Robbie Kruse has issued a warning that another performance like the one against Oman could see the Qantas Socceroos embarrassed by Japan.
Robbie Kruse has issued a warning that another performance like the one against Oman could see the Qantas Socceroos embarrassed by Japan.
The Bundesliga striker who was one of the Socceroos- best against Oman, right up until his substitution, said the Socceroos needed to improve markedly or face humiliation at the hands of the Blue Samurai in their next FIFA World Cup qualifier.
“You look at the quality of tonight, if we do that against Japan we will lose 4 or 5-0,” Kruse said.
“We can lift like we did the first time against them, but if we go there and play again like we did tonight, we might be on the back-end of a bad scoreline.
“Tonight was disappointing, that was a massive chance for us to put ourselves in a great position and we didn-t.”
What the Socceroos did do was turn on a much-improved performance in the second half, coming back from 2-0 down to level the match at 2-2 and eke out a point against their opponents, Kruse hinting a deserved half-time spray from coach Holger Osieck was the catalyst.
“We all knew it wasn-t good enough, we came in to the sheds regroup, and the boss wasn-t too happy; which is to be expected, it-s disappointing but you have got to try and look at the positives.”
The positives for the Socceroos were few and far between, but one of the major ones was the ability to fight back from a 2-0 deficit, Kruse believing the comeback was full of grit.
“We showed plenty of good fighting Australian spirit but it-s not good enough to be in that position in the first place, it was sloppy in the first half and they pounced on a mistake for a goal there and even when it was 0-0 they sit all 11 men behind the ball and it makes it that much harder.”