Midfielder Mark Milligan says the Socceroos intensity was too much for Kyrgyzstan as they suffocated the visitors from the outset in their World Cup qualifier in Canberra on Thursday night, winning 3-0.
Hell-bent on putting the shock 2-0 loss to Jordan last month behind them, the Socceroos were relentless throughout.
Kyrgyzstan were content to sit deep and try and soak up the pressure but it was only going to be a matter of time before the Socceroos wore them down.
Socceroos return to winning ways
“We knew as long as long as we stayed positive and stayed disciplined [we’d be fine],” Milligan told reporters after the game.
“They [Kyrgyzstan] had a hard time getting out of their own half when they did get the ball. They did sit deep but I think a lot of our work was done when they had it [the ball].
“We made it very difficult for them to get out, we won it in good areas and were able to continue to put pressure on them.
“We were confident that as long as we kept that intensity up, it [the goals] would come.”
Returning skipper Mile Jedinak opened the scoring from the penalty spot before the break before Tim Cahill scored his 42nd international goal early in the second half.
An own goal with 20 minutes left completed the rout and pushed the Socceroos to within one point of Jordan at the top of the group.
The side now moves on to Dhaka for Tuesday’s clash with lowly Bangladesh, a side the Aussies beat 5-0 in Perth in September.
“I think it will be a different match to what we played here in Australia. Being at home, I think they will get some confidence from that,” Milligan said.
“Last game in Jordan, it was a real wake-up call for us. Again, we had to get back on track tonight and we’ve reset our standards. We’ll be ready for anything.
"I think when we start with that kind of intensity and have teams on the back foot from the get-go and make it hard for them to get out of their half, it’s sort of hard to recover from that when we maintain that kind of pressure.”