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Australia struggles to deal with the high tempo
Right from the get-go Romania were pressing the Socceroos all over the pitch and forcing errors and cheap turnovers. Their pressing was partly aided by Australia’s rigid three man midfield which offered barely any movement or spark. Bresciano and Holland positioned themselves almost parallel to each other (both usually a good 10-15m in front of the defence, leaving a lot of space between the lines) and Holman was being marked out of the match by Bourceanu.
Because Bresciano and Holland weren’t getting forward or dropping back much, it was easy for Pintili and Grolan to stay on them and cut down their options. The flat line midfield is simple to press when a team is trying to play a quick passing game as Australia was.
The turnover rate was ridiculous with Australia constantly losing the ball. Holman and Brosque barely had any impact in the opening half an hour, while Romania probably should’ve scored two or three goals in that time.
Poor pressing and ball retention offers Romania plenty of space in the middle of the park
Despite failing to deal with the high tempo, Australia tried to fight fire with fire and press Romania as well, keeping the pace of the game. But constantly losing the ball leaves players out of position, and when Romania transitioned quickly it left plenty of space to attack.
As already mentioned there was a large block of space between the midfield and defence, and aided with players out of position due to turnovers and poor pressing, it was an area Romania could easily channel their attacks through.
Stancu stretching the center backs and enjoying easy space between the lines
Romanian forward Stancu best benefited from the space in front of the defence. His movement was good and he was often able to stretch the space between Cornthwaite and Neill.
His finishing was his downfall as he failed to capitulate on his chances he created for himself. But he often found it too easy to find space behind the defence and between the lines, a definite concern for Australia which stemmed from the midfield.
Australia slow it down in the second half and improve
Australia began to play with a slower tempo in the second half and the result was far less turnovers. Bresciano and Holland began to move around the pitch more towards the back end of the first half (Holland moving into an advanced position allowed him to provide the ball which led to the penalty) and they continued this in the second half, opening up an array of options for Australia when on the ball.
Romania was making many basic mistakes though and looked tired when in defence during Australia’s period of improvement (around the 50th-75th minute mark). The substitutions made late in the game seemed to benefit Romania more than the Socceroo’s as the last 15 minutes saw Romania fight their way back into the match.
Zullo bombarded late in the match.
The main avenue of attack during the dying stages of the game was down the right for Romania as they tried to take on Zullo one on one and isolate the left back. Romania went on the attack towards the end and scored two goals in the final ten minutes to win the fixture.
Zullo wasn’t necessarily at fault, he just happened to cop the brunt of Romania’s attack as the midfielders made runs diagonally in behind Zullo and deep runs from the full back meant he had too much to deal with.
Romania’s equaliser came from Tobie taking on Zullo and getting plenty of space before playing a ball to the midfielder who had escaped Holland by making one of diagonal left runs before crossing to Stancu. The winning free kick came from a foul down that side of the field, too.