It is awesome that we are a whisker away from the World Cup, but the challenge now is to improve on Germany 2006, and performances such as the away trips to Japan and Bahrain will not be good enough for us to get out of the group stage. I hope Pim is thinking along the same lines as me. I’m just afraid that we are taking this great qualification campaign for granted.

I proceeded to watch the final half an hour of the match, and was honestly not impressed with what I saw. Passes were constantly misplaced, tackles seemed rash and deadly (especially from the Bahraini number 3), people weren’t going up for headers, the back line didn’t push up after clearing corners, it was almost amateur stuff. Save for flashes of individual brilliance, the match could have looked like my weekend club game.

The Qataris had a great chance to equalise on 70 minutes, after a nice ball through the crowded penalty box led to a shot at the back post, but the striker (forgive me I wasn’t taking notes on their names) tried to pick the keeper’s near post instead of firing across the goal, and his effort was nicely blocked. Besides that brief moment of excitement, the Bahrainis were all over Qatar, and in truth could have gotten one or two more goals.

Coming into the overnight matches, Bahrain, Uzbekistan and Qatar were level on four points from five games, so the win puts Bahrain in the driver’s seat for the race to third place.

Meanwhile, Australia needs one more point from their remaining three games to guarantee qualification. They next face Qatar in Doha, before returning home to play Bahrain in Sydney and the anti-climatic climax against Japan in Melbourne.

57,000 fans braved the atrocious conditions to witness the Socceroos’ stirring second half performance after a cagey and disappointing first half. Two goals midway through the second period, one by giant striker Josh Kennedy, and the other a spot kick by Harry Kewell, settled any home side nerves , and now it will take a collapse of drastic proportions for the Socceroos not to qualify for South Africa. Of course, we may need to look no further than three hours into the future, because if Bahrain and Qatar draw in their match early tomorrow morning then qualification is guaranteed.

Pim Verbeek opted for width with a 4-5-1 formation, with Scott McDonald as the lone striker. The Celtic man was supported by Kewell, Mark Bresciano, Richard Garcia, while Carl Valeri overcame his injury scare to start with Jason Culina as the holding midfielders. Michael Beauchamp was also deemed fit enough to play, and he started alongside skipper Lucas Neill, with Luke Wilkshire and Scott Chipperfield as the wingbacks. Mark Schwarzer, who was barely called on for much of the game, predictably started in goals.

McDonald, who earlier this week revealed his frustration with his duck at international level, attempted to rectify the problem early on with the match’s first meaningful effort on goal. However it was a tame effort which the Uzbek keeper Nesterov had no problems catching.

Credit to the Uzbeks, as they came to Sydney with an attacking mentality which nearly paid dividends barely ten minutes in when their hat trick hero from the recent Qatar match, Farhod Tadjiyev, broke the offside trap only to blow his one on one wide of Schwarzer’s right post.

Bresciano, who had a great game, had the Socceroos’ best chance in the first half, when fifteen minutes in he found himself with space inside the box, only to see his tame effort hit straight at Nesterov again.

The Uzbek keeper would deny the Aussies once more, when midway through the second half Culina let rip with a stinging effort from 30 meters out which Nesterov did brilliantly to tip away.

Josh Kennedy came on for McDonald on the hour mark, and showed why he is such a good impact player when he rose with a bullet header to open the scoring five minutes later. A wonderful turn by Bresciano to escape his marker gave him time and space to whip in a perfect cross from the right, and Kennedy soared to meet the header uncontested, leaving the luckless Nesterov with no chance.

The match was wrapped up five minutes later when Garcia was judged to be brought down in the box by Hayrulla Karimov, and Kewell duly stepped up and slotted home the spot kick. To be fair it was a harsh penalty, as Garcia’s initial touch was heavy and took him well away from goal, only for the Uzbek defender to catch him on the follow through.

The two goal lead allowed the Socceroos to wind down the clock, but not before a scare just prior to the final whistle, when the Uzbeks found the net after a Schwarzer fumble, only to be called for offside.

The win propels the Socceroos to the outright lead in the group with 13 points from five games, and all eyes will be on the Bahrain Qatar game early tomorrow.

I’m hoping for a very sporting 0-0 draw. ..

The World Game reports that the Dynamo Kyiv striker will miss the crucial match due to sickness, and won’t even be on the plane for Sydney. This is obviously a massive blow for the visitors, as they had just looked to be hitting top gear with a convincing 4-0 win over Qatar on Saturday night to give themselves an outside chance of qualification.

