Valuable lessons ahead of France

IT was the starkest possible reminder of the challenge facing Australia when the World Cup kicks off against France this Saturday night.

But the Socceroos’ cumbersome 2-1 defeat of Hungary offers valuable lessons for that date with the French, winger Robbie Kruse has insisted.

Daniel Arzani’s debut international goal was the only highlight in a sloppy display slammed by coach Bert van Marwijk afterwards.

But Kruse said the Australian side could see where it had gone wrong, and well understood what the central concern must be in Kazan against the French.

“We need to stay compact, especially at the beginning,” Kruse said.

“If you can grind out the first 20 or 30 minutes and keep it at 0-0, they’re going to get a bit more angry and frustrated.

“We’ve been working the last three weeks on our defensive discipline and closing passing lanes and closing spaces. I think we’re doing that really well.

“We’re restricting teams to long balls and of course they’re going to get half chances but for the most part we’re defending really well.

“We made a few errors against Hungary with our passing. Of course it’s difficult to grasp the game here when we’ve got one eye on the France game with the tactics we’re playing.”

Kruse missed two good chances, and the whole team appeared to be lacking energy – a point van Marwijk acknowledged afterwards.

Kruse said the Hungary performance should be seen through the prism of being ready for France.

“It’s difficult because our sole focus is on our first (World Cup) game and we’re setting up our tactics to prepare for the first game,” he said.