Milos Degenek accepts blame for Socceroos’ defeat in Asian Cup quarter-final

Teammates have rallied around Milos Degenek, assuring him Australia’s Asian Cup exit ‘was not even close to an individual thing’ despite the defender feeling ‘pretty s*** about his howler.

Australia’s defender Milos Degenek in action against the UAE.

Teammates have rallied around Milos Degenek, assuring him Australia’s Asian Cup exit “was not even close to an individual thing” despite the defender feeling “pretty s**t” about his defensive howler.

In a raw show of bravery, Degenek fronted up after Australia’s 1-0 quarter-final loss and owned the undercooked backpass that was picked up by United Arab Emirates striker Ali Mabkhout and deposited into the net on Friday night.

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Defender Milos Degenek accepted the blame for the UAE goal.

“Pretty s**t to be in this situation,” Degenek said.

“S**t to be in my shoes and my skin. But that’s football, that’s how the situation unfolded.

“I don’t feel sorry so much for myself as I do for my country and my teammates, because obviously we ended a tournament because of my mistake.

“But that’s life. I’ve got to deal with it. I’ve had situations like this before - you learn, you grow up, you move on.

“I’m 24, 25 years of age. I’m a man, I can accept the fact that I did the mistake but that’s football. I’ll have many more in my life I think.”

Perhaps the cruellest element was that throughout the match the 24-year-old made 73 passes at a game-high completion rate of 90.4 per cent, only to be let down by one weak moment.

Mathew Leckie pointed out Degenek had been clipped just before the backpass, and captain Mark Milligan was quick to support the new Al Hilal signing who didn’t get a minute of World Cup action but has since cemented a central defensive starting spot on the back of excellent form at Red Star Belgrade.

Defeat was hard to take for Milos Degenek.

“I said to Milos afterwards: everything we do is as a team, it doesn’t fall on any individual,” Milligan said.

“We attack as a team, we defend as a team. If we score goals it’s all of us, if we concede it’s all of us.

“He’s had a fantastic tournament. He’s another one that’s stepped up. I think he has a wonderful future ahead and that’ll be in a message I give to him again.

“It’s not even close to an individual thing.”

Midfielder Jackson Irvine admitted it was up to the entire XI to find an equaliser in a contest where the Socceroos enjoyed two-thirds of possession, nearly double the number of passes and 36 crosses to the UAE’s eight.

“You get around him but we’ve not gone out of the tournament because of one mistake,” Irvine said.

“We’ve conceded one goal over 120 (minutes) and then a 90-minute game and not scored one.

“Obviously Milos, it’ll be a big moment for him. We’ll all be there to help him get through it.

“He’s a talented young player with a big future ahead of him. It’s a tough time and a tough moment to make a mistake like that but we still had plenty of time to get back in it and we weren’t able to do so.”