Socceroos hold on despite early Kewell dismissal

Ghana 1 Australia 1

Ghana: Kingson; Paintsil, Mensah, Addy, Sarpei; Annan, KP Boateng (Amoah 88); Tagoe (Owusu-Abeyie 56), Asamoah (Muntari 77), Ayew; Gyan

Australia: Schwarzer; Wilkshire (Rukavytsya 85), Neill, Moore, Carney; Culina, Valeri; Emerton, Holman (Kennedy 68), Bresciano (Chipperfield 66); Kewell

Australia impressively held out to secure a 1-1 draw against Milovan Rajevac’s Ghana in Rustenburg this afternoon despite the early sending off of Harry Kewell in an entertaining game which has left the closely-fought Group D poised for an enthralling finish next week.

Two lots of 4-2-3-1

Both sides were set up by their respective Coaches to play 4-2-3-1, matching each other across the field with the only slight differences between the systems being that Ghana’s wide midfielders were slightly more advanced and their second holding midfielder, Kevin-Prince Boateng, was given more license to get forward and create.

The main question surrounding the Australian selection was whether Pim Verbeek should have opted to play physical target-man Josh Kennedy up against the inexperienced Ghanaian centre-half pairing of Jonathan Mensah and Lee Addy, or perhaps two out-and-out strikers rather than again choosing to deploy an attacking midfielder – Harry Kewell – in the centre-forward role.

The early stages of the game played out much as expected, both teams mirroring each other in the midfield and failing to find much penetration, but the pattern of the game was altered when Richard Kingson’s error from Mark Bresciano’s free-kick allowed Brett Holman to steal in and put Australia ahead.

Ghana reacted surprisingly positively to going behind so early in the tie, instantly showing a greater intensity and willingness to get forward after a sluggish start. Kwadwo Asamoah upped his work-rate in his role as the Black Stars’ playmaker and Andre Ayew started to cut in off his wing to regularly test the Australian full-backs with his pace and skill as Rajevac’s side pushed hard to get straight back into the game.

It was as a direct result of one of Ayew’s forays into the inside right channel that Ghana were presented with the opportunity to equalise, the Marseille midfielder riding two or three Australian challenges to cut the ball back for Jonathan Mensah whose shot was prevented from crossing the line by the arm of Harry Kewell. Kewell was dismissed by referee Robert Rosetti and Asamoah Gyan converted the resulting spot-kick to restore parity.

Dismissal brings change

Australia after introduction of Kennedy

Kewell’s sending-off saw Verbeek change his team’s shape to a 4-5-0/4-4-1, Brett Holman often the furthest man forward with Bresciano and Brett Emerton making every effort to support him in attack breaking from midfield.

In adapting their system to cater for losing a player the Australians sacrificed much of possession, the West Africans looking far more dangerous for the remainder of the half and looking much more comfortable on the ball.

However, after the interval the Socceroos began to play their way back into the fixture having soaked up a great deal of Ghanaian pressure, Luke Wilkshire and David Carney pushing on from full-back to support the increasingly adventurous midfield.

The introduction of Scott Chipperfield for Bresciano gave Australia extra pace and natural width down the left side, something which troubled a slightly out-of-sorts John Paintsil, but it was Brett Holman’s replacement, Kennedy, who tipped the game back in the favour of Verbeek’s side.

The Kennedy factor

The Nagoya Grampus forward was used as the focal point of the Australian attack after coming on with 20 minutes to go, keeping Addy and Mensah occupied, exposing their flaws and forcing the Ghanaian system to become far narrower in the face of a 4-4-1 with the wide midfielders tucked in behind a target man.

Such was Kennedy’s impact that it seemed strange that Verbeek had not selected him from the outset, the striker’s presence forcing the Black Stars to change their defensive approach to such an extent that they appeared to lose their passing rhythm, giving the ball away in midfield with more regularity after Emerton and Chipperfield had come infield and crowded the area where Ghana had dominated all afternoon.

