Performance not good enough for Neill

Qantas Socceroos captain Lucas Neill said he was disappointed in the manner of Australia’s 3-1 loss to Scotland in Edinburgh, admitting the team performance wasn’t up to scratch.

Qantas Socceroos captain Lucas Neill said he was disappointed in the manner of Australia-s 3-1 loss to Scotland in Edinburgh, admitting the team performance wasn-t up to scratch.

Neill, collecting his 50th cap as national team skipper, said the Socceroos conceded possession too easily to their hosts and paid the price for not being able to find their usual spirit and fluency.

“We gave away possession too easily tonight, allowed Scotland to get good, possession and grow in confidence; we couldn-t get ourselves back in the game,” Neill said.

“It was disappointing; Bresc scores an absolutely great goal to start off and we looked a little bit threatening on the break but overall we-re disappointed and we need to do a lot more.”

Of particular concern was the way in which Australia-s usually realiable defence looked static and allowed the Scotland attackers too much space, and Neill said this would need to be improved upon before the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

“I-m not concerned because we know exactly where we went wrong - we gave the ball away too cheaply, we weren-t brave enough in possession and we weren-t clinical enough when we went forward.

"Any team that gives the ball away like that is going to look disorganised defensively and we couldn-t keep a good shape.

“We-re not kidding ourselves, we-ve already addressed it in the changing room and maybe it-s a good kick up the bum for what-s coming up.”

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 matches at Stadium Australia are on sale now through Ticketek - click here for details or phone 132 849.