Qantas Socceroos head coach Holger Osieck admitted he expected more from his players following the 3-1 loss to Scotland, and said he hoped the result would be a wake-up call ahead of the next round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Qantas Socceroos head coach Holger Osieck admitted he expected more from his players following the 3-1 loss to Scotland, and said he hoped the result would be a wake-up call ahead of the next round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Australia were far from their best in the international friendly at Easter Road, and struggled in almost every area of the park.
And a clearly disappointed Osieck did not shy away from sharing his thoughts about his players- performances after the game.
“It-s not about the result, it-s a matter of the performance and I expected a little bit more,” Osieck said.
“Our display today was very, very... basic, let-s call it that. We were not in the position to play constructive balls into the danger area, the understanding when we have to change positions was not there, and we gave Scotland too much room in attacking midfield positions in particular.
“Even during half-time when we talked about it we didn-t actually change. I don-t know the reason but the bottom line is we played very poorly today and I consider it a wake-up call and we have to improve a lot in order to be ready for the upcoming qualifiers.
“It-s never good to lose but maybe it-s come at the right time.”
Osieck used the game as an opportunity to give debut two promising young players in Ryan McGowan and Jason Davidson, the latter the focus of much attention before the game for following in the footsteps of his Socceroo father Alan.
But Davidson got his international career off to the worst possible start, heading home an embarrassing own goal after being exposed by a number of mistakes from his teammates, which left Osieck less than impressed.
“I felt very sorry for Jason; he-s a decent boy with a good future and a lot of things to offer, but when he scored the own goal he was at the end of a chain of mistakes that started in midfield with that stupid diagonal ball into the feet of the attacking fullback.
Scott McDonald also failed to score in his 26th game for Australia, with Osieck joking that perhaps luck will never be on the Middlesbrough striker-s side.
“Scott had a full half and tried very half and again he couldn-t find the net, even in injury time some defender stole the ball away from him. He is maybe jinxed in our team!”
Australia-s FIFA World Cup qualification journey resumes on Tuesday, 11 September, when the Qantas Socceroos meet the challenge of Jordan in Amman. Kick off is at 7pm local time (Kick off is at 2am AEST, Wednesday, 12 September).
The Qantas Socceroos are next in Australia in 2013, starting with a FIFA World Cup qualifier against Oman at Sydney-s Stadium Australia on Tuesday, 26 March. Kick off is at 7.30pm local time.
The Qantas Socceroos return to Stadium Australia on Tuesday, 18 June to continue their FIFA World Cup qualification journey against Iraq. Kick off is at 7.30pm local time.
Tickets for each of the aforementioned matches at Stadium Australia are on sale now through Ticketek - click here for details or phone 132 849.