Ryan hails Caltex Socceroos’ culture after significant win over Jordan

Stand-in skipper Mat Ryan hailed the maturity of the Caltex Socceroos after they recorded an historic win in Jordan in FIFA 2022 World Cup qualifying on Friday morning.

Adam Taggart’s first-half goal was enough to prevail 1-0 in Amman for Australia’s first-ever win away against the Jordanians.

The result maintains the Caltex Socceroos 100% record in qualifying so far and extends their lead at the top of Group B to five points.

Graham Arnold’s side were superb in the first-half and should have had a bigger lead at the break, before producing a solid defensive display in the second-half to ensure victory.

“I’m very proud of the boys for the grit and the grind it took to close out the result,” Ryan told socceroos.com.au post-match.

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“It was a mature performance and it was nice that we ticked another box in being able to get over the line and finish the job off with a clean sheet and a nice win.

“The first-half was pleasing with how we played, the second-half the control probably swayed their way a little more than we wanted to be we managed to grind out the result and it puts us in a strong position now.”

Ryan wore the armband for the second straight qualifier after regular skipper Mark Milligan missed the match through injury.

And the Brighton and Hove Albion gloveman led by example, showing stunning reflexes to deny Yaseen Al Bakhit from close-range on the hour-mark, while his save down low to keep out Hamza Al-Dardoor’s late header was world class.

The shut-out means the Caltex Socceroos have now kept eight clean sheets in Arnold’s 14 games at the helm, conceding just seven goals in that time.

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But Ryan was quick to pass the praise over to his teammates.

“I’m so proud of the defensive four and the midfielders. Everyone really put in a massive shift,” he said.

“The camaraderie was really there. We had wingers tracking back behind the fullbacks when players made overlapping runs, it epitomises the culture we have here in the group.

“We’re all willing to put in for one another to get the result. The way that they scrambled, the way we dealt with the strengths [Jordan] had…there was only one or two saves where I really had to step in.

“It was thoroughly enjoyable to watch the guys do their thing.”

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