The World Game also reports that fellow dangerman Server Djeparov, who caused us so much concern the last time the two teams faced off, is also suffering from an injury sustained in the Qatar match. However, he is expected to recover and take the field on Wednesday night.

With two of their big names struggling, the rest of the Uzbek side will need to lift as a loss against the Socceroos will severely jeopardise their road to 2010. With the third place play-off spot looking as their best chance at qualification, the Uzbeks still must oust Bahrain and Qatar, with all three teams sitting on four points from five games.

Meanwhile, Socceroo striker Scotty McDonald is expected to lead the line for the home side on Wednesday, with an interview on The World Game confirming that neither he nor Josh Kennedy are the two mysterious injured attackers. Bruce Djite, called up last week in light of the injury concerns, remains in the 23 man squad.

Of course, as mentioned by several readers of this blog (and now reminded emphatically by Fox Sports during every single ad break) a win for the Green and Gold coupled with a draw between Bahrain and Qatar will cement our spot at South Africa 2010.

Come on boys. Go the Socceroos.

Should Scott McDonald start against Uzbekistan?
( surveys)

Japan’s mercurial playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura broke a vigilant Bahraini defence early in the second half – albeit with a deflected free kick – to send the Blue Samurai to the top of the group with 11 points from five games. Again, the same criticism of the Japanese game rang true, with the home side producing some brilliant build up play but constantly lacking that final incisive ball.

Meanwhile in Tashkent, Uzbekistan fired off a warning to the Socceroos ahead of Wednesday night’s encounter in Sydney with an emphatic 4-0 drubbing of Qatar. Despite a disappointing campaign so far – where they went into the game as cellar dwellers with only one point – the home side came out of the blocks against a shell-shocked Qatar side, and took full advantage when the visitors had a man sent off midway through the first half. Dangerman Farhod Tadjiyev scored a hat trick, and will need to be closely monitored by Neill and Co. on Wednesday along with their other game breakers Sever Djeparov and Maksim Shatskikh.

The two results means that Japan are the new group leaders, with the Socceroos sitting second on ten points and with a game in hand. The remaining three teams now all have four points, having played five games each. Since each team only plays eight matches, this means that the bottom three can (mathematically) only get another 9 points, which will give them 13 points. However, only one of the three will potentially reach this 13 point target, as they still need to play each other. All this means that a Socceroos victory on Wednesday will give us 13 points (plus an advantageous goal-difference), and so anything we get after that will guarantee us a spot as at least runners up in the group.

1 Jap 5 3 2 0 8 3 5 11
2 Aus 4 3 1 0 6 0 6 10
3 Uzb 5 1 1 3 5 6 -1 4
4 Bah 5 1 1 3 4 6 -2 4
5 Qat 5 1 1 3 4 12 -8 4

With barely a week to go till the game, reports coming from camp are that two un-named attackers have broken down with injuries, and Pim has therefore sent an SOS to the Genclerberligi front man.

Djite has had a good start to his Turkish adventure, scoring six goals in twenty games, and is now in line to play his first Socceroos match since September last year when he came on as a sub against the Uzbeks in Tashkent.

Earlier this week, Pim had hinted at playing Scott McDonald up front by himself, although it has not been revealed whether McDonald is one of the injured players.

With 10 points from their first four games, the Socceroos are in prime position to book an early ticket to South Africa. A win in Sydney against the struggling Uzbeks will all but secure qualification, hopefully allowing Pim to concentrate on getting our disastrous Asian Cup process back on track.

Verbeek’s mission tonight was to come away with a point and consolidate our two point buffer over the hosts, and his troops did not fail to disappoint, repelling wave after wave of Japanese attack in the second half. While it definitely wasn’t pretty, the result is a very satisfying and vital point.

Verbeek played his hand early on by naming a starting eleven which sided on the defensive. Strikers Josh Kennedy and Scott McDonald were both left on the bench, and Everton’s Timmy Cahill was asked to lead the attack as the sole striker. Vinnie Grella and Scott Chipperfield overcame their respective injury concerns to start the game, while Brett Holman got another baffling cap under his belt. Why Pim continually chooses to play Holman is beyond me, but then again I’m not getting paid millions of dollars to coach the national side.

Japan were clearly the more technically sound side, with delicate short passes which constantly caused us concerns. They played with desperation in all aspects of the game, and looked full of energy from the first whistle. The Japanese’s intelligent running off the ball, especially the duo of Keiji Tamada and Tatsuya Tanaka, caused our wingbacks plenty of grief.

