Australian goalkeeper Mat Ryan has sent a message to all the football teams in Asia, stating the Socceroos are still the team to beat.
Ange Postecoglou’s side have capped off the last fortnight with two comprehensive victories against Tajikistan (7-0) and Jordan (5-1).
Ryan, who was the first-choice goalkeeper for the Socceroos in the 2014 World Cup, said there was an evident change of quality among the squad. Subsequently, they went on to win the Asian Cup the year after.
“We have an enormous amount of confidence, we’re the champions of Asia. No matter who we play, we show we can take it to those teams in those periods,” Ryan said.
“We’re a better team now than what we were in the World Cup with all the fresh faces. Everyone who comes in buys into what we want to do, the chemistry between the squad is important and we all get on like a big family.
“We’re enjoying the football at the moment and taking it with a professional approach and when you’re doing all those things and being successful that’s when you enjoy it the most.”
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Even with all the improvement coach Ange Postecoglou has changed up the squad time and time again, which has continuously paid dividends as players adapt to international football.
With players such as Aziz Behich, Jason Davidson and Ivan Franjic being used at the back as early as last year, Ryan praised the defenders in Josh Risdon, Bailey Wright and Brad Smith, who have all taken advantage of the chance to impress.
“Not only today, but the first game also (the defence was solid). It wasn’t too long ago, with all due respect to the past Socceroos where we found ourselves struggling against oppositions like this,” he said.
“All the talk before the game was how they beat us in Jordan, they have some dangerous players and they’re our most difficult opponent.
“We knew with our game plan, our philosophy and how we want to play we were confident we could do the job and we showed that tonight.”
Despite the positivity, the Valencia goalkeeper was annoyed about the consolation goal Jordan scored in Sydney.
“[It’s] disappointing to concede a goal, I guess I’ll look at it a little bit and see if I can give something more, I think it was in the top corner, I don’t think there was much I could have done,” he joked.
“It was a silly mistake on our behalf. Playing out there and losing the ball in that area and we got punished for it.
“We have to clean that up if we want to go to the next level, because at the World Cup facing tougher teams we’ll get punished more often from mistakes like that.”
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