THE last Saturday in June could be England’s moment of strewth. Down Under, they have it already mapped out. Australia might have been drawn in one of the toughest World Cup groups but that has not stopped them thinking ahead to the second round. The plan is simple: qualify ahead of Serbia and Ghana as runners-up to Germany in Group D, then embarrass the Poms in Rustenburg on June 26 in the first knockout round.
If England win Group C, they would meet Group D’s second-placed team.
“I’ve heard from my players that they would have preferred to have England in their group and I can understand that because most of them have English backgrounds or play in England, but to have the advantage of playing England will probably be the extra 1% that they need to go to the second round,” said Pim Verbeek, the Dutch coach in charge of the Socceroos.
“That possibility will increase the excitement about the World Cup among the fans in the country and the players know they will have to be at their best to go to the next round. That’s target No 1. That’s the bonus — to play England in the round of 16. For the players that would be fantastic. But let’s first focus on our difficult group.”
A significant percentage of Verbeek’s squad play for English clubs including Tim Cahill, Mark Schwarzer, Brett Emerton, Vince Grella and their captain, Lucas Neill. The Socceroos’ 3-1 victory over England at Upton Park in 2003 — the game in which Wayne Rooney made his international debut — was received with considerable glee even by Australians with little interest in football and Neill & Co realise that defeating England at the World Cup finals would enshrine them in their country’s sporting history.
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Australia, who face Germany in their opening match, reached the finals via the Asia qualifying section where they impressed by eliminating China in the first group phase and finishing five points clear of Japan in the second.
Verbeek, assistant to Guus Hiddink in 2006, is of a similarly positive mindset to his predecessor. “We did very well in our group in difficult circumstances. Australian players work very, very hard. They have no ego. They don’t think they are big stars. They just play as a team, work very hard for each other and they are very happy when they are all together,” he said. “We are a very difficult team to beat. In qualifying we only conceded one goal and it was from a corner kick so that tells you something about how we defend and the way we can play.”
The Australians lost to West Germany at the 1974 finals but pushed post-unification Germany very close in the 2005 Confederations Cup, losing 4-3 in a group game, and have beaten Ghana in four out of seven meetings since 1995, losing to the Black Stars just once. Verbeek has set a target of doing better than in 2006, where Australia went out in the second round to Italy. To achieve Verbeek’s aim, it is likely that the Socceroos would have to do what their cricketers could not this summer, and see off the English.
“We have a difficult group and that would be seen negatively by some teams but the way the Australians are, the better the opponent the better they prepare themselves,” said Verbeek. “They don’t see any problems in playing big teams. In qualification, Japan away and China away, were games with difficult circumstances but they enjoyed those games [drawing both 0-0] and that’s how they would look at it playing England.”