‘Belief’ grows despite botched Socceroos qualifier
Joe Gauci says the Socceroos have “more belief” than earlier in the World Cup qualifying period despite a strong sense of disappointment from a scoreless draw with Saudi Arabia.
An away victory over Bahrain on Wednesday morning (Australian time) could be crucial to the Socceroos’ hopes of automatic qualification as Saudi Arabia prepares to travel to face winless Indonesia.
Gauci, who has taken the No.1 goalkeeping role in the three games under new coach Tony Popovic, said there was no doubt the national side was in a “better spot” than when Graham Arnold stepped down in September.
“We’re in a better spot than we were a few months ago, that’s for sure … I think we have more belief in ourselves and our style of play and real confidence in the way that we’re going to do things,” Gauci said after the nil-all draw in Melbourne.
“It’s definitely positive. We’re going to continue to build as a group, and as we get towards the latter stages of the qualification process, you’re going to see a new and improved Socceroos every time we step onto the field.”
Popovic said he was disappointed with an inability to keep possession in the first half but was impressed by how his side seized control after the break despite failing to score.
“We know it’s a huge game in Bahrain, and we need a much better performance than we had here when we lost 1-0,” he said.
“I think (fans) saw their team do really well in the second half, opportunity maybe missed, but we put ourselves in a position that we still can get that automatic spot, which is important.”
Prior to the clash, Popovic would not rule out a return for Ryan between the posts, but Gauci moved to cement his spot as first-choice keeper with an impressive double save, albeit on an eventually disallowed play due to an off-side call.
The Aston Villa reserve gloveman had the best view of the disallowed injury-time goal that had the entire Saudi Arabian playing and staff contingent celebrating by the side of the pitch and said he instinctively thought it was off side.
Defender Sultan Al-Ghannam rifled a shot into the bottom-left corner from long range, but it passed between the legs of narrowly off-side teammate Ali Al-Bulayhi, who was ruled to have interfered in the play.
“I’m not usually someone to wave my arms about, but when it went in, I think if I’m reacting to it, I think it’s a good indication that he was obstructing my view,” Gauci said.
“It’s an off-side goal … because of our discipline and our structure late, it paid off. If it comes down to that, our discipline paid off.”
Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard was diplomatic when asked about the referee’s decision, as he predicted qualification to come down to a crunch game between the two nations in Saudi Arabia next winter.
“We have to give confidence to the ref, but I have to see it again, to be sure they made the best decision,” the 2022 World Cup manager said after his first game back in charge.
“We are in the middle of this group, everything is still open, and maybe we’ll have a very, very important game on June 10 in Saudi against Australia.”
Popovic denied Ajdin Hrustic was injured despite being subbed out at halftime for Nishan Velupillay, who then suffered an ankle injury and was unlikely to feature in Bahrain.
Forwards Craig Goodwin and Martin Boyle were both in the selection frame after they were late arrivals into camp and left out of the 23-man squad on Thursday.
