The Socceroos finally plugged their leaky defence but drew blanks in attack in a dour scoreless draw with the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi.
In a friendly match played in energy-sapping heat and humidity in the early hours of Saturday morning (AEDT), Australia dominated possession but struggled with execution and decision-making in the final third.
The performance, while a reflection of the conditions, showed much work is still ahead for Ange Postecoglou’s men before the Asian Cup but they at least stopped bleeding goals.
Australia had conceded 13 in their past five matches but a backline benefiting from another assured performance by rising defender Trent Sainsbury kept its first clean sheet since the 1-0 win over Costa Rica last November.
Postecoglou played down the significance of not conceding but felt they were continuing to progress.
“I don’t go home and pop champagne corks over clean sheets,” Postecoglou said.
“But we were great defensively, I thought. Apart from one (UAE) chance we didn’t really feel threatened at all.
“I guess that is a positive but, from our perspective, we want to keep progressing our overall play and I thought we did that but just lacked the cutting edge up front.”
Other positives included an encouraging debut for Sydney FC striker Bernie Ibini who, surprisingly, started the match with Tim Cahill coming off the bench late.
Winger Robbie Kruse also got through 60 minutes in his first international since a knee reconstruction and Postecoglou felt the changes may have taken the spark out of the attack.
“Until maybe the last 10 minutes, we never really looked threatening,” he said.
“It’s a bit understandable because it’s Krusey’s first game for almost a year and Bernie’s first game for his country so we’ve got to be realistic in our expectations.”
Postecoglou handed 22-year-old Ibini a surprise start, erring on the side of caution with Cahill nursing a minor hamstring complaint.
Josh Brillante started at right back with Chris Herd (Achilles) and Ivan Franjic (illness) both unavailable, while injuries also kept Mark Bresciano (back) and Tommy Oar (groin) out of the squad.
The match kicked off in around 35 degrees Celsius and high humidity and it was reflected in the early play.
Australia could have gone ahead in just the second minute, with Mathew Leckie spraying a volley wide from a looped Mile Jedinak through ball.
The Socceroos’ defence was exposed when the UAE launched a 26th-minute counter attack that required Alex Wilkinson to make a headed clearance off the line.
Ibini looked sharp in attack and almost created something out of nothing in the 29th minute with a sublime turn and volleyed shot.
Leckie and Mark Milligan squandered decent chances just before half-time and the match followed a similar pattern early in the second half, with Australia caught flat-footed at times and passes going astray.
James Troisi, Aziz Behich, James Holland and the lively Brad Smith all had game time in the second half but it was Cahill who brought a spark to the attack when he went on in the 79th minute.
Australia’s all-time leading scorer could not break the deadlock, however, and the Socceroos will head into Tuesday’s match against an in-form Qatar in Doha with plenty to improve upon.
Source: AAP