This match ought to go well with ‘Arnieball’
Arnold has confronted criticism for Australia’s ineffective assault and lack of midfield performance, and it appears to be bothering him however these points, whereas unresolved, don’t actually apply for this match. It’s solely when dealing with a lower-ranked crew who sit again in a deep defensive block that the Socceroos wrestle to get going. South Korea in all probability received’t do this. Klinsmann, too, is being hammered for his or her fairly blunt method within the remaining third, which is much less excusable when you think about the excessive degree of their gamers in membership soccer in comparison with Australia’s squad of battlers, who largely ply their commerce in second and third-tier European leagues.
Socceroos head coach Graham Arnold.Credit score: Getty
Korea had 58 per cent of possession in opposition to Saudi Arabia. If, as anticipated, they once more have a lot of the ball within the quarter-final, that places the Socceroos in comfy territory: they’ll return to the sport mannequin that labored so effectively for them on the World Cup, a cautious steadiness of counterattacking pragmatism and front-foot urgent.
They nonetheless have to do higher with their passing, and restrict the unnecessary turnovers which went unpunished of their earlier matches, as a result of a crew like Korea may make them pay with a single assault. However all issues thought-about, that is the type of match the place Arnold’s Socceroos do their greatest work.
Korea’s coach is extremely unpopular
Camp Socceroo seems to be a contented place, as at all times. It’s arduous to know what to make of Camp South Korea. There’s widespread concern in Korean soccer that they’re losing their present ‘golden technology’ of gamers, simply essentially the most gifted of their nationwide crew’s historical past. Many followers consider Klinsmann is tactically not the appropriate match and are displeased at how little time he has spent in Korea since taking over the job, and due to this fact query to what extent he trusts Korean-based gamers. The view is that they’re profitable video games despite him, not due to him.
South Korea’s Tottenham star Son Heung-Min.Credit score: Getty
Contemplate, too, the pre-tournament views of Son Heung-min’s father, who mentioned it might be higher for the way forward for Korean soccer in the event that they failed at this Asian Cup as a result of shedding may wake their federation up, and in the event that they received it, the sport’s decision-makers can be fooled into considering every part is rosy. If that’s what he reckons, it’s not a stretch to suppose the squad may share the identical view.
Then once more, in the identical interview he did insist that to him, his son was nonetheless not a “world-class” participant, so perhaps he’s a particularly arduous marker.
Historical past is on Australia’s facet
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Whereas the Socceroos haven’t received both of their two most up-to-date clashes with South Korea – a 1-1 attract November 2018, and a 1-0 loss in June 2019 – they had been each friendlies, so we are able to conveniently neglect about them. With regards to precise aggressive matches, with one thing actual at stake, the Aussies have a really sturdy file.
Solely as soon as within the final 23 years have they misplaced to Korea in a significant contest, and that was the third match within the group stage of the 2015 Asian Cup, when each groups had been already by way of to the knockouts and then-coach Ange Postecoglou shuffled his crew accordingly. Everyone knows what occurred after that: they met once more within the remaining, and the Socceroos prevailed 2-1 in further time to safe Australia’s best achievement in males’s soccer. Since arriving at Tottenham Hotspur, it seems Postecoglou has wasted no alternative to remind Son of that outcome and rub it in a bit of. Let’s hope it’s nonetheless in his head come kick-off on Saturday morning.
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