The Socceroos’ 2022 World Cup campaign has kicked off with a 4-1 loss to defending champions France.
It was a brutal lesson for Graham Arnold’s troops and a reminder at just how vast the gap is between nations in terms of skill, physicality and experience.
But there were some moments throughout the game that provided a glimpse that the Socceroos might be able to turn around their fortunes in the upcoming games against Tunisia and Denmark.
Foxsports.com.au analyses the key moments of the match in the Socceroos Talking Points.
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‘TAKE MORE RISK’: DEFENSIVE TACTICS EXPOSED
Graham Arnold has been heavily criticised over his failure to adjust the Socceroos’ tactics before the game was placed out of reach by France scoring two second-half goals in the space of three minutes.
Having – rather fortunately – reached the halftime break only one goal down at 2-1, the Socceroos were expected to come out firing after the interval. Such was the case in Saudi Arabia’s staggering upset of second-favourites Argentina, where Lionel Messi and Co were blitzed by two goals in a highly-aggressive first eight minutes of the second half.
But Graham Arnold did not make major changes to either his personnel or tactics in the break, with the team continuing to sit deep and struggling to assert themselves on the French.
Meanwhile fullback Nathaniel Atkinson, who had a torrid time against Kylian Mbappe, was not substituted until the 85th minute – a decision Australian legends found baffling.
Socceroos great Craig Foster told SBS: “I think the question for Graham is whether he should have changed the game earlier? We were 2-1 down but really we were conceding a lot of really good chances.
“We thought that maybe he was going to change Atkinson earlier. He got through an incredible amount of work.”
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Mark Bosnich interjected: “He should have changed him at halftime.”
Foster continued: “I was surprised he took so long to change (him), close to the end of the game. You are playing against the finest player in the world.”
The first Socceroos substitution came in the 56th minute, when striker Mitch Duke was hooked for Jason Cummings – having been booked one minute earlier.
But with France continuing to rack up chance after chance, Australia did not adopt a more aggressive approach, while Arnold did not make any more substitutions until the reigning champions scored their third and fourth goals in quick succession to bury the game.
Foster added: “The other question is the ambition and the second half at 2-1 down whether you are going to try and change things. We come out in the second half and the pattern of the game was exactly the same. So at what point are we going to go up and start to press them? Bring the team and start to put some pressure on them. Take more risk.
“Typically what you see, a team is 2-1 down and we are saying at halftime: ‘they are going to come out now and try to chase the game’. But we never really did that and all of a sudden you are down 3-1, then 4-1 and the game is over.”
Foster added: “They’re sitting on top of us. We’re sitting predominantly in our back third. We don’t have much of the ball. It’s a matter of time before they pick these things out.”
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OUTCLASSED AND OUTMATCHED – IS THE GAP GETTING WIDER?
Four years ago, the Socceroos were plucky and a little unlucky in their 2-1 defeat to France – a team that would go on to win the tournament. This time around, France was without the world’s best player in Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema, plus a host of other injured stars – but utterly dominated the Australians.
“It could have been, conservatively, six (goals),” Mark Bosnich said on SBS, believing the gulf in class between the two teams is only getting bigger.
“It seems enormous,” he said.
John Aloisi said on SBS: “I’m still pretty disappointed, so Arnie spoke after the game that he has to pick the boys up, and he will.
“He has to, because if I’m feeling that way, imagine how the players are feeling, because they got completely outclassed. We weren’t in the game after our goal. That was it, that was done, and they completely dominated us and created chance after chance.
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“We didn’t find a way, a solution. Arnie spoke about how he was happy with the first half. I would say happy with the first 15 minutes but after that they dominated us.”
In 2018, the Socceroos managed just 14 touches of the ball in France’s box – their fewest in any World Cup match. Today, that dismal record was broken, with just 12 touches in France’s box.
The Socceroos finally managed to net a goal from open play for the first time since Tim Cahill’s iconic volley in 2014 against the Netherlands. But without a World Cup win since 2010, Australian football faces serious questions around how to become genuinely competitive in the future.
