Coach lays down challenge

Arnold calls on Socceroos to stay undefeated

Graham Arnold has challenged Australia to win every remaining 2022 World Cup qualifier after they held on for a historic 1-0 win over Jordan in Amman.

Before the victory, Australia had never beaten the hosts away.

But the victory was narrow, with Jordan coming close to snatching a point a number of times in the closing stages of the match.

The hosts had just 32 per cent of possession but managed 11 shots on target. Australia produced 10. Arnold believes his side proved themselves in their toughest qualifier yet, but he is demanding they maintain focus when they play Kuwait on March 26.

“We’re going for 24 (points), you know I want, I expect the boys to build a winning mentality,” he said.

“That’s what we talk a lot about and we want to go through this whole phase undefeated and getting eight wins and getting 24 points and with a great goal difference.

“It’s about improving every time we catch up and every time we get into camp it’s about building what we’ve been building, and you can see our attacking players getting better and better and the mentality of the boys working-wise is fantastic.”

The Socceroos have suffered selection issues due to injuries and fatigue caused by long-distance travel this campaign.

But Arnold is optimistic he will soon be able field a fullstrength side and his squad won’t lose cohesion they have developed over the fourmonth break.

“They’ll be fine,” the coach said.

“Like I said when I first turned up, it was 23-25 strangers and now I’ve got 23 great mates that want to fight for each other and work for each other.”

Australia striker Adam Taggart knew exactly how he would score against Jordan if given the chance.

Taggart’s goal lifted the Socceroos to a 1-0 victory.

He now has three goals in two appearances and sits with defender Harry Souttar (3) and striker Jamie Maclaren (4) among the team’s top goalscorers.

Taggart’s strike seemed simple enough after he ran onto Jackson Irvine’s throughball and chipped goalkeeper Amer Shefi in the 13th minute.

The Suwon Bluewings striker says it was like history repeating as he had been practising that same finish in training.

“It was a good team goal, exactly what we worked on the training ground to be honest, so it was nice to get that opportunity,” the 26-year-old said.

“Once I’d gone through I knew exactly what to do from the information we all had from the coaching staff. So it was a nice team goal.”

Taggart said it was an example of the great team goal, given the involvement of both Irvine and the coaching staff.

“Literally that exact scenario is what we’d worked on, we knew we would have that situation coming into the game,” he said.

“So I was ready and I didn’t need too much time to think ... I knew exactly what to do.”