Captain Ryan pleased with defensive display against Syria
Australia remain in top spot of Group B of the Asian Cup after a 1-0 win over Syria on match day two.
Jackson Irvine scored the all-important goal in the 59th minute to steer Australia to victory while the team managed their sixth clean sheet in a row.
- READ MORE: Arnold wants improvement on the ball but pleased with group progression
- READ MORE: Boyle says Australia had to work hard for the win against Syria
Syria proved a tough opposition as they made life difficult for Australia throughout the match, to which skipper Maty Ryan agreed.
“Football is not easy, you've got two teams out there trying their best to make it difficult for the other and both wanting to win so much and you're not going to get it right every single time,” he said.
“But I think we probed on many occasions, we had quite a few entries into their final third and into the box, and we probably were unlucky not to put one or two more chances away.”
Tweet: https://twitter.com/Socceroos/status/1748144490953539643
He added that despite it being a narrow margin of victory, the clean sheet is a big deal to him and the squad.
“If we're standing here looking at a 3-0, 4-0 score line, everybody's probably thinking it was a lot more convincing. But we got the job done, defensively we were strong, we pride ourselves on that, got the victory and we will move on,” he said.
In the end, the Socceroos were able to come out on top and Ryan believed the experience this squad has against the familiar opponent in Syria helped.
“They're tenacious, they're relentless, they leave it all out there and today was no different,” he said.
“We expected a physical battle, we expected them to be quite direct, and trying to get the balls in the wide areas and then get crosses in the box.”
“Thankfully, we managed to deal with all those scenarios and get the clean sheet and get the win.”
At the start of the tournament, Graham Arnold set the target of lifting the trophy and this win was the second of seven on the way to that target.
“The mission has been to win the tournament, we've got a tremendous amount of belief that we can go and do that,” Ryan said.
“Obviously, there's a process involved in doing that and we ticked another box today.”
Looking ahead, Australia takes on Uzbekistan next in their final Asian Cup group match on Tuesday, 23 January in what will be a battle for the group winner.
Ryan finished by saying the focus within the squad will now switch to that game and the winning mentality remains the same.
“When we go out there to face them, we want to go out there and win, and that's the mentality of the side,” he said.
“We've got a lot to learn from today to better ourselves and we’re focused on that one.”
SUBWAY SOCCEROOS AFC ASIAN CUP QATAR 2023™ FIXTURES (GROUP B):
Australia v Uzbekistan
Tuesday, 23 January 2024
Al Janoub Stadium, Doha
Kick-off: 2:30pm local (10:30pm AEDT)
Broadcast: Network 10 and Paramount+
Every AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 match will be live on Paramount+