Hard work still to be done warns Verbeek

Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek knows he still has a lot of work ahead of him if they are to get through to the 2010 World Cup finals, after gaining passage to the next round of qualifiers following the 3-1 win over Qatar in Doha on Saturday.

Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek knows he still has a lot of work ahead of him if they are to get through to the 2010 World Cup finals, after gaining passage to the next round of qualifiers following the 3-1 win over Qatar in Doha on Saturday.

While pleased with the result and the performance in general there were aspects of the game against Qatar that did not please him, with Qatar dominating some large proportions of the match.

Australia had the better of the opening exchanges, which included a goal to Brett Emerton in the 18th minute, plus another near miss minutes later. But from there it was all Qatar, as Sebastian Quintana and Fabio Cesar Montesin kept Australia-s defence on the back foot and forced Schwarzer into several great saves.

“I don-t why that is,” he said, when asked why the team couldn-t dominate after taking the lead. “We played so well in the first 20-25 minutes that you should expect if the score is 1-0 that you keep on going.

“Okay they had to do something, so there was more space coming for us and we didn-t use the space at that time. Okay that is something we have to work on for the next 8-9 games, because we still play China.

“It-s not a worry; it-s now June and the next games (qualifiers) are in September, so we have time enough, but that cannot happen again, because this time we were not punished. Next time we will likely have a better opponent and if you do things like that against Japan and Korea, then you are in a problem.”

Verbeek-s record since taking over from Graham Arnold last year has been impressive and asked whether he believed the team had improved since he took over, he was quite circumspect.

“I think the biggest advantage is we know is that we have Timmy Cahill, (Mark) Viduka, Josh Kennedy, Lucas Neill; today Vinnie Grella; they were not here and they are probably available for the next round, so that makes it good.

“Second, I was very pleased with my young players in this training camp. It was not the right time to play them, because these games were too important. It was a great experience for the Olympics, so overall I think we can be pleased with the selection.”

With at least three players set to miss the match through suspension, Verbeek is likely to give some of the younger and fringe players game time against China.

“That-s the way Jade North came into the team also, with the game in Singapore and he played very well over there together with Michael Beauchamp. Probably I will give players who deserve it the possibility to play, but second I still think we have to win that game also, because you want to do that for the fans and they deserve a good game.

“They have shown great support, so we want to finish it very good in the Sydney game.”