Roos turn on power

THE Socceroos have vowed to impose themselves on their World Cup opponents, starting with Saturday’s opener against heavyweights France.

Bustling winger Mathew Leckie declared that the Socceroos won’t be intimidated by Les Blues as they aim to cause a Group C upset.

Ironically, Bert van Marwijk’s 2010 World Cup finalists were slammed by many back home for being too physical rather than technical in South Africa.

While van Marwijk has not rammed it down their throats, Leckie said there were lessons to be learnt from the Dutch approach, headlined by midfielder Nigel de Jong’s kung-fu tackle on Xabi Alonso in the final.

Leckie, whose physicality was aided by spending two years playing Aussie rules as a kid in Melbourne’s western suburbs, said it was vital to win the physical battle against the skilful French.

“They (Holland) had to be (physical); Spain was the better footballing team at the time,’’ Leckie said. “They had great players as well but if Spain felt comfortable — in a game of football, sometimes if you get a hard hit then you think twice about turning or (gaining confidence).

“If you get a hit, it can scare players. Every player’s different but some players get scared from those things.”

– DAVID DAVUTOVIC

petition when the draw is confirmed on June 26.

Having coached the Palm Beach and Gold Coast City sides that reached cup quarter finals in 2014 and 2017 respectively, the Knights’ Grae Piddick now has the chance to lead a Coast club into the semi finals for the first time.

“The aim now is not to just be there and make the numbers, we want to go and win some games so we’ve got to improve to make sure that we can win those games,” Piddick, who has taken teams to the Round of 32 four times in the cup’s five-year history, said.

“The rewards for getting into the main draw are massive (as is) the exposure that the club will get and the exposure that the players will get to potentially play against teams from interstate or A-League teams. It’s a great competition.

“I love it, the players love it, everyone wants to be in it. Hopefully we get a home game and we get some good home support.”

The Knights appeared on track for victory against Sunshine Coast when a secondhalf goal from Oskar Dillon gave them a 1-0 lead, but a 93rd-minute strike from the Fire sent the game into extra time. The home side then grabbed a 2-1 ascendancy with 15 minutes to play, before Teddy Watson gave the Fire a dose of their own medicine with a long-range equaliser in the 117th minute.

With the game seemingly headed for penalties in extratime, Watson stood up as the hero for a second time with another goal in the 121st minute to seal things.