Towards Yokohama

The media reactions to the Socceroos’ unconvincing 1-0 win in Manama have been understandably equivocal, given the nature of the victory and the sub-par performances by many of the established “stars” of the side, Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell in particular. Craig Foster even went so far as to mount a surprisingly virulent attack on the players’ perceived conceit, comparing them unfavourably to the shoestring Socceroo battlers of yesteryear.

These comparisons aren’t entirely fair. For one thing, the teams that the Australians of 2008 are facing are hardly the naïve semi-pros encountered by the adventurers of the past, and the pressure on the current Socceroos to perform is considerably higher. Not to mention the fact that Bahrain were, in short, desperate for a result to get their campaign firing again after a dismal start. Partly in consequence, they were, as Tony Tannous has observed, a mobile and committed unit throughout.

Yet there were problems of a more long-term kind arising from the game. It was not the poorest Socceroo performance of recent years (the 1-1 draw with Oman at the Asian Cup was considerably worse, truth be told), but Pim Verbeek’s men looked a disjointed, creaky outfit for most of the evening…and it’s worth examining the reasons why at slightly greater length.

Much has been made of Chris Coyne’s deficiencies in defence, and he did look slow and clumsy against the elusive Jaycee John. But the question arises again: who else is there? Craig Moore, despite his heart warming recovery after it looked like his career might be over only two weeks ago, will not last forever. And apart from Moore and Lucas Neill, who both excelled in Germany in 2006, there is no-one who has yet shown himself worthy of a central defensive berth in the longer term. If either of the first-choice pair is missing, we will have problems at the back.

Then there are the fullback positions. Again: Scott Chipperfield probably has first dibs on the left-back slot for a little while longer, but David Carney is seen in many quarters as his successor. Wednesday’s game, however, showed exactly how problematic this is. Carney was beaten several times on the inside (on his weaker foot) and often needed his colleagues to clean up after he had been taken out of the picture. A risky business against a more tactically astute side.

On the other flank, Luke Wilkshire appears to have made the right-back position his own, and in fairness, he has done plenty of work there at club level. But he still doesn’t seem fully suited to the role; he was caught out of position all too often in Manama, and allowed the clever Salman Isa to slip outside him on more than one occasion.

But these worries have surfaced in the past as well. The really pressing concerns were actually at the other end of the park.

I have never seen Josh Kennedy so utterly, painfully dominated, both on the ground and (much more surprisingly) in the air. Against Qatar he had no real competition in that department, but the success of Mohamen Husain et al. in dealing with the Karlsruhe forward will not have gone unnoticed elsewhere in Asia. Even more worrying was that Kennedy seemed to lose heart after a while, almost seeming to accept premature defeat in the aerial battles. Could this be why he has not really cemented a place at club level yet?

Tim Cahill simply looked out of form and not fully fit; in the “link” role, he was a nonentity on this occasion. More worrying was the performance of Harry Kewell, who has been in form. The puzzling aspect of his play was that, strangely, his heart didn’t seem to be in it. And he has, in fact, looked very subject to moods in recent times, following excellent, influential performances with listless cameos.

Starting on the right may have been anathema to him, and it was interesting to note that he switched wings with Mark Bresciano (one of the better players on the night) very early. Perhaps these two should be switched initially if they are both to start against Japan.

The shining positive to come out of the game was the performance of Jason Culina. For once, he managed to combine his usual no-risk square passes with a few penetrating balls forward, and he contributed in defence much more than usual. It’s worth asking, though, was there really a need for a second defensive screen in the largely anonymous Carl Valeri, when the attack clearly needed reinforcing?

Perhaps Verbeek can cite the fact that Australia were away from home against a desperate opponent as the reason for a second defensive midfielder, but it was the Socceroos’ complete lack of bite up front which largely allowed Bahrain to come forward without much hindrance for most of the evening. If they had been forced back a little more often, we could probably have gotten away with a single anchor, given Culina’s pleasing form.

Plenty for Verbeek, and his players, to think about before the next game in Yokohama. Especially with Japan defeating Qatar so impressively, and suddenly looking like a team to be feared again…

Published on November 24, 2008