Furious Osieck could ring changes
Australia coach Holger Osieck has hinted at changes in his personnel after Tuesday's 2-1 defeat to Jordan in the Asian World Cup qualifiers.
By ESPNSTAR.com staff
The defeat in Amman means the Socceroos have picked up just two points from their opening three matches, and leaves them with plenty to do if they are to book their spot at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Despite being 62 places below their opponents in the FIFA rankings, Jordan raced to a 2-0 lead thanks to second-half strikes from Hassan Abdel Fattah and Amer Deeb, before Australia pulled one back late on through Archie Thompson.
After admitting he was very disappointed with the display from his charges, Osieck conceded he might be introducing a number of new faces for their next qualifier against Iraq in October.
"The disappointment is enormous," he said, according to The Age. "We had a very, very poor first half, we didn't get into the game.
"Our passing was a disaster, we never could get into our normal rhythm. We played a lot of long balls and I don't know why that happened.
"That was not enough movement in midfield. It was definitely a very poor showing in the first half.
"In the second half we tried very hard. We could have scored, but when we can't capitalise then you can't blame anybody else but us.
"I already have my plans [for the next qualifier]."
Socceroos captain Lucas Neill conceded everyone's spot in the team would no be under pressure, and insists they cannot afford another repeat of Tuesday's performance.
"Ultimately the job is to get the points to go to Brazil and he [Osieck] has to pick a team he feels will get the maximum points now," the Al Wasl defender said.
"We've got to keep believing and stay positive. There's plenty of points to play for, but if we perform like we did tonight [Tuesday] it's going to be difficult."
Australia qualified for the last two World Cups in Germany and South Africa in 2006 and 2010 respectively.