Australia has faith in the Socceroos but Arnold’s side gives the country little reason to trust them

After 120 arduous minutes and penalty shootouts on Monday, and an even tougher road to the knockout stages in Qatar, Australia already qualified for World Cup. In the previous victory United Arab Emirates and PeruThe Socceroos chased, harassed, fought and attempted to qualify for world football’s showpiece, and even with considerable odds, that was undeniably a positive.

The scene of the Australian players rushing Andrew Redmayne after he saved Alex ValeraThe final penalty created a picture as iconic as any game in Australia’s history. It is hard not to feel happy for the players and technical staff, given the sacrifices they have made both professionally and personally to get there, during an interrupted qualifying cycle of Covid-19.

However, Monday’s penalty shootout victory did not detract from the essence of their performance, both in these playoffs and in this World Cup qualifying stage in general. More logically speaking, the knockouts are just a continuation of what we’ve seen up to that point with the Socceroos under the helm of Graham Arnold.

The two games against the UAE and Peru are said to have condensed the Socceroos’ previous two international windows into one, reflecting the laxity of the midfield approach, which extends to a collective approach. It serves as a fitting end to this chapter in the story of Australian football on the pitch – one as discussed previously, defined by its full heart and empty soul.

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Because like the game against Vietnam and Omanafterward Japan and Saudi Arabia Correspondingly – matches from which they won four points, including 12 – Australia’s approach was ultimately adjusted by opponents. Ricardo Gareca’s pre-match assessment of Peru by Arnold practically acknowledged it.

“Look, I’ve obviously looked at Peru on some occasions, the typical South American team, you know, they’re very disciplined but they’re all over the place,” he said on Sunday. “Of course, when I say they have quality players, and when I say discipline and good performance, sometimes they’ll have two wings on the same side of the pitch, sometimes they’ll have two eights on the pitch. the same side of the yard, and, you know, they’re a little off.

“We have to adapt to that, make sure that our communication is very, very good. And we put the fire on people. But overall, I think we have our strengths too. And We have to play to our strengths.”

For the moment, let’s ignore the significant difference in approach between Peru and the team that finished first in the CONMEBOL qualifiers, in the form of Chile and Colombiawhich outlines what is a typical South American team.

It was inevitable that despite its impracticality and corroborating evidence, involving both personal use and more systemic flaws, the Socceroos coach would return to scheme 4 his -2-2-2. Australia’s condition for risk aversion and therefore inability to actually work with the ball, manifests most clearly in its unconditional dependence on Ajdin Hrusticevident from the very beginning on Monday.

A segment in the sixth minute was bright: Hrustic retreated from his high starting position and many times found himself in large space, but because the defense was still in front of the ball, it created a caution to actually get him the ball and turn. . Aziz Behich look long and the ball is hopelessly out of play.

#AUSvPER pic.twitter.com/PqHD3Cosyu

– Ante Jukić (@ajjukic) June 14, 2022

One of Australia’s three shots in the box over 120 minutes is another small window. After passing between central defenders from a kick-in, like Jackson Irvine and Aaron Mooy Without asking to receive, the ball found its way to Hrustic after Kye Rowles’ pass Andre Carrillo to Behich. Hrustic is beyond any real penetration options like Martin Boyle He swings out and Mitchell Duke half-finds a pass behind the defence. The culmination was Boyle’s cross and header to dominate Irvine in the penalty area.

#AUSvPER pic.twitter.com/ykba5ysuE6

– Ante Jukić (@ajjukic) June 14, 2022

This came after one of the decisive moments against the UAE, where Hrustic effectively put the Socceroos on the field before Irvine’s opening goal, followed by a series of mistakes from the rest of the money line. defend Australia both inside and out. of possession led to Caio Canedo’s equalizer four minutes later.

However, as noted even in the Irvine SSR, his threat in the box is a pretty big trade-off in midfield. Not in a position to predict and execute the second ball, then get caught sliding back into the box, forcing clumsy handling and a miss.#UAEvAUS pic.twitter.com/tp55HwFrJD

– Ante Jukić (@ajjukic) June 8, 2022

No logic, just vibes. The penalties are the inevitable foundation that Australia will proceed with on Monday, if they make progress. Like 2017 against Syria in the AFC playoffs, all could have been undone if there had been no saving goal in extra time.

With the Socceroos constantly in possession of uncertainties, Sunday’s pre-match assessment from Arnold and the nature of the results in mind, it begs the question: what are Australia’s strengths? However, this is where the difference needs to be made, as well as taking into account the rhetoric from the Australian team when it comes to this knockout.

“It’s something I’ve been driving since we got into the camp and brought back the Australian DNA,” Arnold told SEN. “I really feel that we’ve lost that in Australia compared to what it used to be in our sports days and we love the challenge, the things against the wall. So let’s be back. back to that DNA, the old way, the Jeff Fenech (former Australian boxer) way, the way that we are no matter what happens you kick, you fight, you scratch, you run until fell and left nothing on the park and no regrets.”

It speaks to the “why” in Australian football, as opposed to the aforementioned “how”.

Arnold is not an exclusive actor in this respect. We just have to see recent men’s A-League finals or the dramatic contrast between Australia’s energy and function at AFC U23 Asia. Our definition of character, especially in the face of adversity, reveals an overwhelmingly cautious approach on the pitch.

Because in these terms, pitch is always the compass.

What it summarizes is that, while there is a lot of faith placed in Australian football’s endeavours, it ultimately comes with a lack of faith in their footballing abilities. That’s where the contradiction lies in explaining what constitutes bravery and bravery in football. It’s as binary as our interpretation of the game itself, then allowing Australian football at all levels to be ransomed by the end result.

You cannot compete with children. Do you want to win or play well? While such universal sentiments create an irrational distinction between aesthetics and practicality, they are ultimately a matter of solutions, as opposed to solutions to problems.

However, willpower can be a skill in sport, in international football it should be a basic expectation. That may be why the discord exists with the Socceroos’ World Cup spot right away.

Determination is certainly a valuable quality in football, but all too often in an Australian game it comes at the expense of the ball itself, along with other qualities that make up character in football. football.

It is in moments like these that Johnny Warren has immortalized that Australia should try to win the World Cup, not just qualify for the finals, becoming as powerful as ever. The impractical and tedious football of this qualifying period is likely to continue into November in the face of stronger opposition, back to the fact that what Australia values ​​in their football inherently defines it. the ceiling of the game both on and off the field, placing it in this cycle of constant volatility.

While expanding the World Cup to 48 teams by 2026 may take away the momentum to improve, despite the aspirational sentiment of the match against Australia, in the end we want Australian football and the bridges. What does the Australian player become?