Negative Socceroos put pressure on themselves
NAIVETY and negativity.
That’s how Mark Milligan labels the Socceroos’ start against Jordan. One too steep to climb back from on Sunday, and one that casts monumental questions over Australia’s Asian Cup campaign.
It’s still early days, and Syria’s scoreless draw with Palestine in the other opening Group B game helps matters.
But in an opening two days that saw India thrash Thailand 4-1 and Bahrain held host nation the United Arab Emirates to a 1-1 draw, there’s a sense Australia should never assume a win in Asia.
As skipper Milligan volunteered in an honest assessment after the 1-0 loss: “You still have to earn your right to win a match of football.
“We hurt ourselves at the start and were maybe a little bit naive in the way we started the match. We just didn’t quite move the ball quick enough. Then we were sort of a little bit negative I think.”
Pressure may be just a word, as Arnold said in his pre-match press conference, but the Socceroos will soon start to feel it if they don’t reverse this humiliation swiftly.
There’s a fine balance between experiencing the burden of expectation and playing without fear.
And for all the relaxed vibes in camp and at training, on the competitive pitch the pendulum seemed to swing more towards the former.
In large part, the collective green and gold lacked creativity on the ball and the intensity of their opponents.
In the last 20 minutes, when they finally came to life, there arrived another stark reminder that the finishing troubles of recent times have not magically disappeared.
The cruellest factor about this is that many of the faces who were supposed to fix them are absent through injury, a fact Graham Arnold could not have changed if he tried.
Mat Leckie’s experience at two World Cups and an Asian Cup was also sorely missed, while Martin Boyle’s revelatory eagerness to run at defenders and, well, score.