A scoreline that flatters the Socceroos. The Kiwis were the better organised, more enthusiastic, more committed team, particularly in the first half. The opening 45 minutes were frankly, awful, with Australia displaying no cohesion, little teamwork and what seemed like a training-game mentality. And there were two dreadful tackles.
In the the second half, a reconfigured team with 5 subs on played much better and knocked in the winner on time. A draw would have been fairer.
This performance highlights for me the underwhelming nature of the Australian team's game play over the past two years. Occasionally we see a sharp, tightly knit team who push the ball around confidently and defend well. More often we see a lot of disconnection and defensiveness at work. This is sometimes called grinding out a result.
Pim Verbeek has the runs on the board when it comes to success with the national team. We have qualified at the top of our group for the World Cup next month and made it into the Asian Cup Finals next year. But I just can't shake the feeling that the team is playing well below its potential and that this fact is substantially a management issue.
But I am very happy to be proven wrong.
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