Tim Cahill and Matt McKay chat with former national teammate Brett Emerton during a Socceroos visit to Parliament House in Canberra on Monday.
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Last month’s surprise 2-0 loss in Amman left Australia second behind Jordan in Group B of Asian qualifying and another slip up could place their hopes of playing at Russian Federation 2018 on a knife-edge.
While Australia’s only threat this Thursday will come on the field against Kyrgyzstan in Canberra, there’s an entirely different scenario awaiting the Socceroos on and off the field when they face Bangladesh the following Tuesday, according to a Herald report on Monday.
But McKay hopes old wounds have healed and hoped a vocal home crowd of more than 20,000 would help the Socceroos get their qualifying campaign back on track.
“Those away games are always hard and we just didn’t adapt to that (against Jordan) and the tests we did have”.
“We didn’t have any footage of them the last time we played and also since then they have played another three games”, the 32-year-old explained.
“And getting ready to play in a massive final that the club’s not been in in 17 years, and if we win we’ll be playing in the Asian Champions League”.
The Socceroos weren’t almost as convincing against Kyrgyzstan in Bishkek in June, a thrilling match where the hosts – cheered on by a manic home crowd – pushed Australia all the way before succumbing 2-1.
Tim Cahill couldn’t have asked for more from his first season in China, crediting his successful stint with Shanghai Shenhua with giving his storied football career added shine.
“It’s a hard thing but, for me, the FFA and our government wouldn’t send us there if they didn’t think it was safe”. We had a wake-up call against Jordan, which is probably something we needed. “(They have) a lot of technical players, the wingers, the midfield is stacked, defensively they were very strong”, said 35-year-old Cahill, Australia’s most prolific striker with 41 goals.
“I’m always confident in this group of lads and the staff purely because of what we have achieved in the past and what is expected of us in the future”.
“You don’t like the wake-up call but it has to galvanise you either way”.
Socceroos stalwart Matt McKay says he and his teammates are committed to travelling to Bangladesh for the team’s World Cup qualifier, if it goes ahead in Dhaka, even if his wife isn’t happy about it.
“We’re under a little bit of pressure, but it’s nothing we haven’t faced in the past”.
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Coach Ange Postecoglou has decided not to replace Spiranovic in the squad which is gathering in Canberra ahead of Thursday’s match against Kyrgyzstan and the November 17 tie against Bangladesh in Dhaka.
