Verbeek delighted with players
Qantas Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek was delighted with how his players performed in the 2-0 win over Bahrain that kept Australia in the box seat to win Group A.
Qantas Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek was delighted with how his players performed in the 2-0 win over Bahrain that kept Australia in the box seat to win Group A.
Verbeek was forced to start with only three players from the 0-0 draw with Qatar last Sunday morning, but the fringe players came in and performed very well on a cold, winter-s night in Sydney.
Second half goals from Mile Sterjovski and David Carney, who ironically both struggled for game time with their Championship sides in England last season, sealed the hard fought, but ultimately deserved win.
“Definitely,” he said when asked if he was happy with the performance.
“If you see the amount of new players we had to bring into the team today; if you consider the jet lag from the long trip back from Qatar; we know we have qualified already and so mentally we needed to get back on the right track to perform at our best.
“The only thing I can only say we didn-t score more goals. We created enough chances; we had good chances, but were not sharp with the final passes.
“But I think everybody can understand that with what has happened in the last 3-4 days.
“We win again; we score two goals and we don-t concede any, so I don-t think we do that bad.
“I can only be please with my players.”
While many had doubts that so many changes could come back to haunt Verbeek again like it did against China last year, Verbeek himself had no doubts about those players that came in.
“I was 100% sure that these players could do a job, because most of them had already played and performed in the National Team.
“It-s fantastic to have players like Mile Sterjovski, David Carney, Jade North, Mark Milligan, Scott McDonald etc, players who are normally not starting and they do well. They are all very hungry; it-s good.
“They really showed themselves; all of them. That makes it easier for me going forward, because the more players we have available, the better it is for me, for the Socceroos and Australian football.
“The squad is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and they are very committed to be part of us; it-s good and I am very pleased with the selection I have at the moment.”
Next Wednesday-s match against Japan is likely to see numerous changes once again though, with Verbeek not wanting to risk anybody who is already on an existing yellow card. If a player picks up their second yellow card of the qualifying series against Japan, then that suspension will carry over to the World Cup finals, which is something that Verbeek and the players want to avoid at all costs.
However he did reveal that Lucas Neill (suspension), Tim Cahill and Josh Kennedy (both soreness), plus Vince Grella are all likely to be fit and ready for next Wednesday nights game against Japan in Melbourne.