GOLD COAST, Australia — Jackson Irvine acknowledged Australia's upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifier against Indonesia has become a “big game” for the Socceroos after a 1-0 loss to Bahrain that captain Mat Ryan simply declared “wasn't good enough.”
After a perfect second round of Asian qualifying in which his team won all six of their matches without conceding, an 89th-minute own goal from Harry Souttar broke that streak and condemned Australia to defeat in the opening match of the third round on Thursday night.
It was only the second time the Socceroos had been beaten at home in a “live” World Cup qualifier since 1981, the other occasion being during the 2022 qualifying cycle when they fell 2-0 to Japan in Sydney; coach Graham Arnold was in charge for both results.
As has become a trend for the team, Australia's men struggled to break down a well-organised, tenacious and crafty defence – they finished the game with 71% of possession but struggled to create any scoring opportunities which had the Bahrainis worried even before striker Kusini Yengi's red card in the 77th minute.
“We didn't do well enough, obviously,” Ryan said. “I felt like we played too naively. I don't think we need to work harder, but work smarter; we didn't ask ourselves the right questions in the right areas.”
“We gave their goalkeeper a fairly quiet night and we didn't test him or their defence enough in the final third. Defensively, the goal we conceded after the red card is not good enough.
“But those things happen if you don't do the other things well enough and you put yourself in that scenario.”
With matches against Japan and Saudi Arabia in future windows, this month's games against Bahrain and Indonesia had been seen in Australia as six important points to accumulate in their efforts to qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup and avoid a fourth qualifying round.
Now, however, anything less than victory on Tuesday night in Jakarta could turn their aim of finishing top two in the group into a mammoth goal after just two of their ten-match fixture.
“I think it's a massive thing,” Irvine said of that game. “The lads, we have to recognise it; it's a massive game… recognise the magnitude of what it could be in the context of these 10 games.”
“[There were a] Some hard truths [delivered in the dressing room post-defeat].
“We need to learn the lessons from this immediately and move forward to Tuesday because it is an incredibly disappointing result in terms of performance and we need to be much better.
“The kind of naivety and understanding of the realities of Asian football… and how games can be managed. How games can slip through your fingers because you don't understand the things that happen here.
“We try to prepare ourselves, especially the younger guys who haven't been a part of this before, how [timewasting and gamesmanship] It can happen. Some of the boys have also learned it very quickly tonight.
“There's a little bit of bad luck, too. We hit some balls into some good areas and things just didn't go our way. On another night, if one of them comes in early, it forces them to get open. And we see those games play out a lot differently.
“We need to find ways to ask more questions of defenses because that's the way you can create your own luck, in the penalty area, in particular: when you can keep asking those questions, then something will happen for you.”
After receiving a straight red card for a high kick on Sayed Baqer, Yengi will miss Tuesday's clash with Indonesia through suspension, with Mitch Duke and Adam Taggart now Arnold's only attacking options.
After missing Wednesday's game through injury, midfielder Keanu Baccus and defender Lewis Miller are both likely to return, with the former considered the most likely to feature.
“You have to accept the good with the bad,” Souttar said after the defeat. “There's no getting around it, it was a disappointing performance. We all looked in the mirror… I don't think anyone played at 100% tonight.”
“But we have a game on Tuesday and we have to put it behind us because it is very important that we get a win there.”
