Harford said he was in total agreement with Postecoglou and believes the football fraternity in Australia feel they haven’t been given much love in regards to the global game.
Advertisement
Skibbe said his team was exhausted in the first half, but recovered during the second to keep Australia at bay until later in last 10 to 15 minutes when Australia used their tactics to pressure the strong defence, creating some “lucky moments” until the final kick of the match.
Cahill, who came on as a second half substitute in Sydney, had a goal disallowed just before Germany-based substitute Mathew Leckie scored the victor with the last kick of the game in stoppage time.
“We maybe let them off the hook a couple of times with some of the finishing but in the end we got our reward with the goal”.
“We have not been in that situation so often”.
“We didn’t deal well tonight with a poor start, they didn’t allow us to get any rhythm in the game, they handled the whole scenario really well”. “Which is great and it’s exactly what we need”.
“That’s the way I want to play and that’s the way the boss wants us to play so I love it”.
“The most disappointing thing was that we went away from what we’re good at and tried to match them with what they’re good at – and they’re better at it than us”.
Postecoglou acknowledged that the final Greece match – their first home loss since January 2015 – may have been “one game too many” given a large chunk of his squad had also just finished their seasons.
Having played in football-only stadiums overseas, Bayer Leverkusen star Robbie Kruse echoed his coach’s comments and hoped Etihad Stadium will be in much better condition for game two tomorrow night.
While it was hard for the Socceroos to play an expansive style of football in the conditions, several rookie players impressed in their debut global outings.
“Until this period I have to find the right players to build a team which is going to Russian Federation”.
Greece’s new coach, Michael Skibbe, who took over from Sergio Markarián in October, said the two games against Australia would give him a chance to look at players ahead of the World Cup qualifying campaign.
Advertisement
They handed Western Sydney a suspended three-point penalty and $50,000 fine after finding the club guilty of bringing the game into disrepute in February.
