‘Extremely poor’: Socceroos flop as preferable World Cup draw dream fades

Socceroos coach Tony Popovic conceded his team needed to be “better” after suffering a second successive defeat on the road to next year’s FIFA World Cup with a 1-0 loss to Venezuela in Houston on Saturday.

After going 11 games unbeaten under Popovic, the Australians stumbled with a 2-1 loss to the USA last month.

They had been expected to bounce back against a Venezuelan outfit ranked 25 places lower in the world standings and a nation that failed to qualify for the World Cup.

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And with hopes of a more favourable World Cup draw on the line, the Socceroos fell disappointingly.

Australia entered seeded 26th on the projected FIFA rankings with 1584 points, but they need to climb into the top 24 to qualify for the Pot 2 category, which would give Tony Popovic’s men an easier draw for next year’s World Cup campaign in Northern America.

However, in arguably their most disappointing performance of Popovic’s reign, the Socceroos were too often second-best, with Venezuela in control for most of the match.

“There’s a lot we have to assess, but in the end, we’re disappointed we lost the game,” Popovic said

“We were probably a little bit too open. Venezuela, technically, were very good, and were able to get into our box, and obviously scored a goal, but it was a little bit too easy on our part.

“We know we have to be better, but that’s part of what we’re doing here and part of the process.”

A highlight for the Socceroos was the performance of debutant goalkeeper Patrick Beach, the 22-year-old Melbourne City gloveman who was given the nod ahead of Mat Ryan and Paul Izzo.

Beach made fine saves in both halves to show he has the necessary class required at international level.

The young keeper was one of four players given their Socceroos debut by Popovic, with Melbourne City defender Kai Trewin, and Sydney FC pair Paul Okon-Engstler and Al-Hassan Toure also making their maiden appearances for the senior national team.

The uninspiring display that was labelled “extremely poor” by an A-League great.

“The lack of chemistry isn’t an excuse ... I just think we were extremely poor tonight, never really looked like doing too much,” Sydney FC great Alex Brosque said on Paramount+ in the aftermath.

“No real cohesion there, not a lot of opportunities, and probably the first time under Popa’s reign that we’ve seen that, and not good given how close we are to a World Cup.”

Trewin and Okon-Engstler joined Beach in the starting side, while Toure came on as a substitute in the 78th minute.

By that time Toure’s younger brother Mohamed had already been substituted, preventing the brothers from being on the park at the same time.

Mohamed Toure had a chance to give the Socceroos the lead in the fourth minute but his shot was saved by Venezuela goalkeeper Jose Contreras.

Beach showed his worth with a superb save in the 17th minute to deny attacker Jesus Ramirez, whose powerful header was turned over the crossbar by the Melbourne City custodian.

However, Beach could do little to prevent Ramirez giving the South Americans the lead in the 38th minute.

The move started with a ball from midfielder Daniel Pereira that exposed the defensive deficiencies of Craig Goodwin, who was used in left-wing back role in the absence of injured star Jordan Bos.

Pereira’s pass found Ender Echenique, who had been left totally unmarked by Goodwin,

Echenique made the most of his space, advancing into Australia’s penalty area before laying the ball into the path of Ramirez, who made no mistake from close range.

“Really, it’s a soft goal for us to give away, but maybe the contribution to that was having a debutant at left centre-back (Trewin), (and) Craig Goodwin at left wing-back,” Popovic said.

“There are a lot of learnings for us, and we move on.”

The Socceroos suffered a further blow just before half-time when defender Jason Geria was forced off with a hamstring injury.

Beach was again called into action early in the second-half to deny Ramirez, who again came up with a fine header that brought the best out of the Socceroos keeper.

Experienced midfielder Jackson Irvine made his return from injury as a second-half substitute, however the change failed to have an impact on the contest, with the Socceroos needing an improved performance to have any chance of beating Colombia in New York on Wednesday (AEDT).

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