Socceroos have four month wait until they can rectify Bangkok shocker

HAVING got out of jail in Bangkok, the Socceroos have four months of soul searching ahead of them to ensure another escape act isn’t required when they meet Iraq in March.

Australian fullback Brad Smith in action against Thailand.

HAVING got out of jail in Bangkok, the Socceroos have four months of soul searching ahead of them to ensure another escape act isn’t required when they meet Iraq in March.

Australia’s hopes of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia took a blow with their 2-2 draw with Thailand on Tuesday night.

While the Socceroos’ destiny remains in their hands, they have now slipped out of the automatic World Cup qualifying berths, with the clash against Iraq, set to be played in neutral Iran, having taken on much more importance because of their feeble effort at the Rajamangala National Stadium.

Starting as almost unbackable favourites, the Socceroos needed two penalties from skipper Mile Jedinak to take what was in the end an undeserved point from the game.

Australia — who produced arguably their worst performance of coach Ange Postecoglou’s three-year, 36-match reign — were out-enthused and out-hustled by the Thais, whose inspirational effort was in honour of their late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Making matters worse for the brooding Socceroos is the long wait before they can rectify the situation.

The Socceroos must now wait for four months before their next World Cup qualifier.

“It’s just disappointing that we’ve got to go into the four-month break now before the next game,” left back Brad Smith said.

“If you go into the break with a win it’s a lot better, but now we’ve got to think about it for four months.”

Such mental torture is what the Socceroos deserve after their Bangkok belly-flop.

“Not one of us really performed that well, and it showed. Giving the ball away a lot, it affects the team. It’s very disappointing from every single player,” Smith said.

Central defender Trent Sainsbury agreed, saying the Socceroos should have left Thailand with nothing.

“We were lucky to come away with a point from that game,” Sainsbury said.

“You can look at a whole bunch of things, make a whole bunch of excuses, but at the end of the day the Thais put up a good fight and … we let ourselves down. That’s the biggest thing.”

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Attacking weapon Robbie Kruse, whose lack of club football with Bayer Leverkusen was painfully obvious, wants the chance to rectify matters, but knows after such a performance, that the selection axe cannot be ruled out.

Australian fullback Brad Smith in action against Thailand.

“It’s not good enough,” Kruse said.

“Everyone needs to have a look at themselves, and next camp hopefully — if we’re back in the team — we’ll do a better job.

“We’ve let ourselves down in the group now, and now we’re one point behind the top two so it’s going to be a lot tenser. There was no more chance (of a slip-up) before (Bangkok) but even more so now.”

Thailand coach Kiatisak Senamuang hasn’t given up hope of his side qualifying for Russia despite trailing the first and second-placed Group B teams Saudi Arabia and Japan by nine points.

The top two teams from Group A and Group B in the third round of the AFC qualifiers automatically secure World Cup berths, while the third-placed teams also have a shot of going to Russia via a playoff against each other, and then a CONCACAF nation.

“We think it is not over yet and we can take confidence from this in the second half of the group stage,” Kiatisak said.

“The road to Russia is not over yet and there is still a long way to go.”

Originally published as Socceroos have four month wait until they can rectify Bangkok shocker