Australia recovered from a bad start to their Asian Cup defence to progress from the group stage in second after taking down a resilient Syria 3-2. Going into the knockout stages, where Australia could possibly set for a mouthwatering clash with Japan, what have been the Socceroos’ greatest strengths and weaknesses in their first 3 matches?

What are Australia doing right?

Right flank overloads

Throughout the first two matches, Rhyan Grant and Awer Mabil were a constant thorn into their opposition. This continued against Syria where the Socceroos exploited the right flank with Grant overlapping several times and putting chances on a platter for Jamie Maclaren, but couldn’t get the finishing touch when it was needed.

Especially when Rogic moves himself into the right side of the pitch, there is always a threat to outnumber the defence and piercing the back-line with intelligent runs. It’s proven in the numbers that Australia’s right side is performing well above standards, with 5 key passes from Mabil — the tournament’s highest — and 4 key passes from Grant.

Socceroos manager Graham Arnold has decided to persist with a crossing strategy as well, and it’s paid off with 4 of their 6 goals directly coming from balls out wide. Much of this is thanks to the right side where Grant and Mabil have been working telepathically.

If the Socceroos can also create a greater threat through Behich, who hasn’t been bad but also not at the same heights of the other flank, then the dangers from both ends will be too much to handle for the remaining nations.

Playing risk-averse while ahead

Although the Socceroos conceded right after opening the scoring against Syria, for the most part they have been very solid when playing with a lead. Arnold is reluctant to put too many numbers up front and risk getting caught in the counter to get a greater advantage and prefers to preserve the lead he has.

With so much of the attacking threat for the defending champions coming from their full-backs, it is good to see that when ahead, they don’t push in the same way that they do when chasing a goal. The difference is notable as full-backs, instead of pushing into the final third, support the midfield to pass the ball around and retain possession.

Especially in a tournament structure where a goal can knock you out, the risk-averse style of maintaining the advantage you have is incredibly important. The men in green and gold sucked the life out of their opponents when they were 2-1 up, with the ball being hopelessly launched forward only to be pushed right back to where it started.

If it weren’t for a ridiculous refereeing call, the Socceroos would surely have safely kept their lead as they did against Palestine.

The Mabil and Ikonomidis show

Christopher Ikonomidis and Awer Mabil are running the show, and they are unarguably the Socceroos’ two best players in this tournament. Their composure to pick a pass or find a hole to run into has meant they are constant menace for the opposition.

Ikonomidis has 5 goal contributions (goal & assists), which is the tournament’s equal highest with Qatar’s Almoez Ali, who ruthlessly put away 4 against North Korea earlier in the week.

Ikonomidis also has the highest dribbles in the tournament with 22, which is even more impressing considering he came on as a substitute in the first match. Mabil is not far behind at 19 — emphasising how the flair and trickery is too much for their opposition to handle.

It begs the question of where currently injured Mathew Leckie should return to the starting lineup if he becomes fit. Right now, it would be foolish for Arnold to take out the unstoppable duo and if they continue playing with the same form they might just be able to help Australia in defending their Asian Cup title.

An honourable mention for Tom Rogic as well who bounced back from his poor opening display against Jordan with two strong performances when the team needed him most. His passing was exceptional against Syria especially where he orchestrated the game from a deeper midfield role.

What weaknesses are there to exploit?

If Australia are to meet the Blue Samurai, one of the tournament favourites, they will need to be at their best. There are a few concerns raised from the Syria game that Arnold should look to resolve in the break between their next match.

Milligan must be in midfield

With Trent Sainsbury suspended after 2 yellow cards, it created a selection headache on whether he moves captain Mark Milligan back into defence or retains him in midfield and introduces Matt Jurman. Arnold decided to take the former option, re-introducing Massimo Luongo to partner Jackson Irvine in the centre of midfield.

From early on, you could see that the midfield duo were not up to the physicality of the Syrians, with Omar Al Somah comfortable holding off 2 and sometimes 3 players when in possession.

Although Luongo and Irvine did slowly get themselves into the match after initially being overawed by the physicality, they missed the defensive nous of their captain who would’ve certainly helped in shutting down a lot of the Syrian attacks.

With Sainsbury returning for their next match, this performance showed the Milligan has to play in the midfield or risk being overrun in the most important section of the field.

Is Maclaren clinical enough?

Jamie Maclaren finally scored his first international goal for the Socceroos against Palestine, but his finishing leaves a lot to be desired, especially as heading is not his strongest suit.

Maclaren works best when defences play high up so he has space to run in behind the defence or where he can pull out defenders with his movement off the ball. However, in the Graham Arnold system where crosses are the main form of attack, it might be more valuable to give target man Giannou Apostolos a start.

Maclaren might even work better later in the game where he can make use of a tired defence and use his energy to provide another attacking threat for the Socceroos because right now he does not offer much, more because of the tactical structure of the team than anything himself.

Australia require better build-up play

Syria were the first team so far in this tournament to actively press the Socceroos in their own half and bring the game to them. What we found that Australia were regularly wasting possession, especially in the first half, where a lot of their passes from the back went astray.

The Socceroos in recent years have enjoyed playing a possession based style of play, but they will need to be much more careful when playing out from the back if they want to accomplish anything.

The Socceroos gave the ball back too easily to the Syrians in their own half which on another day could’ve been punished much more decisively, even if they survived this time around.

Although the Socceroos have made it into the knockout rounds, there is still plenty of work to do regardless of whether they meet Uzbekistan or Japan if they want to successfully defend their championship.

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