On Tuesday night, the Socceroos hoped to put last week’s shock loss to Bahrain behind them with a swift win over Indonesia, but Graham Arnold’s men failed to deliver.
Ranked 24th in the world, Australia should have been able to professionally dismiss 133rd ranked Indonesia, but the Socceroos were a shadow of themselves in Jakarta.
With five fresh changes to the squad, Australia were on the backfoot early, as Indonesia immediately peppered goalkeeper Matthew Ryan with shots at goal to no avail.
Australia soon stamped their authority over Indonesia as they controlled the tempo of the game for the majority of the night. The Socceroos dominated possession, holding it 63 per cent to Indonesia’s 37 per cent time on ball.
But it was in the forward third where the Socceroos fell apart.
Despite registering 20 shots for the game, Australia was unable to score against Indonesia’s low block.
Shots from Souttar, Goodwin and Taggart attempted to put the Socceroos in front but each lacked composure as they were slammed straight into Indonesian goalkeeper, Maarten Paes.
In his first-ever start for the Socceroos, Bayern Munich young-star, Nestory Irankunda was electric.
He came narrowly close to delivering a superb long range goal in the first half, but his attempt hit the goalpost before deflecting off the Indonesian keeper.
Australia’s lack of finesse was further highlighted by their inability to capitalise on set plays.
Despite an overwhelming 15 corner kicks and two free kicks near the penalty box, the Socceroos were stagnant and uncreative, leading to Indonesia being able to hold off Australia with relative ease.
After 90 minutes, the game ultimately teetered to a lacklustre 0-0 draw.
The result leaves the Socceroos in a precarious position on their road to qualification for the 2026 World Cup and casts greater doubt on Graham Arnold’s future as head coach.
In his post-match press conference, Arnold said he was “as disappointed as every other Australian is” at his team’s failure to take advantage of their dominance.
But affirmed he was committed to fixing the Socceroos’ issues to maximise results out of the remaining qualifying games.
“At this moment I'm frustrated, I just need to go home to Australia, and have a really good think about things.”
Currently second last in their group, Australia only has one point from its two qualifiers so far in the third round of qualification, and is yet to score a goal.
Teams sitting in first and second place of their group at the end of the round will automatically qualify for the World Cup. Regional powerhouses, Japan and Saudi Arabia, currently occupy these spots in the Socceroos’ group.
Like the last World Cup qualifying run, Australia may have to resort to doing it the hard way.
Teams placed third and fourth in their group progress onto the fourth round of qualifying, where there are an additional two spots available.
Or there is the further fifth round, where the runners up of the previous round will battle to be Asia’s representative at the FIFA Play-off tournament, for one last chance at qualification.
This was most similar to the route the Socceroos took last time, earning qualification after a tense penalty shootout win against Peru under the previous four-round qualifying system.
However, Australia’s missed opportunities against Bahrain and Indonesia mean they currently hold third and fourth positions in their group, while Australia hovers dangerously in an elimination zone.
With only eight games left, the Socceroos need to rapidly improve their form if they are to qualify at all.
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