As Bosnich declared: “You’re seeing there the result of people in France, way back in 1994 and 1990 when they missed out on the World Cup, sat down and put together a massive plan. You’re seeing the result of that and see the difference in class and quality.
“What is Australian football going to do in the future to see our players be like that one day?
“Five straight World Cups (are) all well and good but what? One last-16 place in over 100 years. What are you going to do about that?”
Ex-Socceroo ROASTS Cummings sub | 00:57
BIG HEADACHE MOVING FORWARD
Three key Socceroos earned yellow cards against France: midfield duo Aaron Mooy and Jackson Irvine, and striker Mitch Duke. In the World Cup, any player who accumulates two yellow cards is suspended from the following match (with the caveat that the ledger is reset for the semi-finals, meaning a player who is cautioned in the semi does not miss the final).
Tim Cahill famously picked up a yellow card against both Chile and then the Netherlands at the 2014 World Cup, forcing him to miss the final group match against Spain.
To reach the Round of 16, the Socceroos likely need to beat Tunisia or Denmark and draw against the other – and hope France beats both.
With no room for mistakes from here on out, Arnold will want to have his best players, like Mooy and Irvine – on the park as much as possible.
But the risk of them earning a yellow card against Tunisia on Saturday night, and then missing the third and potentially decisive match, will give Arnold a big headache. Should he start all three against Tunisia? If things go well and the score is level, should he bench them early to protect them from themselves?
Mooy’s caution will likely be the most frustrating of the trio, given it came from a tired, lazy and rather unnecessary tackle late in the game.
Arnold said the Australians were ‘punished for our mistakes’ against France. The punishment for Mooy’s mistake could be delayed – but even more significant.
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STRIKER DEBATE SETTLED?
It came as little surprise when the team lineups were announced that Mitchell Duke would lead the line up front for the Aussies.
A player who displays a tremendous workrate on and off the ball, Duke’s ability to hold play up and lay it off to teammates is one Arnold clearly rated.
And it was his relentless hunting and willingness to chase down lost causes was why Arnold believed Duke “did exceptionally well” in the 56 minutes he was on the pitch for, although he did get himself booked for a challenge on Ousmane Dembele just before he came off.
Duke was replaced by cult hero Jason Cummings, who represents an entirely different type of player.
For starters, the difference in height is vast.
When Cummings came on, the aerial threat was lost and changed the dynamic of the team’s play.
The Mariners star also struggled to get himself involved in the game, although that was perhaps more a case of the Socceroos struggling to get their foot on the ball and play more than anything else.
But it served as a timely reminder of what Duke offers and as an overall package, it is evidently more than Cummings.
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‘THAT’S WHAT WE WANT TO BE’: THE BLUEPRINT FOR SOCCEROOS SUCCESS
Granted, the first half fizzled out in worrying fashion as France slammed their proverbial foot down on the accelerator.
And aside from the shaky first minute when Les Bleus came out firing, the Socceroos displayed they could take the game to the defending champions.
Speaking after the game, Arnold revealed he took confidence from how his side enjoyed early success.
“We started the game well, physically they (France) were bigger and stronger,” Arnold said.
“That’s what we want to be. That’s what we trained on, the way we scored that goal – but overall the boys gave everything and that’s all you can ask.
“We’ve built that belief and the energy and the focus. For the last week since we’ve been in camp, we’ve been working hard in building that belief.
“The way we started I think they believed, and that we just got punished by our mistakes. The deliveries of their crosses was right on target.”
Midfielder Jackson Irvine echoed the manager’s sentiments.
“We looked really good (in the first 30 minutes) and it’s a period of the game we can look back on and try and grow from, we did a lot of things really well.”
Ultimately, the game fell apart when the Aussies’ legs ran out of gas and the tide turned very significantly in favour of the French.
But for the first quarter of the game, Arnold got a glimpse at what his side can do against one of the best teams in the world.
Could it be the blueprint for success against Tunisia and Denmark?
