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Arnold masterclass silences doubters
After becoming the first Australian-born coach to win a World Cup match against Tunisia on Saturday, Graham Arnold became only the second Socceroos boss in history, behind Guus Hiddink in 2006, to progress to the tournament's knock-out stages.
Australia's escape from the once seemingly-impossible task of progressing beyond Group D in Qatar was something that perhaps not even the most optimistic of Socceroos fans could foresee ahead of the tournament, with successive 1-0 victories against Tunisia and Denmark, ranked 30th and 10th in the world respectively, proving enough to secure a place in the round of 16.
However, the Socceroos' opening match of the tournament, which ended in a crushing 4-1 defeat to title holders France, signalled that Australia's fortunes in Qatar would potentially not turn in their favour. Arnold subsequently faced criticism for the perceived negative tactics he used during the match as well as the imperfect timing of his substitutions.
SBS World Cup analyst Mark Bosnich was led to question how Arnold would respond tactically against Tunisia during his post-match analysis of the France game, and also offered a rather grim reflection on how the Socceroos' campaign would be perceived in hindsight had they not recovered from the defeat.
“Five straight World Cups is all well and good but for what," said Bosnich, "one last 16 place in over 100 years? So what are you [Arnold] going to do about that?”
A more direct and aggressive approach was taken to the Socceroos' second group match against Tunisia, and Arnold's side was rewarded for their early attacking dominance with a stunning headed goal courtesy of Mitchell Duke. The match against Denmark played out in similar fashion, albeit after the Aussies recovered from an unsteady opening 25 minutes, as they eventually settled into the pace of the match and managed to hit the Danes on the counter when it mattered.
The approach culminated in the only goal of the match, when the Aussies stole possession inside the Danes' penalty area and worked the ball up to Riley McGree on the left wing, who threaded an incisive ball through to Matthew Leckie as the Melbourne City attacker danced around Danish defender Joakim Maehle - firing through his legs and past Kasper Schmeichel to make it 1-0.
Shortly after the Aussies held on to secure their famous victory, Bosnich and fellow analyst Craig Foster were full of praise for Arnold, with the former noting how he managed to overturn the perceived tactical mistakes of the tournament opener against France.
"Graham’s at the centre of it. He did an amazing job today," Foster said.
"He made all the right decisions against Tunisia, and he’s done it again today.
"Managing the pressure, managing the game as it unfolds is the most difficult thing [to do]. But when he brought on Bailey Wright in the 74th minute and he went to a back five, [that] was the moment when we said, ok, this is Australia’s game here. Because they thought it through, they had the plan for when they were 1-0 up."
“During the qualifying period, he did come under a lot of criticism, including from myself, and at the time it wasn’t looking good for him," Bosnich said.
"They only got two points from a possible nine. [But] he struck through it and a lot of credit must go to Football Australia and James Johnson and his board for sticking by him.
"Graham Arnold, [it] would have been very easy to let him go at that time [in March]. They didn't and kudos to all of them - an absolutely fantastic victory.”
A history-making night (or morning)
Following Arnold's personal feat achieved at the end of the Tunisia match, the Socceroos broke a number of records upon entering into the Round of 16 with their victory over Denmark.
Upon finishing second in the group, Australia earned their most amount of points ever at a World Cup group stage with six after securing back-to-back wins, which was also a first for the national team at the tournament. The record also well and truly eclipsed their past top marks, the Socceroos finished both of their 2006 and 2010 campaigns on four points.
Due to Craig Goodwin, Duke and Leckie's goals against their respective Group D opponents, it was also the first time that Australia had scored a goal in every group game, with the Aussies previously falling one match short of that target in each of their last four World Cup campaigns.
With the steel of captain Mat Ryan in goals and a mostly resolute defence, anchored by the stand-out performances of centre-back Harry Souttar, the Socceroos also went on to keep consecutive clean sheets in yet another tournament first, amid their back-to-back 1-0 victories to close out the group stage.
A new golden generation?
Due to the number of records in which the Australians achieved overnight through their Group D success, Arnold raised his claim for the current crop of Socceroo players surpassing the legendary 2006 national team as Australia's new 'golden generation'.
"Maybe we're talking about a new golden generation now," Arnold said after the match.
"Because we have been listening and hearing about the golden generation of 2006 who got four points - and now we have got six."
Although it could be easily argued that the quality of the '06 side would easily exceed that of Arnold's current squad, the potential of players currently sitting on the Socceroos' bench as well as on the field suggests that the strength in Arnold's claim may rest on the youth of the squad, with 28.5 being the average age of the Socceroos' starting 11 fielded this morning (AEDT).
For instance, the young defensive reinforcements of Thomas Deng and Joel King have both started promising careers in the first divisions of Japan and Denmark respectively. They provide trusty back-up to the Socceroos' current starters of Kye Rowles and Harry Souttar at centre-back as well as Aziz Behich on the left. Serie A and La Liga players in Ajdin Hrustic and Awer Mabil are yet to get a look in this World Cup - partially due to a lack of match fitness.
While the youthful Heart of Midlothian trio in Rowles, Cameron Devlin and the injured Nathaniel Atkinson are also likely have bright international careers ahead of them, there was one other player in particular from the Scottish Premiership who caught the eye of Craig Foster as he appeared off the bench.
"Keanu Baccus, he was absolutely brilliant," he said.
"And that was obviously some sort of forced move [from Arnold], so once again from just managing those situations, making the right calls, and putting Jackson Irvine up into number 10 where he still did well, but Baccus was absolutely brilliant in this game."
After a stand-out performance and match-winning tackle laid against Tunisia on Saturday, Souttar starred in the back line once again against Denmark, making some crucial blocks and interceptions to keep the European side at bay and started the counter-attack which led to Leckie's match-winning goal.
Next stop: Argentina
The Socceroos have set-up a mouth-watering round of 16 clash with the world's third-ranked side Argentina on Sunday morning at 6am (AEDT), after the latter shored up top spot in Group C with a 2-0 victory over Poland in their final group match.
Despite the Argentines eventually steadying their shaky start to the tournament with convincing wins over Mexico and Poland, their shock first round loss to Australia's AFC affiliates Saudi Arabia proved that anything is possible when it comes to a World Cup.
However, it will take some doing for Australia to get past goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and a defence spearheaded by Nicolas Otamendi in the round of 16, while the Aussies in turn will need to be at their best defensively to combat the South Americans' attacking exploits of a certain Lionel Messi, Angel di Maria and Julian Alvarez to name a few.
Having already gone further into the tournament than most would have expected, Australia will need to defy the odds yet again to eliminate one of the heavy favourites leading up to the tournament.
How to watch Socceroos v Argentina LIVE and FREE on SBS
Sunday, December 4
Argentina v Australia
5:30am - 8:30am (AEDT) - kickoff at 06.00am
LIVE on SBS and SBS On Demand
