Up for the challenge

Early struggles will help Socceroos, says Milligan

A TRICKY group stage bodes Australia well to advance deep into the Asian Cup, according to Socceroos captain Mark Milligan.

But Milligan says they will have to start accepting their status as reigning champions against opponents eager to show them the exit in the United Arab Emirates.

The trophy defence continues for Graham Arnold’s youthful squad, who have overcome a poor start and stepped up in the absence of several key players.

Group B, which was supposed to be a straightforward assignment, came full of potholes in the form of a complacent 1-0 loss to Jordan, a rebound against a similarly defensive Palestine, and a precarious 3-2 win over a feverish Syria yesterday.

And in the background, first-team players kept dropping as injury claimed Andrew Nabbout and Josh Risdon and Tom Rogic battled a broken hand along with knee and ankle injuries.

Milligan framed the challenges as invaluable for a young team with little tournament experience as they build towards a round-of-16 clash with either Uzbekistan or Japan in Al Ain on Monday.

“It will help a lot,” he said. “We showed at the end of this game that when we do stick to our principles we get rewards for it. That’s very important.

“It was a good game for us because there were times when we were against the wall and dealing with different things.

“We take a lot from that experience because these are things you can’t replicate at training.”

Trent Sainsbury, suspended against Syria, is available again while Mat Leckie and Risdon could be back.

By backward virtue of that first-out wobble against Jordan, Australia are now on the favourable side of the draw, though Japan loom next if they do not beat Uzbekistan tonight to finish top of Group F.