Qantas Socceroos captain Lucas Neill admitted his side were bitterly disappointed with their performance in the 2-1 World Cup qualifier loss to Jordan in Amman.
Qantas Socceroos captain Lucas Neill admitted his side were bitterly disappointed with their performance in the 2-1 World Cup qualifier loss to Jordan in Amman.
The Qantas Socceroos created few clear-cut goalscoring chances on the night, and were often beaten to the 50-50 and second balls by a hungry and physical Jordan side, who worked extremely hard to deny Australia any time or space on the ball.
“No one-s really happy,” Neill told Fox Sports after the game.
“We got beaten, we got what we deserved. We created chances but it was a different team to the one that played the other night against Lebanon.
"Testing conditions, different pitch but we didn-t knock the ball around enough on the first half and we got punished.”
The captain also admitted that he wouldn-t be surprised if Holger Osieck made a number of changes to the team for the crucial qualifier against Iraq in October, but said there were still opportunities for the Qantas Socceroos to claim second place in Group B, behind leaders Japan.
“Ultimately the job is to get the points to get to Brazil, and [Osieck] has to pick a team that he feels will get maximum results.
“We can-t afford many slip-ups now, maybe a draw or two, but we can-t afford to lose many more points. We-ve got to pick the team to do the job in each game and hope that-s enough.
“We-ve got to stay positive and keep believing. There are plenty of points to play for.
“If we perform like we did tonight it-s going to be different but we-ve got some good home games coming up, one more away game, we-ve just got to get ourselves back in the group and make sure finish second.”
The Qantas Socceroos resume their FIFA World Cup qualification campaign away to Iraq on October 16.
The Qantas Socceroos return to Australia in 2013, for the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Oman at Sydney-s Stadium Australia at 7.30pm, Tuesday, 26 March, followed by Iraq, at 7.30pm on Tuesday, 18 June.
Tickets for both matches at Stadium Australia are on sale now through Ticketek or via phone, 132 849.