Socceroo coach Ange Postecoglou praised his team’s professionalism after they steamrolled Bangladesh 5-0 in their FIFA World Cup Russia 2018™ Qualifier on Thursday night in Perth.
Speaking after the win, Postecoglou noted it can be difficult to play sides that defend and try to interrupt the flow of a team.
Five-star Socceroos overwhelm Bangladesh
“For the most part the boys kept their discipline but sometimes it’s difficult when the opposition is just sitting back and obviously there were a lot of stoppages,” he told Fox Sports.
“But the pleasing thing is they didn’t get too frustrated and we got some good goals and probably should’ve got a couple more, but for all intents and purposes it was a good hitout for us.”
Postecoglou explained he wanted the Socceroos to win playing their way, and not try for cheap goals or use their physical dominance over the lowly Bangladesh side.
“We actually wanted to use our football to overcome them [Bangladesh] and for the most part we stuck to the task.”
And the new combination of Tom Rogic and Aaron Mooy worked well with the two a constant threat just in behind the frontline along with Massimo Luongo.
“Considering that’s the first time they’ve [Rogic and Mooy] have played together. And I think the starting XI we had three guys who’d played over 20 games so it was a pretty inexperienced group,” he said.
The Socceroos leave for Tajikistan on Friday and Postecoglou said that after the Kyrgyzstan game in the opening qualifier in Bishkek, there wouldn't be any complacency in the squad when they meet the 158th ranked nation on Tuesday.
He added: "We've got a long flight tomorrow and literally have one training session and after the first game now understand how difficult it is and I think mentally they're prepared for it."