Milligan happy to embrace challenges
A TRICKY group stage bodes Australia well to advance deep into the Asian Cup, according to Mark Milligan.
But the Socceroos captain says they’ll 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’ve 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 final encounter with a feverish Syria.
And in the background, first-team players kept dropping like flies 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.
“We showed at the end of this (Syria) game that when we do stick to our principles we get rewards for it,” he said.
“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.
“These are things you can only get by playing games.”