Japan coach pays in-form Socceroo Brad Smith the ultimate compliment

JAPAN struggled to contain the quicksilver Brad Smith despite coach Vahid Halilhodzic revealing much of his gameplan was based on negating the left back.

Brad Smith gases two Japan defender.

SOCCEROO Brad Smith looks set to miss Bournemouth’s weekend clash with Hull City after bruising his foot in the 1-1 draw with Japan but will be fit for next month’s visit to Thailand.

The left-back has been cleared of serious injury, though he left Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night in a moon boot and on crutches after his eye-catching performance.

The Socceroos slipped to second after picking up two of a possible six points in this international window, overtaken by Saudi Arabia.

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The Saudis thumped United Arab Emirates 3-0 to move to 10 points, two ahead of the Socceroos with Japan (7 points) and UAE (6) just behind.

Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic revealed that much of his gameplan was based on negating Smith’s forays from deep, and Ange Postecoglou revealed that the former Liverpool man was a shining light.

MATCH: Socceroos salvage crucial point v Japan

STALEMATE: ‘We wasted 45 minutes of the game’

Brad Smith gases two Japan defender.

“He’s had a pretty good window, both in Saudi and here and he created that with his movement,’’ Postecoglou said.

“He was very positive every time he had the ball, whether he had it or didn’t he was running positively at the opposition and we just didn’t have enough players doing that.

“He’s growing into the role, he hasn’t played a lot of football so like a couple of them, we’ve got to be careful how much we throw at him but he’s developing really well.’’

Downcast forward Robbie Kruse said there were “positives, but also a lot of negatives” to take out of Tuesday night’s performance.

“We’re expecting to qualify, but we’re trying to improve every game and I don’t think this was an indication of where we’re heading,” Kruse said.

“Hopefully we can rectify that in the next game.”

Looking on the bright side, Postecoglou’s team still has garnered eight points of a possible 12 despite already taking on fellow group heavyweight Japan and playing two games in the Middle East - beating the UAE 1-0 and drawing last week with Saudi Arabia 2-2.

Kruse said he felt as if the team was still “in a good position” to take one of the group’s two automatic tickets to Russia 2018.

“We’ve probably had the two toughest away games already, in really tough conditions,” he said.

“Japan still have to play those two games as well.

Smith and Kobayashi collide in mid-air.

“But in saying that we don’t use (the fixture) as an excuse, we’ve got a lot of depth in the squad so a lot of players can come in and play.

“At home, in the best conditions we’ve played in so far on a good pitch and with a good crowd, it was a disappointing performance I think.

“We really wanted to stamp our authority here and there was no better team to do that against than Japan, so it’s a little bit disappointing but I’m sure we’ll move forward.”

Originally published as Japan coach pays in-form Socceroo Brad Smith the ultimate compliment