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Sunday 8 June 2008

Socceroos chipped

The Socceroos went down 1-0 in the Dubai desert, courtesy of a wonderful sand-wedge from Emad Mohamed half-way through the first half.

In reality the game was lost in Brisbane, as Coach Verbeek sent out a team to cover the threats from the previous week.

And it worked.

Iraq had little goal threat. Chris Coyne added to the defence, Carl Valeri to the midfield, Brett Emerton and David Carney told to sit back and tick in.

There was no way through for Iraq.

So with wonderful precision and improvisation. They went over. Over the defence, over the previous match hero Mark Schzarwer, but under the bar, just.

Great goal, great vision. Of course the Aussie keeper can be blamed for trying to impersonate David Seaman of Ronaldhino fame, but in reality the Aussies created little and when they did, they fluffed their lines.

There was little or no attack from Australia in the first half. Harry Kewell threatened not once, but twice. And that was it.

A possible penalty claim by Jason Culina was a highlight in an attacking sense.

But really just like against China it was an ultra cautious approach from Caoch Verbeek, and it backfired.

There was no pace upfront, no quick breakaways. Something Australia lack is real pace.

Australia and Verbeek responded well in the second half. Carney and Emerton were pushed on. Grella, booked so he misses the Qatar game, got dragged. Brett Holman and eventually Josh Kennedy and Scott MacDonald joined the fray.

Brett Holman. I like him. Others don't. But he is so positive and always creates a chance or gets into a goalscoring position. How many other Aussies do either?

If he could increase his conversion rate, Australia would have few problems. And he had a great chance again in this game, bu his shot was tame.

Josh Kennedy, known as Jesus to the Aussie fans, came on fo Harry Kewell.

If Jesus saves, MacDonald should surely net the rebound.
But it was hit high and hope.

Shades of Aussie Guus bring on all the tall timber and other forwards and pump the ball in. It lacked sophistication

But Australian did dominate the whole of the second half, often at pace, and interestingly in the desert heat.

Pim must regret his cautious approach. A lack of belief in his team meant he conceded the space and ultimately the game to Iraq.

Could he have started more aggressively, pushed Emerton and Carney high for 10 minute spells? To confuse Iraq, to challenge Iraq and support Kewell.

We didn't score, created few chances and with Qatar beating China overnight the group remains interesting.

Men of note:
Jade North,
Brett Holman..in parts
Michael Beauchamp
Jason Culina

But who can create in this team?

Lucky Guus, the tag was passed to lucky Pim.

Suddenly the "lucky" result in China, and the "lucky" result last week against Iraq makes our group position less sound.

Qatar created enough in Melbourne in the second half to expose the Socceroos. Should be a very interesting, if tense night in Qatar.

Here's hoping an Aussie Pim side can win through style rather than luck...just once.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

sounds like the karma for this home and away with iraq has balanced itself out. given their quality, 3 points from the 2 games with iraq seems like a good return.

what i saw of the highlights from the brisbane game made me feel that i am truly from the lucky country. getting battered like that but pulling off a 1-0 ... depending on your point of view it was either "the great escape" or "the great train robbery".

be very interesting to see how pim`s socceroos develop. is he an organisation freak whose goal is 0-0, 1-0 grind outs? does his philosophy match the team`s psyche (a question asked about erikson`s england many times)?

its definitely still early days, so any calls for the guy`s head would be ridiculous. but if it was arnold using mcdonald and kewell up front as lone strikers, luckily surviving the games against china and iraq, wouldn`t he get slated?

in pim`s defence, maybe we aren`t as good as we think we are ... and some of our best are gone (viduka, moore) or going (kewell, if the injury gremlins get him again).

sorry, rambling. watched the second half of japan - oman. 1-1. japan`s lone striker (okubo) was sent off for seeing the red mist. slid in for a potential tap in studs up and collided with the goaly, and then kicked the goaly as he stood up. then he writhed on the floor in pain, maybe a boot to the genitals? maybe hoping to get out of his red card? luckily for japan, a little brou haha started and an oman player was sent off for pushing someone in front of the ref. they also survived a pk.

couldn`t escape the feeling that a japanese goal would be lucky. good possession but the final pass was usually lacking.

clayton