Socceroos defeat Thailand, just

The Socceroos salvaged a controversial 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Thailand last night in their first match of the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign.

In front of a 25,000-strong crowd at Suncorp Stadium the Australians were far from convincing in defeating their opponent some 98 places below them on the world rankings.

Socceroos head coach Holger Osieck denied his team underestimated Thailand.

“It’s definitely not complacency or arrogance,” he said. 

In a one-dimensional performance, time and time again the Socceroos crossed it into the area from the right side of the pitch. 

Having played so well against Wales, when questioned whether his players were too predictable in their approach, Osieck admitted it was an uncharacteristic display on the night.

“The first half we didn’t play our normal football. It took way too long to play the ball up; we had too many square balls; we gave Thailand a very easy opportunity to regroup,

“You may call it predictable, why not.” 

Australia played an unbelievable total of fifty crosses during the game. As a result, Thailand started to anticipate the movement, and in the first half consequently managed to pull together some decent chances on the counter with Sampong Soleb, Surat Sukha and Teerasil Dangda working well through the middle. 

Eventually the War Elephants would find a way through, and in the 15th minute they did. 

Sukha intercepted the ball just within his own half and ran into some space before passing it off to Jakkaphan Kewprom running up the right. Under little pressure the speedy midfielder used the width of the field as he advanced and put a perfect cross into the area. The ball curled behind the Socceroos captain, Lucas Neill, who could only watch as Dangda snuck up behind him, and took just one deft touch to beat the outstretched Australian ‘keeper Mark Schwarzer. 

No-one had expected Thailand to score a goal, let alone take the lead, especially so early in the match. But with such a brilliantly executed passage of play, the Thai team showed they would be no easy-beats.

Despite conceding the first goal of the evening, the Socceroos did not change their method during the first half. 

Brett Emerton and Luke Wilkshire persistently whipped it in with the long ball, and each time, a leaping Thai player was there to defuse any danger. Though small in stature, the athleticism of some of the Thai players had to be appreciated.

Australia may have had 90% of possession but with their questionable method in approach, the attacking formation which normally worked so well when playing free-flowing football, was being undone by the 5-4-1 ultra-defensive set-up in the Thai half. At many stages of the match, if you could freeze a frame, you would see eight Thai players in the penalty area up against just three or four Australians. That congestion in the box was proving impossible for the Socceroos to manoeuvre their way through. For the Aussies, half time could not come sooner. 

In the second term Osieck made some crucial changes, most notably, Matt McKay saw a lot more of the ball. He barely got a touch in the first half, but his role in penetrating up the field was essential to their success. 

Sure enough, the former Brisbane Roar player was instrumental in the first Socceroos goal in the 58th minute. 

Waves and waves of Aussies were coming at the War Elephants when the second half commenced, and this time, no long balls. Things looked much more promising.

Neil Kilkenny, who didn’t have the best of nights in defence, redeemed himself with an excellent through-ball to Matt McKay up the left hand side in the Thai half. McKay worked around the defender and put a shot in that deflected off the goalkeeper’s chest, for the galloping Josh Kennedy to side-foot into the net. 

With the scores level, the crowd got back into the match. And when two goals were not given for the Australians, the Suncorp patrons really found their voice.

Off a corner, the unmarked Tim Cahill headed the ball down where a Thai player on his line headed the ball into the crossbar, hitting the back of his ‘keeper Sinthaweechai Hathairattanakool. The ball ricocheted into the net, and the goal was awarded by the linesman. But the match referee blew his whistle for Cahill’s contact on the goalie and the score remained at 1-1. 

Then soon after, a beautiful Cahill header was collected by Hathairattanakool flying to his right, but as the goalkeeper came down with the ball, he appeared to have pulled it over the goal line, drawing protests from Cahill.

When McKay was yellow carded for a soft bump seconds later, the crowd was officially livid. 

Everyone could feel a goal was due, but as the clock ticked over, a draw looked imminent. 

The substitution of Cahill and Emerton, for Robbie Kruse and Alex Brosque around the 70-minute mark, provided the necessary boost for the Socceroos. 

Naturally each got into the action from the get-go, but it was Brosque who found the winning goal in 86th minute in controversial fashion.

Matt McKay was again the provider of the accurate cross from the left. While chesting it down in the penalty area, the ball clearly struck Kennedy’s arm, but much to the dismay of the Thai defenders, play continued. Alex Brosque received the ball to Kennedy’s left and calmly placed it in the far right hand corner to give the Socceroos the lead. 

From there, the Australians took their foot off the pedal and contently maintained possession until the final whistle. 

In a lacklustre outing there were still some stand-outs in the Socceroos team. Brett Holman had worked hard all night and was always in the thick of it each time they made their way toward goal. Dispossessing his opponents and providing a much needed injection of pace up front, he was a definite highlight of the game. Kennedy and Cahill, as the two overhead masters, did not have the best of starts, but their lead-ups and finishes were far better executed in the second half.

Head coach of the War Elephants Winfried Schäfer, was proud of the effort his team put in on the night.

“We played for winning, not for a draw,” he said.

But Shäfer did question Brosque’s dubious goal in the dying minutes of the match.

“Maybe there was a little bit of hand. But nobody saw it, no problem,

“What you can do, it’s finished,” Schäfer said.

Osieck was tight-lipped about the game plan for the Socceroos as they head to Saudi Arabia for their next World Cup qualifying match on Tuesday.

“It’s a long trip and there’s some good opportunities to think about it, that’s for sure.” 

The softly-spoken coach was clearly not ecstatic with the performance, but with the three points in the bag, they ultimately got what they came for. 

“Basically what counts is that we could win it. That is what matters and from there we have to build,

“We definitely will improve.”