SOCCEROOS FAITH IN PACE AGAINST FRANCE
IT’S the one area in which Australia can be confident of matching most teams, so it’s no wonder coach Bert van Marwijk has a need for speed.
It means an unlikely trio will lead the Socceroos’ attack against France on Saturday night, with a brief to use that pace to harry Les Bleus as Van Marwijk’s team seeks to pull off a World Cup upset.
If Robbie Kruse and Mathew Leckie are veterans of the Australian set-up, Andrew Nabbout has emerged as the central striker few would have predicted weeks ago.
Leading the line against France would come in just his fifth appearance for his country. Nabbout, 25, will be told to press every defender who gets on the ball, and to seek to stretch the defence with runs in behind the back four immediately after the Socceroos win back the ball.
“We’ve got pace to burn up top to really put defenders under pressure and the good thing is we’ve got an understanding,’’ Nabbout said of his fledgling partnership with Kruse and Leckie.
“If one of us gets caught out of position, we automatically know to fill in for the other person.
“We’ve all got fitness and pace, so we’ve been given that freedom to switch sometimes if we have to and it worked for us. What’s encouraging from an attacking point of view is that we’re starting to get the combinations right, especially with Lecks and Krusey and Tomi [Rogic] behind me.”
Nabbout’s quiet confidence belies his international inexperience, but he was adamant there would be no sleepless nights before taking on France. “Not really,’’ he said. “If I do get the honour to lead the line against France, I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing these past few weeks — really put teams under pressure at the back, and pounce on every little error.
“I know France, given the talent and the names that they have, won’t make too many errors, but it’s my job to try to force them, and make the most of any that do happen.
“You get one chance at a World Cup when it comes around every four years. So we’re going to give it everything. We’ll go out with guns blazing in terms of the effort we put in.
“But importantly we have a strategy and we will stick to it.
“Hopefully we can really put France and the rest of the teams in our group under pressure.”