However, for all their possession and beautiful play, the Blue Samurais’ final ball was lacking, and in truth Mark Schwarzer had a fairly quiet first half. The only real moments of panic came as the hosts won several free-kicks within shooting range which the famed paring of Shunsuke Nakamura and Yasuhito Endo duly ballooned over.

Tim Cahill provide Australia’s only shot on goal in the dying moments of the first half with a powerfully struck drive which went straight at the Japanese goal keeper Ryota Tsuzuki.

Japanese coach Takeshi Okada must have lit a fire under his team during half time, because the home side came out and attacked with intent. After an initial cagey start, the Blue Samurai came to life and had a solid twenty minute spell which had the Australians scrambling.

The Japanese twice had chances to take the lead, firstly when Tamada headed over from close range from a beautifully delivered ball from Yuto Nagatomo. They came closer still five minutes from full time when Makoto Hasebe’s shot at the back post was unluckily deflected out by team mate Yoshito Okubu with Schwarzer well beaten.

With only a handful of minutes to go, Verbeek finally brought Kennedy on, and his impact was nearly instant when he met a vicious ball from Culina only to be well defended by the masterful Tulio Tanaka. One has to wonder what sort of damage Kennedy would have dealt if he played a larger role in the match.

All in all, a very good result from a Soccceroos’ point of view. We’ve come to the home turf of our biggest Asian rivals and came away with what we needed. The team selections were a little strange, but then again, Pim always knew what he wanted from this game and he delivered.

Pragmatic as always.

GP W D L GF GA Pts
Australia 4 3 1 0 6 0 10
Japan 4 2 2 0 7 3 8
Qatar 4 1 1 2 4 8 4
Bahrain 4 1 1 2 4 5 4
Uzbekistan 4 0 1 3 1 6 1

Upcoming Socceroos WCQ matches:
Vs Uzbekistan April 1st, Sydney
Vs Qatar June 6th, Doha
Vs Bahrain June 10th, Sydney
Vs Japan June 17, Melbourne

What did you think about the game? Was it a good performance? Did Pim make the right choices with team selections? Are we guranteed a place in South Africa now?

March 26, 2008. China 0 – Australia 0.
Giant hearted goal-keeper Mark Schwarzer amplified his prowess against penalty takers with a save in the 88th minute of this crucial 1st stage World Cup Qualifier. After a fairly drab match where chances for both sides were few and far between, an innocuous long ball in the dying minutes caught our defence asleep, allowing Chinese striker Qu Bo to race into the area. Schwarzer came out to meet the pacey forward, and stood his ground as Qu tried to round him, resulting in a clash between the two. The referee pointed immediately to the spot, and it looked as if our road to 2010 would suddenly start with a stumble. But the big Aussie keeper had something to say about that, and reproduced the magic he conjured against the Uruguayans in 2005. In truth it was a poor penalty by Jiayi Shao, a timid effort right down the middle which Schwarz blocked with his legs, but the magnitude of the save made it such a memorable moment of 2008.

September 6, 2008. Netherlands 1 – Australia 2.
Despite being “just” a friendly, the win was important as it gave the boys the self belief that they can match it against top quality opposition. Facing a full strength Dutch team, it was not expected to be an easy night out for the Socceroos, and this pressure was compounded barely six minutes in, when Klass-Jan Huntelaar scored for the home side. However, the Socceroos gave a good display, creating several chances, before a horrendous back pass by Dutch right back Johnny Heitinga left Jesus with a one on one. The Orangemen’s keeper Martin Stekelenburg charged out to meet the striker and clipped him, resulting in a penalty and a red card. Harry Kewell smashed home the spot kick, and then the Socceroos found the winner mid way through the second half when a Luke Wiltshire cross was met by Jesus again, who tucked his header neatly into the corner. It was our first ever win against the Dutch, and a deserved one at that.

September 10, 2008. Uzbekistan 0 – Australia 1.
This was the first game of the second phase of the World Cup Qualifying campaign, and one of the gutsiest efforts I’ve ever seen from any Socceroos side. The Uzbeks were seen as the dark horses of the group, as coming into the game they hadn’t lost at home in over 18 months of qualifiers. A stomach bug had ripped through the Socceroos squad, resulting in the starting line-up to be somewhat different from the one which defeated the Dutch just days earlier. Yet, it mattered little as midway throughthe first half, Scott Chipperfield rose high to nod home a Wiltshire cross, sending the away team up one nil. While the Uzbeks were quiet in the first half, they came out and threw the kitchen sink at us after the break. Wave after wave of attack tested our defence, culminating to Wiltshire clearing off the line. The defence was marshalled brilliantly by Lucas Neill, and Chris Coyne exemplified our heart and determination when he took two solid hits after committing himself into challenges bravely. After a 35 minute onslaught, the heat finally took its toll on both teams as the match dribbled out to a quiet end. I know it’s a big call, but the way we defended against the Uzbek pressure in the second half was a joy to behold, making this match my favourite Socceroos moment of 2008.