Indeed, it was Australia that enjoyed the best of the late chances, Wilkshire denied by a superb Richard Kingson save as the Antipodeans played with more freedom towards the end of the game. In fact the final minutes of the game were some of the most entertaining as Ghana finally pushed hard to exploit their one-man advantage, Paintsil and Hans Sarpei bombing forward from full-back to get in behind the Australian defence at serious risk of being caught out on the counter-attack.

Rajevac attempted to freshen up his attacking options in the dying minutes, but Sulley Muntari and Matthew Amoah failed to make an impact having been brought on to overrun the Socceroos’ midfield and support Gyan in testing the back line, Verbeek ensuring his team saw out a period of late pressure to come away with a point they will be more than happy with considering the circumstances.

Group D in the balance

Ghana will be hugely disappointed that they didn’t capitalise on their opponents’ shortage of personnel despite having much of the play, but this was an admirable performance with10 men from an Australia side that deserves an awful lot of credit for their resolute display and willingness to get forward even when handicapped by the Kewell sending-off.

The Black Stars now need a point against Germany in their final game of the group on Wednesday to guarantee progression to the last 16, with the Australians having to beat a strong Serbia side and rely on the other result going their way for them to have a chance of qualifying. Group D, seen as the toughest in the competition by many, could hardly be more finely-balanced going into the deciding round of fixtures.

Germany bring World Cup 2010 to life

Before Germany’s emphatic defeat of Australia this evening, World Cup 2010 had, in all honesty, struggled to find the requisite excitement levels on the pitch to match the off-field hype and expectation. Goals from Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Thomas Muller and Cacau capped a near-faultless performance from Joachim Low’s side and injected some much-needed energy into a tournament which has thus far produced a handful of relatively nervous and mundane ties.

Siphiwe Tshabalala’s goal in the opening game of the tournament briefly sent the Bafana Bafana support into overdrive on home turf, but Rafael Marquez’s equaliser for Mexico took the wind out of the occasion and deprived the competition of a result which would have set the stage for a thrilling month of football. What followed that game were a string of uninspiring ties involving the likes of France, Uruguay, England, USA, Slovenia and Algeria, with only Argentina, South Korea and Ghana giving observers the slightest cause for optimism.

Germany, however, stamped their authority on the tournament this evening and, just as they did four years ago, brought the tournament to life. Back in 2006 they produced a wonderful display in the opening game against Costa Rica, a 4-2 victory with two particularly thunderous strikes from Phillip Lahm and Torsten Frings getting the tournament off to the best possible start. For a team all too often labeled as “bland” and “efficient”, Die Mannschaft are surprisingly effective at providing spectators with some of the most breathtaking performances of the early rounds.

This evening it was a new generation of German players that shone, with Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller and Sami Khedira all central to the destruction of their Antipodean opponents. The poise the Germans showed in possession as well as their explosiveness in attack made for superb viewing, a welcome antidote to some of the dour games produced by Groups A, B and C. Low’s players showed that it is possible to attack with relatively low risk in these crucial early group games, proving that defensive responsibility does not necessarily have to be sacrificed in order to show intent and flair going forward.

The Germans are owed a debt of gratitude for finally kick-starting what has the potential to be an enthralling tournament and, if more teams follow their balanced yet uninhibited example, we could be in for a spectacular few weeks of action. Indeed, with Holland, Brazil and Spain still yet to take to the field, the competition might only be starting to warm up. It’s been a slow start, but all the elements are now in place for South Africa 2010 to start producing some truly world-class football in the days and weeks to come.

Teams of the World Cup – #14 Australia

After an impressive showing in 2006, qualifying from a group including Brazil, Croatia and Japan before being narrowly defeated in the last 16 by Italy, Pim Verbeek’s Australia side will be looking to build on the performance of Guus Hiddink’s team of four years ago. With an experienced squad built around a strong spine including the likes of Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell, the Socceroos clearly have the ability and know-how to overcome some of the World Cup’s more fancied sides.

