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Disappointment for the Socceroos. Photo: Aleksandar Jason<\/p>\nThis World Cup has been different for me, watching with my kids, who have the football itch, not just watching the Socceroos, but also their pop, Graham Arnold, who is coaching Iraq against so many of their favourite players!<\/p>\n
I\u2019m loving the tournament, it is such a great spectacle; I\u2019m still confident the Socceroos can have a great run, despite what happened against the States.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That game plan against Turkiye worked perfectly: we dominated where we needed to dominate, blocked shots, made clearances; our game plan, sit deep, soak up all the pressure, frustrate them, don\u2019t allow their better players to get close enough to our goal where they can hurt us, worked. We then let the speedsters and target men up front do all the damage.<\/p>\n
The grudge match with the US, after all those comments in the media, didn\u2019t really go to plan.<\/p>\n
The selection surprises worked in the first game, but in the second, it looked like there was a lack of cohesion and in the second half, the boys that came out were the version of Australia I think everyone was expecting in the first. We looked really dangerous.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why I\u2019m still confident.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been a lot of talk about Australia sitting deep and focusing on defence. As a central defender, that makes your role really clear.<\/p>\n
I think that\u2019s why the boys played really well in the first game; as a centre back, having the plan as simple as possible \u2013 make your clearances, blocks, knowing we\u2019re going to be sitting deep so there\u2019s nothing really going in behind you \u2013 it makes the game plan easier to prepare for.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The US game was more complicated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Disappointment for the Socceroos. Photo: Aleksandar Jason<\/p>\n
As a player, you can\u2019t say that a major change to the team sheet doesn\u2019t affect you. Normally you find out the night before or the day before that you\u2019re going to be in the squad and you\u2019re going to be starting. I\u2019m not sure how it\u2019s happening in camp under Popa, but everyone seemed a little bit surprised.<\/p>\n
Maybe in the back of your mind as a player, you\u2019re going to be thinking, \u2018damn, I really wish we had this player out there because of his qualities\u2019. That said, all the boys are there for a reason so they should be able to perform at the highest level and block out any of the outside noise.<\/p>\n
The other thing that surprised me was we sat deeper against T\u00fcrkiye than against the US; I was a little bit surprised that we pushed up and tried to press America a little bit more than we did against Turkey given the hosts probably had more attacking threats.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve got such a great defensive unit when we\u2019re sitting deep and absorbing pressure, and then we\u2019ve got the really fast rapid boys up front.<\/p>\n
The players will be ready to bounce back from a defeat that probably will hurt a bit more knowing that the second half was so good and if we had produced that for ninety, we could have got something and almost cemented our place already.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So now, it\u2019s a grand final.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The Socceroos\u2019 substitutes against USA. Who will start against Paraguay? Photo: Aleksandar Jason<\/p>\n
It is different.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I remember when we played Peru in 2018; you do little things like you\u2019ll chase, you\u2019ll look at the clock, you\u2019ll see minutes drifting by and you\u2019ll think, damn, we\u2019ve really got to produce something here. So you might take a little bit more risk here and there, depending if you\u2019re down, or you might start to think, we\u2019ve got twenty minutes here, let\u2019s bunker in.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m backing our boys. If we\u2019re up, we\u2019re going through, us bunkering in with those three big slab heads at the back; I don\u2019t there\u2019s a better defensive three at that World Cup at absorbing pressure, especially with the two as well in front of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the own goal, it happens. Cameron Burgess is just a big man with his feet like that, it\u2019s hard to move your feet that quickly, so no fault on him at all.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll block that out quickly. Getting subbed off in such an important game for your national team, it\u2019s always going to hurt, it\u2019s going to suck, but at the same time, he doesn\u2019t get to the level he\u2019s at and the performances he\u2019s produced by having a soft mindset. The Championship\u2019s one of the hardest leagues in the world and he played every minute of every game and to do that your mentality\u2019s got to be rock solid.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is do or die, but not a lot will change this week in terms of routine. Maybe some of the older boys will get the others together to reiterate the importance of the game and Popa, he\u2019s been here before as a player too, he\u2019ll have the boys fired up with no doubt, once they cross that line, they\u2019re getting three points.<\/p>\n
From what we did against Turkiye, I think our approach might be a little bit of a hybrid; dropping deep but not too deep, because we do need to get after it, but at the same time we need to play to our strengths.<\/p>\n
I think the back and five and keeper will be the same \u2013 depending on news on Jacob Italiano\u2019s injury \u2013 but the middle is where I think there could be some new energy injected into the team, with Jackson Irvine starting alongside Paul Okon-Engstler.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nestory Irankunda has got to start, alongside Mohamed Toure, and Connor Metcalfe and then see how it\u2019s going at half time. I was really impressed with Cristian Volpato \u2013 he and Irankunda lit up the pitch and I thought it would have been really good to see Toure on with them up front.<\/p>\n
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Jackson Irvine against the US. Photo: Aleksandar Jason<\/p>\n
It is good we have depth; Ajdin Hrustic is another option we haven\u2019t seen, he has way more creativity than the others in midfield.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Competition is always healthy in a squad, but I was honestly shocked, really shocked, before that Turkiye game. Shocked that Jacko wasn\u2019t starting, more shocked that Maty wasn\u2019t. Our captain. My initial thought was he was injured or sick; I know he wouldn\u2019t say anything to put himself out of line with the staff or the gaffer, because he\u2019s the ultimate professional. And not seeing him on the squad sheet was a bit baffling but it seems like a little bit of a stroke of genius because Beachy has been amazing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The way they\u2019ve held themselves in camp, though, I\u2019m not surprised at all. That\u2019s their character. That\u2019s why they\u2019ve been around for so long. You don\u2019t get that far and have that sort of longevity in football with having a s**t mentality.<\/p>\n
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Photo: Aleksandar Jason<\/p>\n
Now, as they pick themselves up from the US, which does sap a little belief and a little energy, those boys will be drawing on their experiences from previous World Cups and sharing those stories with the other boys. That\u2019s key, because it\u2019s an inexperienced squad. They will be helping them dust themselves off to go again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m highly confident they won\u2019t just dust themselves off, but get three points. If they play the way they did in that second half, I\u2019m highly confident they\u2019re going to get the six points from the group stage. I still think this team can really do some damage going further.<\/p>\n
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