Belief grows in Socceroos after seeing off China and the record crowd at their backs
After defeating China 2-0 in front of a raucous home crowd to take another step towards the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a sense of belief and a hunger for more is growing vivaciously within the Socceroos
HANGZHOU, China -- The Socceroos were never quite able to silence the record 70,588 fans that packed into the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium on Tuesday evening but in taking out a crucial 2-0 FIFA World Cup qualification win over Team Dragon, they were able to keep their heads and spoil the party a little bit, something that defender Miloš Degenek admits is like chocolate ice cream and which has left Ryan Teague hungry for more.
Coming off a 5-1 win over Indonesia in Sydney the week prior, Australia made it back-to-back wins for the first time in the Tony Popovic era in Hangzhou on Tuesday. After a high-energy start, goals from Jackson Irvine and Nishan Velupillay gave them a two-goal buffer inside the opening 30 minutes, setting the stage for a disciplined and mostly straightforward second-half rearguard action against a desperate China.
Ranked 64 places above the Chinese in the FIFA world rankings and seeking to qualify for a sixth-straight World Cup, Tuesday's game was the kind that Australia, not unfairly, should be expecting to win if they are to be considered one of Asia's strongest sides. And while Saudi Arabia's surprise draw with Japan earlier in the evening prevented them from opening greater than a one-game lead for Group C's second automatic qualification slot, they remain well-placed to punch their tickets to North America in June.
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Still, making the long trip to China and then getting a result in front of a loud, partisan home crowd is easier said than done, regardless of the perceived differences in resumes between the two sides. It was just a few years ago that China held the Socceroos to a 1-1 draw, dealing a mortal blow to their hopes of qualifying automatically for Qatar 2022. And that game was played at a neutral-site in Sharjah due to COVID restrictions still in place in China, meaning there hadn't even been a crowd to contend with.
"You play football for these moments, where you come to a stadium where there's 70k people and they all support the team you're playing against," said Degenek. "Once you score the first and the second, it just kind of gets a little bit quieter. But that's the point of football. That's what we live for. That's not pressure, that's joy, that's the beauty of football, that tonight was beautiful. I enjoyed every moment. I love being out there. And for me, it was just really fun. Honestly, I just enjoyed it like a little kid enjoys chocolate ice creams and things like that."
Given the nod to start in his first-ever Socceroos appearance, Teague put in a performance in the midfield that more resembled something of a 50-cap veteran than a fresh-faced rookie against the Chinese, who just a few months ago had reached out about possibly luring him to play for them -- Teague's grandfather's having been born on the Hainan Islands.
"I'm with a group of players, in an environment I feel very comfortable in," Teague told JDLM. "It allowed me to play at my level and feel relaxed out there. I've always got this belief in myself.
"It was like an army of [fans], all chanting. This is the level you want to be at. This gave me a taste of international football and this is where I want to be.
"[There was no] anxiety, I don't even look at it like that. I look at it like I've got a job to do, and my job is to win. I hate losing, so I just want to win."
A teammate of Teague at Melbourne Victory – the duo benefitting from a prior relationship with Popovic that has enabled them to play roles he needs filled in his Socceroo side – Velupillay wasn’t shocked in the slightest that Teague had shone on the international stage.
“He's a close mate of mine, we hang out a lot at Melbourne Victory and I've got full belief in him,” he told JDLM. “He's made for games like this. I thought he was excellent tonight, the crowd and everything like that doesn't affect him, he just plays his game. It was a joy playing with him.”
Currently sitting on 13 points in Group C, three points clear of second-placed Saudi Arabia, the Socceroos will host Japan in the first game of the June window before travelling to face the Green Falcons. And their World Cup destiny remains well-and-truly in their hands.
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Indeed, given the healthy goal difference between the two sides – Australia currently possesses a +9 figure, while the goalshy Saudis are on -2 – the gap in points between is closer to three and half in reality; the Socceroos almost certainly able to guarantee themselves a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup regardless of what happens against Japan if they’re simply able to hold Herve Renard’s side to a point in what will likely be Riyadh.
Unlikely as it may feel given their at times imperious form in qualifying, a win against Japan would also all-but do the job for Popovic’s side. So, too, would Bahrain defeating the Saudis in their meeting in Riffa in the first game of the window – the Pearl Divers having beaten their Arabian rivals in both the Gulf Cup and World Cup qualifying in recent months and needing points to overhaul Indonesia and keep their qualifying campaign alive.
Regardless of what kind of permutations the window throws up, though, the Socceroos believe they’re improving every time they come into camp under Popovic. And while those of us outside the four walls will spend our time plotting out the ramifications of draws, narrow defeats, and all other kinds of results, wins will be the only thing countenced within the camp.
“I think the team is getting better and better step by step,” Degenek said. “As the boss said, maybe we don't see it immediately, but I think we are getting better and I think the team's only going to get better and better.
“In every window there's a few new players, sometimes there's new staff. But so far, it's been, as the boss says, it's been elite. It's been very positive, very good. The boys have been very productive on and off the field, and I think we've gotten a lot better over the last 10 days in and of itself.”
“There's plenty more to come,” defender Lewis Miller added. “Especially as [Popovic] said multiple times in the change room, this is just a start for us boys.
“We've had three camps now and we've only got better and better so I'm keen for the future.”
Header Image Credit: Football Australia/Socceroos