Socceroos show plucky India who’s the Bos
Jordan Bos’s elation at scoring his first goal for the Socceroos has been tempered by national coach Graham Arnold admitting Australia has a “lot” to improve on to have any chance of winning the Asian Cup.
The Socceroos’ opened their Cup campaign in Qatar with a 2-0 win over India, and while securing three points was the ultimate objective, they struggled for large periods to break down their dogged rivals.
It took 50 minutes for the Socceroos to take the lead, through Jackson Irvine, of German Bundesliga club FC St Pauli star, before former Melbourne City prodigy Bos scored with his first touch of the game 23 minutes later after coming on as a substitute.
“It was amazing,” said 21year-old Bos, who plays for Belgian club K.V.C. Westerlo.
“It was my first Socceroos goal. I was hoping for the opportunity to get on and it just fell to me first touch so I couldn’t have asked for a better start. In the second half, we got the goals we deserved.
“I’ll try not to dwell on it too much. To be honest, I feel like everything that I do in football, it just happens.
“And then maybe later in life, I’ll reflect a bit more. But right now I’m just taking it in my stride.”
However, Arnold expected more from his side, particularly in the first half when the Socceroos were sluggish in attack despite dominating possession.
“I can honestly say that we’ve got to improve a lot more than that,” he said. “One disappointment was our set pieces because we work quite a lot on them.
“We’re usually very strong with set pieces, but you’ve got to give credit to India for the way they set up themselves for those set pieces.
“That’s something we need to improve on, and we will.”
Arnold preached patience at halftime and admitted his team was perhaps too “excited” before the match in anticipation of the start of the tournament.
“There was a little bit of excitement and impatience,” he said.
“We’d been waiting for the last 10 days to get preparations right.
“The messaging at halftime from me was just be patient and it will come. That’s one game down and another six to go.
“We’re here to win the Asian Cup, and you have to reach for the stars.
“You have to have high expectations and put those expectations back on the boys and get them to believe in what we can do.”
Bos was confident that the Socceroos – who return to Group B action on Thursday night (AEDT) against Syria at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium – could go “all the way”.