For the first time since Germany last year the Socceroos had an early morning friendly worth waking up for. Unfortunately, they could not repeat the heroics of Upton Park as they went down to England 2-1 at the Stadium of Light.
Marcus Rashford got his debut off to a flying start with a goal after three minutes beating Mat Ryan at his near post. Wayne Rooney came on in the second half and finished off an impressive counter-attack just before the hour mark.
Australia got one back thanks to Eric Dier, who attempted an awkward diving header which deflected into the back of the net for an own goal.
Pre-game lineup
When the team sheets were made public, the only real surprise for the Socceroos was that Mark Milligan reverted to his backup position in the centre of defence. Otherwise the team set up as predicted with Robbie Kruse and Jamie Maclaren leading the line for the Socceroos behind a four man midfield featuring the young trio of Aaron Mooy, Tom Rogic and Massimo Luongo.
Next poster-boy for the @Socceroos?
— Daily Football Show (@DFS_AUS) May 26, 2016
Lessons from Leicester
Sometimes a national team will reflect their league champion’s style of play and here England opted for a strategy of swift counter-attack, while letting Australia dominate possession. Most of the time those counters came down Australia’s right-hand side as they tried to unsettle right-back Josh Risdon. As we have seen in the past, that counter attacking plan is how teams have been able to exploit this iteration of the Socceroos. Bailey Wright was forced to make tough decisions as England broke forward quickly and in numbers. For their second goal, Wright chose to try and close down Raheem Sterling leaving Rooney wide open down the far side.
Socceroos auditions
Tom Rogic has been linked with a move to Arsenal and he gave the English crowd a real sample of what he is capable of – making the greatest impact of any Socceroos player on the pitch. Unfortunately, no goals or assists came from his impressive display, however he will most certainly have pricked the interest of Arsenal fans. Another midfielder, Aaron Mooy, also pushed his case to seal a move to Europe, who grew into the game after a slow start. On the other hand, debutant Jamie Maclaren had limited service and was handled with relative ease by the English defenders, which will have pleased selfish Brisbane Roar fans who are desperate to see him at Suncorp stadium next season.
Encouraging but lacking a cutting edge
This was a more entertaining contest than your average friendly, with both teams showing a clear intent from the outset to win the contest. The Socceroos constructed some brilliant, free-flowing moves but they lacked a decisive and clinical edge in the final third. It was a performance full of energy and intricate passing, although the argument that it was an impressive should not be applied. In order to take the next step forward, the Socceroos must find their clinical touch in front of goal and to engineer more clear-cut chances against superior opposition. For all their possession they only tested Fraser Forster once for the entire 90 minutes, after a low footed drive from Robbie Kruse. Ange Postecoglou’s honesty pre-match about the national side’s ambition of meeting the likes of England at a World Cup must remain the aim. If that happens to eventuate, the head coach will be hoping he’s instilled one key component that’s missing – shots on target.
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