friendly with nothing at stake. 20K+ is brilliant for a friendly.
Nick
Roar Rookie
Fair.
Nick
Roar Rookie
So you are saying then that people in Sydney would rather watch AFL on TV featuring-non Sydney teams and non Sydney teams playing NRL than see the national team play the world game? As to rugby, the demographic is so different between them and football that they are not competing with each other for bums on seats. I'm not sure that there is much of a defence here. It was a great game against great and very credible opposition with a free run at Western Sydney and the game didn't capitalise. I hope Melbourne fans do better.