Socceroos v Peru: What Australia must do to beat eliminated South Americans
AS the Socceroos plot how to beat Peru, FIFA has put together a historic contingency plan in the event of a stunning Group C deadlock.
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FIFA have laid plans for a historic televised drawing of lots to decide Australia’s World Cup fate if Group C at the World Cup ends deadlocked.
As the four teams in the group prepare for their final games on Tuesday night (AEST), FIFA has outlined what will happen if two teams can’t be separated by their records at the World Cup.
Though France are definitely through to the Round of 16, Australia and Denmark are fighting to join them - and a certain confluence of results would leave them indistinguishable on the table.
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If the Socceroos beat Peru, and Denmark lose to France, both teams would be tied on four points.
Were Australia to win 1-0, and Denmark to lose 2-1, the two teams’ records would be identical.
In that situation FIFA uses red and yellow cards as an extra divider, with Denmark currently on four yellows to Australia’s three.
If the teams fall equal by that measure too, FIFA officials would put both their names into a bag and draw one out, in a ceremony to be streamed - and likely televised - live from one of the stadium media centres in Moscow.
The only precedent for such a move came at the 1990 World Cup, where Holland and Ireland finished on exactly the same number of points and goals.
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Lots were drawn to decide who finished second and third, with Holland drawn as the latter but going through as one of the best third-placed teams.
“If in line with the regulations, a draw is needed, it would take place shortly after the respective matches in the Stadium Media Centre of one of the FIFA World Cup stadiums located in Moscow,” a FIFA spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph.
“The draw would be open to accredited media and streamed live. Exact details would follow in due time.”
Meanwhile, it would be a rather painful irony if a remarkable piece of solidarity by Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak came back to bite his team, as the Socceroos plot how to beat Peru on Tuesday night.
Jedinak’s signature in May on a letter of support for Chilean captain Paolo Guerrero in his battle against a drugs ban was influential in a court ruling the veteran could play in his first World Cup at 34.
The ban, for inadvertent consumption, was widely seen as unfair, ahead of Peru’s first appearance at the World Cup since 1982.
But now Bert van Marwijk’s side have to be rather less generous in their treatment of Guerrero, and starve him of the ball and the ability to link with Peru’s attacking trident behind him.
If the equation is quite simple for Australia as they seek a place in the second round — beat Peru, ideally by several goals, and hope Denmark lose to France — how they go about that is less straightforward.
Guerrero is the talisman of the side, as Peru’s record scorer including five goals in qualifying under coach Ricardo Gareca, but 24-year-old winger Edison Flores is the future.
The 24-year-old, nicknamed “The Ears”, will attack the Australian fullbacks, and the defensive shield of Aaron Mooy — quietly outstanding in the two games so far — and Mile Jedinak will be crucial here.
France isolated Guerrero effectively in their first game, forcing the Peruvian captain to forage for the ball miles from the French goal.
The Australian system developed by Bert van Marwijk is ideal for this — blocking the avenues of attack by staying compact and close together.
Then, when Australia attack, they will look to get their speedsters in behind the Peruvian defence. Centre back Alberto Rodríguez is 34 and with a long history of injuries his speed on the turn is suspect, an area Australia can exploit.
But the great intangible is how Peru play now that they know their World Cup campaign will finish at the end of this game, in the wake of narrow defeats to Denmark and France.
The players are bitterly disappointed not to have made it into the second round to reward their quite phenomenal support, and have already warned Australia that they feel an obligation to those fans — tens of thousands of them, who have travelled to Russia by land, sea and air — to reward them with a victory.
Thus playing the occasion becomes crucial. The more intense and emotional the atmosphere, the more the game becomes open and the less Australia have control.
This will not be a crowd to silence entirely, but by intelligent possession and managing the tempo of the game, the Socceroos can take some of the emotion out of the contest.
Originally published as Socceroos v Peru: What Australia must do to beat eliminated South Americans
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