Australia 0 – 1 Kuwait

Australian coach Pim Verbeek will need to dig deep into his bag of tricks after a humiliating 0-1 loss to Kuwait in tonight’s Asian Cup Qualifier in Canberra. With Socceroos fans around the world looking upon the Dutchman with wide eyed expressions of “please explain,” he will need to think long and hard about what he needs to do to re-energise a deflated Green and Gold.

In a disjointed performance filled with mistakes, the A-League Socceroos were completely played off the park by the massive underdogs from the Middle East. The Aussies resembled an amateur park side at times, with defenders clashing into each other, strikers missing open goals and panic driven mayhem in the final half hour which played perfectly into the hands of the well structured Kuwaitis.

Full credit to the visitors, they came with a game plan in mind, and achieved a wonderful result. Playing the perfect away game, Goran Tufegdzic’s men were well organised defensively, quick to counter, and after taking the lead they took measures to slow the game down and made the home side come after them. As the Socceroos pushed men up in attack, the Kuwaitis countered with intent, and in truth could have added two or three goals.

Pim opted for a 4-4-2 again, with Daniel Mullen making his debut at right back. Roddie Vargas and Craig Moore were predictably in the middle, and Newcastle’s Matt Thompson started at left back. Paul Reid and Matt McKay kept their places as screening mid-fielders, livewire Michael Zullo started his first game for Australia on the left, and Tommy Pondeljak had a game to forget after starting on the right and being asked by Pim to push inside whenever possible. That created much congestion in the middle, something which created confusion for the strike pair of Matt Simon and Archie Thompson.

The visitors got away to a good start, and fired several warning shots at Eugene Galekovic, the most dangerous of which came after a Moore mistake. After a frantic opening, the Socceroos looked to have played themselves back into the match, with more possession and a bit more width on the left thanks to Zullo. It culminated to the best chance of the game for the home side, when mid way through the first half the Queensland winger’s cut back was missed by the Kuwaiti keeper. With the goal at his mercy, Archie firstly scuffed his shot, resulting in a tame effort which was blocked, and then Pondeljak fired the rebound into the post when it was easier to score.

Ten minutes later the Kuwaitis executed a set piece to perfection, and Masaed Alenzi snuck in front of Mullen to meet a beautifully delivered free kick to guide the ball past Galekovic.

The home side endeavoured to level, but even though the Socceroos were full of running, all this energy was misguided as they resembled a bunch of headless chooks. There was no intelligence in their play, and often two or three guys would go for the same ball, allowing Kuwait to easily find open men.

Substitutes Mitch Nichols, Fabien Barbiero, and Robbie Corthwaite could not change the game, and the Socceroos are now dwelling at the bottom of the group with one point from the first two games.

Personally, this was the worst performance from any Socceroos side I have ever witnessed. They were simply all over the place with no structure. The decision to start Pondeljak on the right and have him cut in meant that we had no width on the right, and furthermore it added to the congestion in the middle of the park since the Kuwaitis themselves were playing a five man mid field. Debutants Mullen and Zullo looked like their nerves got the better of them, as both made rash challenges early in the game. Archie and Simon were shut down completely by the defence, and Matt Thompson’s deliveries from left back were atrocious. No offense to him, but Pondeljak had an absolute shocker. Not only did he miss the open goal, but he also blew several other chances and never recovered to his defensive duties. Vargas backed off the attackers all night, giving them way too much room to dribble at pace or shoot. Even Craig Moore was making mistakes tonight, something we’re not used to.

All in all, a terrible performance. I’m totally lost for words as to how badly we played.

Time to bring back the European based players.

Am I being too harsh? What did you think of the boys’ efforts tonight?