Socceroos out to dictate against 'intelligent' Jordan

Nathan Burns is adamant the Caltex Socceroos won’t be derailed by Jordan’s stalling tactics again in Tuesday night’s high stakes FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifier in Sydney.

When the two sides met in Amman in October, the Socceroos were left frustrated by the slow tempo and time-wasting tactics by the hosts after they went in front.

But Burns is confident the Aussies won’t succumb to that approach again, targeting a fast-start to set the rhythm and put Harry Redknapp’s troops on the back-foot from the outset.

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“They [Jordan] are a good team and have some really good individuals. They are very proud and they work hard when they play for the national team,” Burns told FFA TV.

“It got a bit slow in the second half [in Amman]. They were quite intelligent in slowing the game down.

Jordan's Hamza Al Dardour on the ball in October's 2-0 win over the Socceroos.


“We need to not fall into the trap again and hopefully be on top and control the tempo of the match.

“That’s probably the most important part of this whole game.”

If recent history is anything to go by then Ange Postecoglou’s side should have no trouble swatting Jordan aside at Allianz Stadium.

In the three home qualifiers the Socceroos have so far played in the group stage, they have blown the opposition away early and have racked up 15 unanswered goals.

Burns says the Socceroos will again attempt to press and pressure the visitors from the outset but is expecting a much sterner test than against Tajikistan on Thursday.

“It’s probably going to be the hardest match of the round so we’re obviously going to take that into consideration,” said the FC Tokyo attacker, who scored twice against the Tajiks.

Nathan Burns


“We’re aware Jordan’s a good team and they aren’t going to be as open in defence so we’re really going to have to work hard like the other night (against Tajikistan) and try to break them down.

“I know the boys have been looking forward to this game for a few weeks so hopefully we can get a goal early and it changes the whole tempo of the match.”

Meanwhile, keeper Mat Ryan is relishing facing the Jordanians after injury forced him to miss the 2-0 defeat last October.

While expecting to confront more work than he did in Adelaide, the Valencia gloveman is craving another full-throttle performance to fire a warning to their AFC rivals for the next stage of qualifiers starting later this year.

“We’re fully confident with what we have started here and we’ve been progressing along the way [through the qualifiers],” Ryan told FFA TV.

The Caltex Socceroos celebrate Mile Jedinak's first-half penalty against Tajikistan.


“It’s very important that the next stage of qualifying that we’re going into, we can go into full of momentum having completed this phase in the most dominant way.

“Not only with the results, that’s probably the least important thing. The boss wants us doing it with being the most dominant in the performance.

“If we’re doing that right the results will follow. Hopefully we can get a big crowd out there on Tuesday night and get the result.”

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