While it should make the task of selling tickets a bit easier ahead of Tuesday night, the bad news for the Socceroos is that they are now just one game away from potentially missing the World Cup.

There has got be an easier way.

These days watching the Socceroos is at times like pulling teeth, or perhaps asking Aaron Mooy to provide some post-match comments.

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You know it needs to be done, but the whole thing is painful nevertheless.

For 63 minutes Australia dominated the scrappy, niggly, time-wasting Syrians in the atmosphere-destroying neutral confines of Hang Jebat Stadium.

Then Josh Risdon went off – “out of gas” according to Ange Postecoglou – and Firas Al-Khatib came on for Syria, and suddenly the complexion of the game changed completely.

Where it looked earlier like the Socceroos couldn’t possibly fail to score a second goal – paging Tomi Juric – suddenly Syria seemed a shoe-in for an equaliser.

And then, surprise surprise, they were awarded the softest of penalties for Mat Leckie’s innocuous-looking challenge on Omar Al Somah.

There were no doubts about Al Somah’s finish – no goalkeeper in the world would have saved that spot-kick – but controversy raged after the Syrians were awarded such a soft penalty in the first place.



“It’s never a pen but you expect that with the referees in this confederation,” Robbie Kruse told Fox Sports after the game – and he surely risks sanction from the Asian Football Confederation for speaking so candidly.

But as frustrating as the penalty decision was, perhaps Leckie shouldn’t have had his arm up in the first place?

The decision sucked the life out of a Socceroos side that was just six minutes from victory, and in the end they were arguably lucky to come away with the tie locked at 1-1.

Postecoglou’s decision to pick Aziz Behich and Risdon in the wide positions in a 3-2-4-1 formation looked a masterstroke, particularly as the pair belatedly afforded Leckie and Kruse some defensive protection.

Matt Jurman turned in a solid performance on debut, while Milos Degenek also chimed in with a vital goal-saving tackle – not to mention the pass that set up Australia’s goal.

And after months of watching Leckie and Kruse struggle to combine attacking play with more defensive duties, we finally got to see what the German-based pair are capable of further up the pitch.

But is it all too little, too late? As reader Dennis Koutoulogenis pointed out to me on Twitter, had Postecoglou picked the same starting eleven earlier in the campaign, the Socceroos might already have booked their flights to Russia.



As it stands, there’s now a nerve-wracking 90 minutes to negotiate in Sydney – and potentially longer – for the right to contest the inter-confederation playoff.

At the very least both the players and Postecoglou seemed reasonably upbeat following the 1-1 draw, and there’s a confidence among the camp that they’ll be able to get the job done at Stadium Australia.

No doubt the FFA is eager to maximise ticket sales, but it’ll be interesting to see just how many supporters turn up at Homebush when the more intimate Sydney Football Stadium might have been the smarter option.

There’s no denying FFA needs the Socceroos to reach the World Cup – as much for the financial rewards as the obvious boost it will give to the game in this country.

But with Al-Khatib surely set to play a greater role than his brief cameo in Malacca, Tuesday night’s decider is anything but a fait accompli.

We were hoping for high-stakes football when we joined the AFC, but I don’t think any Socceroos fans would have willingly signed up for this.

It’s been a torturous campaign to date. And unless the Socceroos can pull something out of the fire on Tuesday night, it might all be about to come to a shuddering halt.

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