Socceroos a realistic chance of World Cup progression — with a few tweaks
Related Story: Socceroos give France a massive scare in gutsy 2-1 World Cup loss
Perhaps, in retrospect, the defining image of Australia's 2-1 opening World Cup loss to France won't be the VAR replays of Josh Risdon's tackle on Antoine Griezmann or Paul Pogba's deflected flick over a despairing Mat Ryan.
With a bit of luck, it will be the shot of the entire Australian squad in a huddle after the final whistle, with Mile Jedinak delivering a stirring rallying cry to his defeated team-mates. In that moment, the Socceroos didn't look a team pleased to have merely stretched some of the world's best, but a side now convinced its grander ambitions are realistic.
And make no mistake, they are completely realistic. Progression from this group, despite what the doubters and those who place too much stock in FIFA rankings would have you have you believe, has always been attainable for Australia if it could swiftly organise itself under Bert van Marwijk.
From the evidence presented against France, organisation is not Australia's problem. The Socceroos were disciplined and intelligent in defending a mobile and rapid French attack, keeping them to only half chances and denying the likes of Griezmann the spaces they like to work in.
The difficulty now, should Australia want to build from this respectable base, is to adapt its game for the very different challenges both Denmark and Peru will pose, and to find a way to be more penetrative and threatening on the ball.
If any element of the France game would have disappointed van Marwijk — result aside, of course — it would have been the Socceroos' lack of any real attacking threat, either on the counter-attack or when they enjoyed sustained possession.
Against Denmark and Peru — two teams that both prefer to concede possession and do their work on the break — Australia may need to focus more on the latter. When the French dropped back and allowed the deeper midfielders Aaron Mooy and Mile Jedinak time on the ball, the Socceroos looked fairly harmless.
And, most criminally, Tom Rogic was near enough to unsighted. The instinctive reaction is to blame Rogic himself, and suggest he needs to be doing more to receive the ball, but opponents know his worth and when the build-up play is sluggish, it's all too easy to for defenders to keep him out of a game.
In truth, the only time Rogic was able to receive the ball was when the excellent Trent Sainsbury took it upon himself to bypass the midfield and play the Celtic man in from the back. This has to change in the next two games, or the Socceroos will be up against it.
To make this happen, a personnel change or two will probably be required. Massimo Luongo, who has the ability to play both as an attacking midfielder and as a tireless mover in defence, seems tailor-made for the coming fixtures — probably at the expense of captain Jedinak.
Luongo's movement and ability to take the ball on in more advanced positions than Mooy and Jedinak — who both prefer to take up fairly deep positions to receive the ball — can draw defenders away from Rogic, and create the space he needs to work his unique magic.
Another option is Jackson Irvine, who is more offensively inclined even than Luongo, but has the energy to play a similar role. It seems highly unlikely van Marwijk would leave Mooy out, nor should he after an excellent all-round game against France, so it's likely to be a one-or-the-other situation and Luongo would probably win out.
The other problem that Australia will face, especially if they do find themselves with more possession in the next two games, is defending the transition. The manager wants full-backs Risdon and Aziz Behich to get forward whenever possible, but that leaves spaces to exploit, and at times France came dangerously close to doing just that.
Out of position full-backs are fodder for Christian Eriksen, Pione Sisto, Christian Cueva and Jefferson Farfan. Australia will need to ensure it finds the balance of committing numbers to the attack without being quite so open the other way and playing into its opponents' hands.
The mobility of Luongo or Irvine would help in this element too, or Australia can just hope Sainsbury and Mark Milligan play as well as they did against France for the rest of the tournament.
But these are pretty manageable tweaks to make to a team that quite clearly has the organisational and mental attributes required to clinch the second spot in Group C.
The Socceroos' mentality has to now shift for the next two games — no longer is Australia an unknown quantity, and no longer is its opposition to be feared. It's time to be bold, to take the game to Denmark and Peru and believe this team has the tools to make a mark at the World Cup.
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