Having qualified for the tournament in the Asian section for the first time since joining the AFC in 2006, Australia showed their class by winning six and drawing two of their eight games, conceding just one goal – scored by Japan’s Tulio Tanaka – throughout the entire process. Despite their excellent qualification record, the countries the Socceroos came up against, with the notable exception of Japan, were not of anything like the quality of the teams Verbeek’s side will face in South Africa. In fact, of the other teams in Australia and Japan’s qualifying group – Bahrain, Qatar and Uzbekistan – none are ranked in the World’s top 50 and questions could be asked of the suitability of the Aussie’s preparations for this summer’s tournament.

However, no matter who the opposition, Verbeek will back his group of players to succeed in what is a difficult group containing three other strong sides in the shape of Germany, Serbia and Ghana. Favouring a 4-2-3-1 throughout much of the qualifying campaign, the controversial Dutch Coach gives his back four an insurance policy by deploying two holding midfield players – usually the uncompromising pairing of Jason Culina and Carl Valeri – who do their best to break up opposition attacks further up the field. Ahead of them lies the creative fulcrum of the team, Mark Bresciano, Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell – arguably the squad’s three most talented players – forming an advanced midfield trio with Cahill playing centrally and Bresciano and Kewell on the flanks. Joshua Kennedy has emerged as the first-choice striker, having scored five goals in qualifying to leapfrog Archie Thompson and Scott McDonald in the queue for starting places in attack.

Though the Socceroos certainly have a talented pool of players from which to draw, Verbeek has criticised his players as well as the standard of the A-League recently, questioning the decisions of some players with regard to their transfers and publicly saying that he has a lot of work to do to get his squad anywhere near the required level for the World Cup. The Dutchman’s views may well have an element of truth to them, but surely by saying what he has he is only serving to disrupt his own squad ahead of the summer. If the Australians can overcome these minor issues and iron out the technical problems Verbeek thinks they have in the forthcoming friendlies against Denmark and the USA, then the team can hope to at least match their efforts of four years ago. If not, however, they could be in for a difficult time in South Africa in what will be an unforgiving group.

Probable starting XI: Schwarzer (Fulham); Wilkshire (Dynamo Moscow), Neill (Galatasaray), Coyne (Liaoning Whowin), Carney (FC Twente); Valeri (Sassuolo), Culina (Gold Coast United); Bresciano (Palermo), Cahill (Everton), Kewell (Galatasaray); Kennedy (Nagoya Grampus)

The Road to South Africa: 1st in AFC Group A

World Ranking: 20th

Odds: 125/1

Introducing…Michael Zullo

Australia has produced its fair share of world footballing stars in recent years – Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill, Mark Schwarzer, Mark Bresciano and Brett Emerton all having made an impact at the highest level over the course of the last decade. But now a new crop of talent is emerging in Australasia, with one of the most exciting talents being Brisbane Roar’s (formerly known as Queensland Roar) 21 year-old left-sided midfielder, Michael Zullo.

Having been brought through the academy at the A-League club, Zullo made his debut for Brisbane in 2005 at the age of 16 and immediately impressed with his pace and tenacity in advanced positions. Able to play both as a left midfielder and at full-back, Zullo has shown himself to be an adaptable and intelligent footballer and has established himself as a crucial member of the first team at the Suncorp Stadium, recently being named as the club’s junior marquee player – a status which sees him become one of only two players at the club not to be bound by the league’s salary cap.

Recent performances, the majority spent on the left wing, have seen Zullo’s stock rise dramatically, the player personally turning down approaches from NEC Nijmegen and FC Groningen in 2009 before accepting an offer from FC Utrecht at the start of April this year. The Australian will join the Dutch side in time for the start of next season and will surely be looking to become the spearhead of a new generation of Australian talent making its way into some of the major European leagues.

Zullo’s good form has also led to international recognition in recent times, Australia coach Pim Verbeek calling the player into the senior squad last year to face Indonesia in an Asian Cup qualifier and again this March in the Socceroos’ defeat to Kuwait. Admittedly it is unlikely that the Brisbane player will be selected in Verbeek’s squad for this summer’s World Cup, although there is always an outside chance, but Michael Zullo is surely a player of whom we will be hearing more of in the years to come as he embarks upon a career in Europe.