Socceroos great Robbie Slater says this Socceroos team echoes the heroes of the past with their fighting spirit, but says they’ll need even more fight to get past Denmark.
This Socceroos team has found something I feel had been lost for some time – the great Australian fighting spirit.
For over a decade we’ve been telling our kids growing up that the fighting spirit will get you nowhere, it doesn’t win games and that the Australian mentality can’t compete with talent on the football field.
But the culture of all great Australian sports teams is built upon the spirit of never giving up, an attitude to fight on against all odds and always be there to help a mate in need.
This Australian team might not be as talented as the Golden Generation Harry Kewell compared them too, but they’re the first Socceroos team to fight like the 2006 stars.
That Golden Generation team had the fighting spirit because they were brought up on it. A mentality that could take your performance to a higher level.
Harry’s encouraging words will lift the players, but we must be careful in respect to how we are comparing eras and calling this generation a golden team. They’re not there yet.
My concern is that we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. It’s almost like we’re talking ourselves into being favorites for this game. No, keep yourself the underdog.
I know Arnie would be telling the team to ignore the hype, but with social media the players would be seeing it all and they’re only human, it’s hard to escape.
Reality is Denmark is clearly a better team than us. They’re top 10 in the world for a reason.
But anything can happen, they have to win, the pressure is on them.
This is the first time in 12 years where we’ve been in a position going into the last group game to progress. It’s a big moment for us.
No matter what happens, even if we don’t progress and Denmark wins, we must not look back and see that as a failure because of how far we have come.
TURNING POINT
It was only eight months ago that everyone wanted Graham Arnold sacked because we lost qualifiers to Japan and Saudi Arabia.
It took the FA five or six days to decide to stick with him.
That proved to be the absolutely right decision because of our performances since, we pulled off the miracle of qualifying and then a win against Tunisia.
Japan and Saudi Arabia have beaten Germany and Argentina at this World Cup, so it puts our defeats in perspective.
But since our losses Arnie has built a culture within this group, a real bubble universe of us against the world.
It’s a tactic he used coaching to succeed in the A-League and I think he has brought that to the Socceroos. That belief can go a long way.
THE GREAT DANES
Denmark must win, nothing else is good enough for them.
Christian Eriksen is a world class player and the key to them. He scored against us four years ago in a 1-all draw, so we know he is a real threat.
Their wingers are very, very classy and you just look across their team, it’s world class players all over. They’re a very well-oiled and structured team, but they’re sitting on one point and probably thinking ‘how did that happen’.
I don’t think they’re a team that doubts themselves, but you can’t take away the fact that they must win. So the pressure is on them, not us.
We have to be in their faces. That is our strength. That is what we did so well from the start against Tunisia. Take away their time, don’t let their midfielders settle on the ball.
When we have the ball, we have to go out and play. Don’t hesitate.
We can’t think about playing for a draw, we need to think that Tunisia can beat France, so we must win too.
We know Denmark will throw absolutely everything they’ve got at us for the entire 90 minutes.
It’s going to take every ounce of fight we have left in us to get the job done. But this is a team of fighters and they’ll give it everything they’ve got.
Originally published as Socceroos must channel underdog spirit to get past Denmark
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