Socceroos skipper Mat Ryan says his Asian Cup mistake wasn’t because of his face mask
The Socceroos made it two wins from as many matches at the Asian Cup but not before a second-half scare involving captain Mat Ryan.
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Socceroos skipper Mat Ryan wasn’t blaming his face mask for his mistake that nearly cost Australia an Asian Cup victory over Syria in Doha.
The Socceroos beat the Syrians 1-0 on Thursday night (AEDT) to seal a berth in the tournament’s round of 16.
However, after Jackson Irvine had given Australia the lead on the hour mark, the Socceroos suffered a huge scare when Ryan – who is still recovering from a fractured cheekbone he suffered last month while training with his Dutch club AZ Alkmaar – fumbled a 68th-minute shot from Syria’s Moayad Ajan.
For the Socceroos’ sake, Ryan was able to recover from spilling the ball, knocking it away from danger as it was about to cross the line.
Ajan’s shot, and an early strike from powerful striker Pablo Sabbag that had Ryan beaten before hitting the post, were the closest that Syria came to ending a run of Socceroos’ clean sheets that has now extended to six matches.
“Defensively we were strong – we pride ourselves on that,” Ryan told Network 10.
However, Ryan wasn’t using his face mask as an excuse for failing to hold on to Ajan’s long-distance shot.
“I’ve made plenty of mistakes not wearing a face mask,” he said.
“It’s just one of things were it’s not easy. They hit the ball, and the balls these days, (there is) no spin on them, they’re moving around a little bit, but thankfully I managed to get enough on it to keep it out.
“I didn’t execute that moment as much as a I wanted to, but thankfully it didn’t hurt is in the end.”
Ryan said the Socceroos had “ticked another box” by reaching the round-of-16, and defended an Australian performance that was far from convincing, particularly in attack.
“Football’s not easy. You’ve got two teams out there, trying their best to make it difficult for the other, and both wanting to win so much, and you’re not going to get it right every single time,” he said.
“We probed on occasions and had quite a few entries into their final third and into the box, and were probably unlucky not to put one or two more chances away.
“(If that happens) all of a sudden we’re standing here looking at a 3-0, 4-0 scoreline and everybody’s thinking that it’s lot more convincing … but we got the job done.
“We got the victory and we move on.”
The Socceroos only need a draw against Uzbekistan on Tuesday night to seal top spot in Group B and a potentially easier round-of-16 encounter.
“We’ve got a lot to learn from (the win over Syria) to better ourselves, and now we focus on that one (against Uzbekistan),” Ryan said.
“The mission has been to win the tournament. We’ve got a tremendous amount of belief that we can do that.”
Originally published as Socceroos skipper Mat Ryan says his Asian Cup mistake wasn’t because of his face mask
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