What are your thoughts? What were your favourite Socceroos moments of 2008?

Finally, Merry Christmas everyone, and if I’m too drunk to post before, then have an awesome New Year and see you all again in 2009.

The squad is as follows:

Goalkeepers:

Mark Schwarzer, Brad Jones, Ante Covic, Michael Petkovic

Defenders:

Michael Beauchamp, Scott Chipperfield, Chris Coyne, Mark Milligan, Lucas Neill, Jade North, Matthew Spiranovic, Shane Stefanutto, Luke Wilkshire

Midfielders:

Mark Bresciano, David Carney, Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Richard Garcia, Vinny Vincenzo Grella, Mile Sterjovski, Carl Valeri, Harry Kewell, Jacob Burns

Strikers:

Bruce Djite, Brett Holman, Joshua Kennedy, Scott Mcdonald

It looks like a fairly promising squad, with a few (relatively) new faces, some of whom I’d like to see get a run out, others that I’m less sure of (not to name any names, like Brett Holman). Troisi misses out, but he is clubless, so perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. Carle misses out; we know not how or why.

What sort of squads would people like to see used? I’ve always been a fan of the 4-3-3, so I’d be hoping for something like this:

- – - – - – - – - Schwarzer – - – - – - – - – - -
Wilkshire – Neill – Spiranovic – Chipperfield
- – - – - – - – - -Grella – - – - – - – - – - – - –
- – - – - -Bresciano – Sterjovski- – - – - – - -
- – - Emerton – - McDonald – - Kewell – - -

Although Emerton’s ability as a wing forward could be dubious; you could also play him as a full back instead of Wilkshire and put Sterjovski on the right, bringing Culina into the midfield.

Another interesting possibility would be the 3-5-2, which would allow us to unload bring out all of our firepower at once:

- – - – - – - – - Schwarzer – - – - – - – - – - -
- – - – - Spiranovic – Neill – Coyne – - – - –
- – - – - – - – - -Grella – - – - – - – - – - – - –
Emerton – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – Kewell
- – - – - Culina – - – - – Bresciano – - – - – -
- – - – - – McDonald – Kennedy- – - – - – - -

And yes, you read that right: I would like to see Spiranovic starting for Australia. I thought he was sensational at the Olympics. I also like Kewell on the left better than in the middle. Word is, incidentally, that McDonald probably won’t play against the Netherlands but may be available for the Uzbekistan game.

Obviously, with a squad like this we have a lot of options. Anyone have a particular team they’d like to see? Players they really want to see in either game?

Australia’s goals were scored by Mile Sterjovski, who chipped the oncoming South African keeper after receiving a lobbed ball over the defence from Grella, and Josh Kennedy with a header from a Bresciano free kick; which means that Scott McDonald still hasn’t hit the goalscoring form we’d all love him to for Australia. The first-half lineup sounds pretty strong:

—————Schwarzer—————–
Wilkshire – Neill – Coyne – Chipperfield
———Grella——-Culina?————-
–Sterjovski—————–Bresciano–
———McDonald—Kennedy———–

I haven’t been able to tell who the other midfielder is – Culina is my best guess, but I have no evidence. Anyhow, at half time Neill was replaced by Milligan, Chipperfield by Carney and McDonald by Brett Holman. At this point South Africa started to make a comeback. Later in the second half, Grella was replaced by Valeri and Sterjovski by the newcomer, Hull City winger Richard Garcia. Eventually, Bruce Djite replaced Kennedy, so that our final lineup looked something like this:

—————Schwarzer——————
Wilkshire — Milligan — Coyne — Carney
———Valeri——–Culina?————-
–Garcia———————–Bresciano–
———-Holman——Djite—————

Without seeing the match I can’t exactly give a qualified opinion on how we played, but I think it’s good for all of these players to get some match time for the national team in the buildup to our qualifiers coming up, especially since Verbeek hasn’t sounded all that impressed with the A-league thus far.

Myself, I would have liked to see Spiranovic play; I think he earned it at the Olympics.

Anyone have any thoughts on the friendly or the upcoming qualifying group?

[edit] Daniel from the A-league Offside has posted a video of the highlights on his review of the match if you’re interested.