Souttar seeing Socceroo growth ahead of Syria test

Ahead of another challenging Asian Cup assignment against Syria, Harry Souttar is confident the Socceroos will see improvements from set pieces and in their attempts to break down a stubborn defence.

After butting up against a stubborn India in their opening Asian Cup fixture, Australia defender Harry Souttar is confident that the Socceroos will improve their set pieces and ability to break down embedded defences in coming games.

Souttar had precious little to do at the back across his side’s 2-0 win over the Blue Tigers last Saturday, with India only able to move the ball into Australia's defensive third, per Opta, 23 times and hitting on less than a third of their passes when they did so. 

Instead, the 25-year-old effectively spent just as much time in the Indian penalty area as he did his own, moving forward to contest an astounding 14 corners, as well as a first-half free kick. 

He had probably the best attempt from these with a 59th-minute header but for the most part, Australia’s normally dangerous presence on set pieces was absent: multiple deliveries failing to beat the first defender or sent in directions that couldn't easily be turned goalward and the Indians defending doggedly. 

“I think we've had more corners in that game than I've had in the rest of my games combined,” said Souttar. “I think their goalie [Gurpreet Singh Sandhu] was a big presence in that as well. He's come out and taken a few crosses. 

“What I would say about the corners in that game, I think everyone's kind of just got to be better at their role. Yeah, some of the deliveries have got to be better but then again our runs in the middle have got to be better, and our movement has got to be better. 

“We've got to be stronger in the box. As a defender I can say that they defended really well, they put their bodies on the line, put their heads in front of things and made some great clearances. 

“So you can look at it and say, 'yeah, it's got to be better' and yes, we have worked on a few things, of course we have, but you can take the other side of the coin and say sometimes it was really good defending from the Indians.”

Ultimately, Australia didn’t need to score from one of their numerous set-piece opportunities to win, Jackson Irvine scoring in the 50th minute to break the game open before Jordy Bos sealed it off the bench in the 73rd minute. 

But finding a way through the low block deployed by the Indians to find those breakthroughs proved mighty challenging, Australia repeatedly hurling themselves against the defence without much success until the weight of their territory finally paid. 

And things are unlikely to get much easier for the Socceroos when they come up against Syria on Thursday evening. 

The Syrians held a more-favoured Uzbekistan to a 0-0 draw in their opening game of the tournament, restricting them to just 0.5 expected goals, per Opta, off 14 shots – only two of which were on target – despite losing the possession battle 65.5% to 34.5%.

“We know it's always gonna be a tough game,” said Souttar. “I know it's a bit cliche, but there are no easy games in tournament football; everyone's playing for something and they're gonna make it really difficult. 

“But I can already see a difference in the way that we've worked, the patience required to break down teams. We worked a little bit on it in training as well and I could already see the difference between when we first started coming into camp two weeks ago to the training levels yesterday. 

“The improvement has been great and the boys are finding their feet and little angles with each other. Once that clicks I'm sure we'll be fine. 

“We've kind of been in that low block and we've kind of frustrated teams and as long as the game goes on and it's nil-nil, they get more confidence to get a result. 

“But the players that we've got at the top end of the pitch and the quality that we have, we can certainly create a lot of opportunities.”

Image Credit: Aleksandar Jason / Subway Socceroos