Socceroos coach Graham Arnold desires to begin a marketing campaign to vary the phrase “friendlies” to ”fixtures” in terms of video games like Thursday‘s against Argentina in China.
That’s as a result of there will probably be nothing pleasant about how his staff “gets in the face” of the world champions, together with famous person Lionel Messi, in what looms for a few of the youthful Socceroos as the largest recreation of their careers.
A sold-out crowd of near 70,000 is predicted on the recreation in Beijing and the Socceroos have skilled the Messi impact within the lead-up, with tons of of followers surrounding his lodge attempting to catch a glimpse of the all-time nice.
Arnold confirmed rising stars Jordan Bos and Aiden O’Neill, who weren’t a part of the World Cup conflict, would begin and midfielder Keanu Baccus would get one other shot at Messi too because the Australians search for revenge after a 2-1 loss to Argentina within the spherical of 16 in Qatar.
Arnold stated the Socceroos could be “extremely aware” of 35-year-old megastar Messi however had been assured the plans they utilized in Qatar might comprise him this time.
“What we did at the World Cup, I felt that we did very, very well till about the 43rd minute (when he scored) and we’ll do the same again,” the Socceroos coach stated from Beijing on Wednesday.
“It‘s not just about him … you can’t just focus on that one player, but obviously, be extremely aware of him when he when he is in possession. But as I said we’ll have a plan around him.”
The problem of taking over the world champs has power within the Socceroos’ camp “through the roof” and Arnold is hoping that interprets to the full-on, dynamic play his staff might want to hold Argentina underneath management.
“The focus needs to be on our own performance, and if there’s one thing that we could do better than what we did in the last was in possession,” he stated.
“Keeping possession and making sure that we’re making them do some running and some chasing and we’ll be in their faces for 90 minutes defensively.”
Arnold conceded it will be as much as a number of of the youthful Socceroos to deal with the event, however the reality so many are heading straight to Europe after the conflict was testomony to their capability.
“They are flying to Europe too because the European clubs have identified Australian talent,” he stated.
“You come in to these types of occasions and see how platers handle it. They feel and they believe that they belong on this stage.
“The energy is through the roof and take that energy onto the field, anything can happen.”
With Arnold declaring he has “one eye on the Asian Cup and two eyes on the next World Cup”, the Socceroos boss stated there was “no way” the Australians could be taking it simple towards Messi’s males.
“I wish we could change the word friendly to fixture,” he stated.
“When you put on that Australian badge over your heart, you put on that jersey, you get a cap, there’s no such thing as a friendly.
“It’s an international fixture and it’s an opportunity to go out there and continue to improve.
“Everything is about improvement, getting better, individually and as a group and making sure that every time we turn up, we’re ready to go out and do better.”
Source: www.news.com.au
