Second coming is Arnold’s chance to bury demons

Injuries have made it tough for Australia to defend the Asian Cup.

A much more confident Graham Arnold will take the Socceroos to the Asian Cup.

The last time Graham Arnold coached the Socceroos at the Asian Cup he had curly hair, a moustache and a group of players critically acclaimed as the Golden Generation.

That was back in 2007 and the hair, the moustache and every one of those players are now long gone, and so, too, the Arnold of old. No more self-doubt, no more second-guessing, no more beating up on himself. The 55-year-old has clearly redefined himself since 2007. A premiership and a championship with the Central Coast Mariners and a championship, two premierships and an FFA Cup with Sydney FC are undeniable proof of the Arnold renaissance.

His second coming as national team coach has been 11 years in the making and now he has the chance to bury the demons of 2007 once and for all when he guides Australia at the Asian Cup starting in the United Arab Emirates in a week’s time.

The Socceroos will go into the defence of the Cup they won on home soil in 2015 as underdogs this time around.

TAUS SPORT ASIAN CUP PREVIEW

Talisman Tim Cahill and inspirational Mile Jedinak have both retired from international football, Aaron Mooy is out injured and there are doubts over the fitness of Mathew Leckie. Throw in concerns over where the goals will come from with Cahill out of the equation and a less than ideal preparation in terms of the amount of time he has had with the team and it is clear the odds are stacked against the Australians.

Arnold, however, is not about making excuses.

“That was 11 years ago, it’s a different era now,” he says of 2007. “I look back on it as the best and biggest lesson I ever learned. I do believe I am a person who learns from his mistakes and I made plenty of mistakes there and plenty in between.

“But, all I can do is focus on what is ahead … we have a great team going into a great tournament.

“The expectation from me is that we prepare the team perfectly for every game and I expect to win every game. We have seven and I expect to win them all.”

Arnold has set a lofty target, some may say one that is unrealistic, but it says much about the way he has changed his mindset and the way he has evolved as a coach over the past decade.

We saw it at the Mariners and he stepped it up another notch or two when he was at Sydney FC, especially during the club’s record-breaking 2016-17 season.

The Socceroos, however, are a different kettle of fish. They are in a transition period after coming off a winless World Cup finals campaign. Seven players are gone from that World Cup squad and only eight remain from the squad that won the Asian Cup in 2015.

With just three games and a couple of training camps to work with the squad, there hasn’t been as much time as Arnold would have liked to get them in the best possible shape.

Still, there has been plenty to like in what we have seen in his friendlies in charge against Kuwait, South Korea and Lebanon.

“It’s an exciting squad, exciting time ahead for all of us. You’ve seen the way I expect to play in the past three games. We have a lot of pace up front and a lot of individual quality in the frontline,” Arnold says.

The Socceroos attack revolves around not using a specific target man and instead using three No 9s with Robbie Kruse, Martin Boyle and Leckie interchanging, though Leckie’s hamstring injury could be a real issue.

It’s all about energy, speed and individual quality and we saw that with the Socceroos scoring eight goals in those three friendlies.

The loss of Mooy will leave a huge hole in the midfield, but there is depth in that department. Let’s not forget Massimo Luongo is playing in a good league (The Championship) and he was voted player of the tournament at the Cup in 2015. Then there is Jackson Irvine, who has been in wonderful form with Hull City.

Defensively, the Socceroos are fine. Mathew Ryan, goalkeeper of the tournament in 2015, has been outstanding and central defenders Trent Sainsbury, Mark Milligan and Milos Degenek are as good as any in the tournament.

So what are the expectations?

Australia should qualify in top place in their group, which includes Syria, Jordan and Palestine. But, they will be on course to meet Japan in a quarter-final and Iran in a semi-final.

Japan were the Socceroos nemesis in 2007 and 2011, eliminating them in a penalty shootout in a quarter-final in Vietnam then beating them in extra time in the final four years later.