‘Unwatchable’ TV fail slammed as gutsy Socceroos concede ‘rubbish’ goal to England

The Socceroos took it right up to England but Aussie football fans were left fuming at a frustrating issue with the TV broadcast.

Socceroos fans were frustrated by 10's broadcast glitches.

England have defeated the Socceroos 1-0 in a friendly at London’s Wembley Stadium on Saturday morning (AEDT).

The Lions named a second string starting side, saving many of their big guns for next week’s clash with Italy, and the Socceroos nearly took advantage in the first half.

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Both sides had plenty of chances to score in the opening 45 minutes but were unable to break the deadlock heading into halftime.

Australia’s best opportunities came when Keanu Baccus’ long range shot was deflected and saved, Mitch Duke nearly scored a blinder but his volley from inside the box sailed wide.

But the best chance of the lot came in the final minute of the first half when Ryan Strain didn’t put quite enough power into his close range shot and it was cleared off the line.

England scored the decisive goal in the 57th minute when Ollie Watkins tapped in a Jack Grealish shot after a long cross into the box.

The Socceroos can hold their heads high though, showing their run to the round of 16 at last year’s FIFA World Cup was no fluke.

Pressing hard in the second half, they had a chance to equalise but Conor Metcalfe’s header just missed.

It was just the eighth meeting between Australia and England in the last 43 years but the Socceroos couldn’t repeat the shock upset win from 20 years ago.

The Aussies take on New Zealand in another friendly early on Wednesday morning Australian time.

The Socceroos took it right up to England. (Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images)

7.05am - England score

It’s 1-0 to England after the Lions broke the deadlock in the 57th minute with a fairly soft goal given how well the Socceroos played to stay in the game.

A long ball into the box found Jack Grealish, who fired a shot past Socceroos goalkeeper Mat Ryan and was tapped in by Ollie Watkins.

What a rubbish goal to concede after all that. #ENGAUS

— Vince Rugari (@VinceRugari) October 13, 2023

6.37am - Aussies taking it up to England

It’s 0-0 at halftime after an opening 45 minutes where both teams had chances to score.

Australia’s best opportunities came when Keanu Baccus’ long range shot was deflected and saved, Mitch Duke nearly scored a blinder but his volley from inside the box sailed wide.

But the best chance of the lot came in the final minute of the first half when Ryan Strain didn’t put quite enough power into his close range shot and it was cleared off the line.

6.20am - Complaints over patchy broadcast

Channel 10’s broadcast feed cut out countless times during the first half, frustrating viewers watching the game on TV and streaming via 10Play and Paramount Plus.

“We apologise for the lack of pictures,” Ten’s commentator said when the feed cut out and was replace by a Socceroos logo.

He added later: “Again, we do apologise for the break up in the feed we are receiving from England.”

Socceroos fans were seeing a lot of this in the first half. Photo: 10Play.

Aussie football fans were extremely frustrated by the patchy TV coverage

“Coverage is so bad. Keeps dropping out,” one viewer wrote on X.

“This Socceroos telecast on Channel 10 is unwatchable,” another said.

But others pointed out the issues weren’t Channel 10’s fault as they were broadcasting the feed they were recieiving from the UK.

5.30am - Socceroos name starting XI

The Socceroos have named a fairly strong and settled side, while England have named an experimental starting XI.

England’s bench is stacked with big names including Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford, Kyle Walker that would normally start in most international games.

“There are big names on the (England) bench, actually that bench is frightening,” Tara Rushton said on Channel 10.

It could open the door for the Socceroos to steal an unlikely victory if they get on the scoresheet in the first half.

Socceroos starting XI: Mat Ryan, Ryan Strain, Harry Souttar, Cameron Burgess, Kye Rowles, Keanu Baccus, Jackson Irvine, Connor Metcalfe, Martin Boyle, Mitch Duke, Craig Goodwin

England XI: Sam Johnstone, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Levi Colwill, Conor Gallagher, Lewis Dunk, Fikayo Tomori, Jack Grealish, Jordan Henderson, Ollie Watkins, James Maddison, Jarrod Bowen

Ollie Watkins and Lewis Dunk will start for England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

11.30pm — Coach swipes Albo with brutal home truth

Socceroos coach Graham Arnold has taken a swipe at politicians, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who “lose” their supporter scarfs after attending matches as he again called them out for failing to properly fund the sport.

Ahead of the Socceroos’ meeting with England at Wembley on Saturday morning (AEDT), Arnold lamented the lack of financial support football received from the Australian government as he admitted to being envious of the English team’s national football centre at St George’s Park.

“We see the Prime Minister and the governments, they love coming out to watch the Matildas and the Socceroos with scarves on, but they must lose them when they go home,” he said.

Cop that Albo! Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“I‘d love to see it (football at the forefront of Australian sport) but I don’t know if I will. “There was a great legend in Australian football many years ago called Johnny Warren, who said ‘I told you so’ (that football would become big in Australia) and nothing’s really happened since then either.

“We have a sport in Australia, AFL … which is the biggest in the country and there’s a lot of funds and a lot of money put into AFL, but it’s only played in one country.

“We’re playing in a world sport and we don’t get anywhere near the resources or the help that sport does.

“We are the highest participation sport at grassroots and don‘t have a home of football at all.

“When the Socceroos come to Sydney to train, we have to train on a rugby league field where they remove the posts and put soccer posts up – that’s the truth.

“The last three, four days, where’s England been? St George’s Park, a place that inspires players, a place where it’s a home, a place where you build a culture, and we don’t have anything like that.

“We’ve had so many great footballers that have left the country because they’ve had to earn a living elsewhere to fulfil their dreams – Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Timmy Cahill, (Mark) Schwarzer, all these guys – and this generation is going to be the next.”

The man’s not wrong. Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

His comments came hot on the heels of former Socceroos manager Ange Postecoglou’s declaration that football would never become a mainstream sport in Australia.

However, Arnold remained hopeful that football could be “reinvigorated”, particularly if Australia was awarded hosting rights to the 2034 FIFA World Cup ahead of the AFC’s preferred candidate, Saudi Arabia.

“It would help the sport enormously to have a World Cup in Australia,” he said.

“We showed (at this year Women’s World Cup) that we’re great hosts. There’s a lot of work to do, but I do think with the generation of kids coming through, we can reinvigorate the sport.”

— Marco Monteverde, NCA Newswire