Socceroos ready for ‘tough’ test in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Australia’s players are ready to face the challenge of a packed Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in their FIFA World Cup qualifier against Indonesia on Tuesday, confident the hostile environment can help them recover from a shock 1-0 loss to Bahrain.

In the opening match of the third round of Asian qualifying on Thursday, the Socceroos suffered only their second defeat in a live home World Cup qualifying match since 1981. Before Harry Souttar’s unfortunate own goal in the 89th minute, they were unable to convert their comfortable dominance of possession into real goalscoring opportunities.

“As a group and among ourselves, we can say whatever we want tactically and style-wise, but when we look at ourselves in the mirror, we’re all below average,” Souttar told ESPN. “We can all do better and we can all improve.”

“The special thing about this group is that we have always reacted when we have perhaps shown a poor performance. Since I have been here, we have always reacted well.”

Indonesia, on the other hand, goes into Tuesday on a high note, not only because it has reached this qualifying round for the first time, but also because it achieved a surprise 1-1 draw against Asian leaders Saudi Arabia in Jeddah.

“It’s going to be a really tough game,” Socceroo midfielder Aiden O’Neill told ESPN. “We knew that before the result against Saudi Arabia. It’s going to be a really tough game and we’ll have to be there from the start to get what we want out of it.”

“We have so much character in this squad and I think it’s a great game for us to show everyone and Australia what this team is made of.”

The Socceroos and Indonesia last met in the round of 16 of the AFC Asian Cup in January – the first time Tim Garuda had advanced to the knockout rounds, where the Australians defeated their stubborn opponents 4-0 with two late goals.

However, under the leadership of Shin Tae-Yong, Indonesia have further strengthened their forces in 2024 and Souttar – who scored Australia’s fourth goal in that meeting in January – is under no illusions that a tougher test is likely to await him on Tuesday.

“We said as a group that it will be very different from the Asian Cup,” he noted. “The Asian Cup game was a bit strange because we scored two late goals. Although we dominated the game, [the score] was probably not an accurate reflection. The late goals gave the whole thing that little extra something for us.

“They will be a very tough opponent. We know they are very good with the ball at their feet. They have brought in some more experienced players from overseas and with the home advantage and the atmosphere they will create, we will have to be highly focused.”

“[Tuesday is] it gets loud, it gets noisy [but the feeling is] one of excitement. You want to play in front of big crowds, full houses and a great atmosphere.

“That might make it a little bit more difficult, but it feels like we’re going to a place where it’s not just 11 guys, it’s all the guys on the bench and the whole team behind us, the whole staff, against 80,000. It’s an ‘us against the world’ mentality. [and] There is no better feeling than leaving home and getting a result.”

Indeed, it is a truism in Australian football that its teams perform better when they display a fighting spirit, and one player who will not be intimidated by Tuesday’s combativeness is defender Alessandro Circati.

The 20-year-old was not part of the Australian squad that took part in the Asian Cup, but stayed with his club Parma, who successfully sought promotion to Serie A. However, he was in the starting eleven and played 90 minutes for I Gialloblu in front of 51,520 partisan Napoli fans at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in his last game before this international period.

“This is my favorite kind of football,” he told ESPN. “[It] gives me more energy and increases my desire to win.”