IN the lead-up to this morning’s tepid 0-0 draw between the Socceroos and FYR Macedonia in Skopje, the Football Federation of Macedonia website offered free tickets to the game.
One reply translated along the lines of, “If it was being played in my backyard I’d close the curtains.”
It was hard to disagree. With support for the Macedonian national team at an all-time low after a 2-1 loss to Belarus last week, the cavernous 33,500 Philip II Arena was less than 10 per-cent filled.
Add in the chilly night and six changes to the Australian starting side that drew 2-2 with Germany last Thursday, and the result was a game lacking in atmosphere and excitement.
It wouldn’t be fair to say that the Socceroos took a step back from the great progress that they have been making in recent months – they didn’t lose after all – but they didn’t make any further strides either, despite a start that showed plenty of promise.
As they inevitably do under Postecoglou’s coaching, the Socceroos began full of intent, Aaron Mooy, Mathew Leckie and James Troisi employing a slick interchange of passing to take play down Australia’s left side from the kick-off.
In the early stages it seemed just a matter of time before Leckie would get free down Australia’s left side and engineer the first score, but perhaps because of the number of changes, the Socceroos appeared to lack cohesion and, surprisingly, given the way Postecoglou has drilled them over the past year, desperation.
It was as if they felt the goals would eventually come, and were in no great hurry to make them happen.
They were the team making all the running, but time and again the final pass went astray and Macedonia was able to go onto the counter.
Against a better side Australia could have been in trouble but the Macedonians were devoid of precision in front of goal. Four times in the first half alone they set a good platform but three times the Socceroo defenders got back in numbers.
On the fourth occasion the Macedonian forward pushed the ball aimlessly over the sideline. It summed up their night.
Sadly, Australia’s finishing wasn’t much better. Leckie, Troisi and Tomi Juric all had chances that came to nothing.
In fact, apart from a bit of excitement late in the first half when Aussie born-and-bred Macedonian Daniel Georgievski engaged in some push and shove with Leckie, and Jedinak received a yellow card following a collision with Dushko Trajchevski, booing their own team was the only thing that kept the minuscule home crowd warm.
source:foxsports.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 