Socceroos plagued with age-old striking woes after misfiring World Cup qualification window
analysis
SBy Simon Smale
Topic:Socceroos
Where can the Socceroos find more goals from?
The Socceroos had a golden chance to stamp their authority on their World Cup qualification group this November window.
It was a chance they were unable to take.
That in itself is the story of this qualification window for the Socceroos, who may look back on this pair of matches as a series of missed chances.
They will be hoping that they do not come to rue them.
Not once, but twice this week the Socceroos have missed opportunities to break away from the pack of teams chasing Japan — who appear almost certain to finish top of the pool.
Australia are, after six matches, sitting in second spot, one point clear of the other four teams in the pool who are all locked together on six points.
It's a log jam that nobody seems able to break away from, with Saudi Arabia's shock defeat against Indonesia in Jakarta earlier on Wednesday (AEDT) ensuring that every team has at least one victory to their name in Group C.
"Everyone's finding it hard to get consecutive results," Tony Popovic said following the 2-2 draw with Bahrain in Riffa.
That's not quite true — the Socceroos have now drawn three-straight matches against Japan, Saudi Arabia and now Bahrain.
That gives Popovic an unbeaten start as head coach of the national team, albeit with just one win under his belt from four games — the new manager bounce evident against China settling into something more resembling a drop and roll.
All three of those results could have conceivably gone either way too.
It goes without saying that the margins in international football are desperately fine.
If it wasn't for the heavily disputed — but demonstrably correct — offside decision in stoppage time against Saudi Arabia, the Australians would have fallen to defeat in Melbourne.
And it took a stoppage time goal from Kusini Yengi to salvage a draw from the jaws of an unfathomable defeat against Bahrain on Tuesday.
It should, of course, never have come to that for Australia in Riffa.
Kusini Yengi scored a double for Australia, but missed a couple of very good chances too.
Yengi had multiple chances to score for the Socceroos after he put his side ahead after just 38 seconds.
The 25-year-old, despite having scored six goals for the Socceroos, cannot be called a prolific striker, having yet to find the back of the net for Portsmouth in the Championship so far this year in 398 minutes of game time, but could easily have had three before Bahrain got on the scoresheet.
In the first half he was denied by Ebrahim Lutfalla sharply rushing off his line, then there was a degree of fortune about his chested effort came back off the top of the post in the second half.
But he really should have scored soon after, failing to get off a shot in a crowded penalty area after a desperately poor first touch ruined his sight on goal.
It was a costly error. Just 15 minutes later, Bahrain were ahead.
It was Mahdi Abduljabbar's sharp-shooting that help serve to highlight Australia's goal-mouth profligacy — the 33-year-old striker launching a speculator into the net from 40 yards one minute then — literally — the next minute being in the right place at the right time to poach a second.
It was a ruthlessness that the Socceroos simply do not have.
The Socceroos were furious at having thrown away a lead.
In the six matches the Socceroos have played during this phase of qualifying, the Socceroos have scored six goals, thrice failing to score in those matches.
That's from 70 shots, from which just 19 where on target, a shot accuracy of just 27 per cent — a statistic that fails to capture the chances missed where a shot isn't even able to be taken.
Japan, by contrast, have had 73 shots on goal in their six matches, 36 of which were on target (49 per cent) and have scored a whopping 22 goals.
Interesting, but not totally damning.
Saudi Arabia, for instance, have scored just three goals from a pool-high 81 shots, just 17 (20 per cent) of which were on target, while Bahrain (27 per cent shot accuracy) and China (25 per cent accuracy) shoot at a similar rate albeit from far fewer sighters (less than 50 each).
Only Indonesia, whose 45 per cent shot accuracy from 53 shots has seen them pick up a win and three draws, can compare to Japan in this group — scoring with six of their 24 on target efforts.
That being said, the Socceroos have had just six shots on target in their last three games, equal with Bahrain as the lowest in the group over the same time period.
Their 22 shots in that time period is less than Saudi Arabia managed in its last game alone — not that it did them much good.
That's great and everything, but what's the answer, aside from conjuring up a goalscorer who can get on the end of the plentiful moves the Socceroos have put together?
Ajdin Hrustic was left dumbfounded by Australia's failure to score.
In truth, there are not too many options.
Nestory Irankunda was dropped for these internationals after a flaky couple of national team appearances from the teenager, who is still finding his feet at senior level despite his extraordinary talent.
Irankunda has played most of his football this season in the Bavarian state league, the fourth tier of German football for Bayern's development side, scoring four goals with three assists in 12 matches, and also scored in the UEFA Youth League earlier this month against Benfica, but needs time to settle in Germany before being burdened with icon status for the Socceroos.
Brandon Borrello, with two goals and two assists in the A-League Men's competition for Western Sydney Wanderers this year, made a brief appearance off the bench against Bahrain, but made little impact, while Martin Boyle, an unused sub in Riffa, is in fine fettle for Hibernian, scoring five goals with five assists in 15 matches in all competitions this season.
Popovic does not have too many options, but has shown he's not afraid to make changes, dropping Joe Gauci to restore skipper Maty Ryan between the sticks for this game, a gamble that little can be read into, the veteran Roma keeper untested for the most part, and victim of a series of unfortunate deflections in front of him for both goals.
Tony Popovic must have questions over his side's inability to finish chances.
There is little doubt Popovic will be scouring the goalscoring charts both at home and abroad, offering plenty of incentive to those in the A-Leagues like veteran Andrew Nabbout or youngster Nicolas Milanovic to keep up their early season goalscoring form.
Defensively, the Socceroos are sound enough — their five goals conceded is the second-best in the group behind Japan's two.
Harry Souttar's immense noggin was once again a worthy rock upon which any successful team could be built — and an under-utilised goal threat from a succession of aimless corners — ably assisted by Cam Burgess and Hayden Matthews — the latter's header onto the post for Bahrain's second goal an unfortunate coda to an otherwise impressive debut.
Burgess though, should probably have judged the fight better than have the ball ricochet off him for Abduljabbar's spectacular opener.
Now there is a gap before the Socceroos get back into action, with four matches to come, kicking off with Indonesia in late March before a trip to China.
Then, in June, the Socceroos will host Japan and travel to Saudi Arabia, a brutal end to the third round of qualifying.
The Socceroos will hope to have broken clear from the pack by then and not need to head to the Middle East cauldron needing a win against the Green Falcons.
But they cannot afford any more slip-ups.
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