World Cup 2018: Socceroos coach Bert van Marwijk urges caution after win against Czech Republic
SOCCEROOS boss Bert van Marwijk declared himself satisfied with his side’s 4-0 defeat of the Czech Republic, but warned they “still have a long way to go” to be ready for the World Cup.
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SOCCEROOS boss Bert van Marwijk declared himself satisfied with his side’s 4-0 defeat of the Czech Republic, but warned they “still have a long way to go” to be ready for the World Cup.
Keeping his team’s collective feet on the ground, van Marwijk said Australia had to value possession more highly - but he conceded the win would expedite his team’s belief in the system he has been teaching them.
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Two goals for Mathew Leckie, one for Andrew Nabbout and an own goal put a gloss on the result, but van Marwijk was looking beyond the score.
“You asked me a few days ago how important the result was (versus the performance), and I said that I wanted to see we are working on the organisation that we think is best for the team,” van Marwijk said.
“When you win it is always better and good for the confidence. It’s also important for individual players, like Andrew Nabbout today.
“But we can’t be too satisfied as we also made some mistakes.”
Asked what he took from the performance, van Marwijk said he was pleased with the structure he had seen.
“A positive was the defensive organisation throughout the whole game, apart from maybe a little bit after the fourth goal,” he said.
“After 20 minutes we started to play the kind of football that I like to see. Until then we couldn’t find our spare man, and it was something I talked to them about at halftime, but we started to find a solution.
“We still have a long way to go. We have to learn to play close to each other. Sometimes in the first half, when we did not have the ball, we started to run back too much when it wasn’t necessary.
“In the second half, if our final passes had been better, we could have scored another four goals.
“From the first second, we must not lose the ball too easily. Modern football is all about space and transition - if you give the ball away teams will punish you at the World Cup.”