Socceroos have plan for Saudi Arabia

FOOTBALL: Hard-working Socceroos midfielder Massimo Luongo says Australia can combat any Saudi Arabia gamesmanship by scoring an early goal in their World Cup qualifier at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.

Nothing irritates Australian sports lovers more than diving, simulation and time-wasting tactics and the Queens Park Rangers key midfielder says the Socceroos have the answer to that type of tactic.

But with Saudi Arabia not needing to win – a draw will keep Australia three points away from direct entry to Russia – Luongo believes the visitors will try nervejangling gamesmanship.

“A draw might be good enough (for Saudi Arabia) but if we get a goal – or when we get a goal – it’s just going to unlock them and they will need to come out and get another goal,” Luongo said yesterday in Adelaide.

“They’ll need to come out and play.

“I think that will benefit us even more and we practise against teams sitting off and try and cause us not to score or try to disrupt us and we’ve done this pretty well so far.

“A goal early would ruin their game plan.

“To be fair in previous games the refs have been quite good at handling all that.

“Sometimes they go the other way where they might miss things, but they’re quite good at keeping the game flowing and probably not calling as many fouls and as many little things to disrupt the game.

“They’re going to try and interrupt our momentum and flow and stuff.”

Luongo was impressed with the Adelaide Oval pitch after testing it briefly on Saturday in the Socceroos’ first session at the venue under boss Ange Postecoglou.