Socceroos down but not out yet
FOOTBALL MARK Milligan revealed his heartache after sitting through the early-morning horror show last month when Saudi Arabia inflicted World Cup qualifying heartache on Australia.
The Socceroos had targeted automatic qualification so the September 5 Thailand fixture was due to be a celebration but a narrow 2-1 win left players in limbo.
Most European-based players had taken off to return to their clubs unaware of their World Cup fate, leaving only a handful in Melbourne to watch in the hope that Japan could upset Saudi Arabia.
A TV was set up in the Socceroos’ hotel but most players watched it in their rooms.
Milligan and James Troisi, as the only two Melbournebased Socceroos, went home to watch the disaster unfold.
Kicking off at 3.30am, halftime hope turned to dismay just before 5am as Fahad Al Muwallad scored the goal that took the Saudis to Russia and broke collective Socceroos hearts.
“I told myself I wasn’t going to watch, but I had to see how it all went down. It was very tough,’’ Milligan said.
“I went home after the Thailand game and I sat on the couch and had (countless) cups of coffee and tea, waiting for the Japan game to start.
“I was disappointed sitting there because I knew we had it all in our hands a few hours before.
“Once the Saudis scored you knew there wasn’t going to be a fightback from Japan. “It is what it is. “I don’t think we did a great deal wrong during qualifying, there was a few times we let a few results slip but away from home it (happens).’’
The Socceroos enter the playoffs for the first time since 2005.
Having licked his wounds and refocused, Milligan remains confident of securing a Russia 2018 berth via the challenging playoff route starting with Thursday’s opening leg against Syria in Malaysia.
“That first game will hopefully set the benchmark for us,’’ he said.
“This is the way we need to go about it now and we’re very confident and looking forward to the challenge. It’s going to be a good experience for us.
“It’s exciting. Not the way we wanted to go about things but it’s now what we face.
“Tough conditions – they finished the qualifying stages very strongly. They have a lot to play for, but as do we.
“We’ll go over there like we always do, with plenty of confidence and positivity.’’