Mat Ryan believes the Caltex Socceroos’ strong finish against Germany gives the side momentum heading into Friday’s (AEST) clash with Cameroon in Saint Petersburg.
Australia overcame a slow start before pushing the World Champions in the second half of their 3-2 defeat in their opening Confederations Cup clash in Sochi.
Preview: Caltex Socceroos v Cameroon
Caltex Socceroos v Cameroon: data analysis
ROOS’ APPROACH TO MUST-WIN MATCH
“We finished that match with a lot of momentum,” Ryan told FFA TV.
“We were all eager to fix [a few] structural things and look at the Cameroon guys and implement a plan that's going to beat them.
“We'll be looking to do that from the first second of the match up until the last and we're confident if we can do that, we can get the result we need.
“If we stick to our principles and our fundamentals that we base ourselves on and that give us our identity, we're fully confident we can get something from these two games,” he said.
AUSSIES AWARE OF AFRICAN THREAT
Cameroon will present a vastly different challenge to Germany.
The African champions are also desperate after a 2-0 loss to Chile in their first game.
“African teams are very flamboyant in the way they play,” said Ryan.
“As individuals they're big, strong and fast.
“We saw that against Chile and we're going to have our work cut out for us.
“With our game plan, with every opposition we face, we don't like to change too much so our fundamentals stay [the same] - keeping the ball and starving the opposition of possession.
“[We like] playing our attacking brand of football, playing between the lines and hopefully creating lots of chances.
“We'll be out to do that.
“It's going to be a difficult challenge, like any game, but if we can go in and get into our flow and rhythm of game play, I'm confident we can get the result.
“It's do or die now - we've really got to get these three points,” he declared.