World Cup 2018: Socceroos encouraged to play without distraction

Bert van Marwijk will be kept informed of Denmark’s progress against France while Australia play Peru.

The Socceroos hold their final training session at Stadium Trudovye Rezervy in Kazan ahead of their final group stage match against Peru in Sochi. Picture: Toby Zerna

Coach Bert van Marwijk will have an assistant monitoring the France-Denmark game while the Socceroos are playing Peru so the Australian team in Sochi can quickly react to any situation that may be unfolding in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.

The games are being played at the same time (midnight tonight AEST), 1600km apart and Australia are relying on France to beat Denmark, preferably by several goals, to ensure that an Australian win will mean the Socceroos progress through to the final 16.

Van Marwijk believes Didier Deschamps’ French team will be playing to win and won’t give the Danes an easy ride to progressing beyond the group stage.

“The players of France also have their own pride,’’ said van Marwijk.

“They have won twice but they didn’t play well and they want to prove to the whole world they are one of the best teams. I believe they will do their utmost best.’’

When The Australian asked van Marwijk if he wanted to know updates of the other score while in the coach’s box at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi he said: “No, I don’t need to know that, but I must know it, because it can be a situation you have to participate on the result.’’

The players have said they prefer not to know so they can continue to apply pressure on the Peru team that will be buoyed by their hordes of vocal fans.

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Van Marwijk told the players at training in Kazan before they travelled to Sochi yesterday that Peru were unpredictable and the team had to stay focused on their own style of play and establish an early rhythm and not panic.

“The opponent (Peru) is an emotional team so you can expect everything,’’ he said. “We have to trust our way of playing.

“I think that’s the key, so there is nothing to do with forcing some things.

“Forcing things is only in the second half, and it depends on how the situation is. I don’t think you must force something from the beginning. We must first get our natural rhythm that we play.

“Then you must have the body language that you have confidence and trust and that you are 100 per cent concentrating: that you know exactly what to do. That’s very important.’’

Van Marwijk has a selection dilemma forced upon him by the shoulder injury to Andrew Nabbout. He will look to replace Nabbout with a similar, hustling style of player, most probably Jamie Maclaren, so that the midfield is not too distracted from the defensive model they have adopted in the first two games.

Daniel Arzani and his deft footwork will likely be introduced in the second half, perhaps for more than the 20 minutes he enjoyed against Denmark.

So far van Marwijk has ignored the public pressure for him to call up Tim Cahill, but he may use Cahill in the closing stages, especially if an extra goal is needed to produce a better goal differential.

“I have tried to explain that if you can organise a good team you don’t always need the best players,’’ said the 66-year-old Dutchman.

“We proved if you work hard and believe in something and work on the details and the way you want to play and you repeat that every day, then you will see that.’’

But van Marwijk identified some attacking errors by the Socceroos when they dominated possession in the Denmark game and wants the team to move forward together, keeping their lines in formation and pressing in unison.

“I have confidence in all my players. The only thing that you know and they know is the last step (to score goals), is that we have to reward ourselves for the work we do and the way we play, what we showed the world,’’ he said.

“In the game against Denmark, our striker (Nabbout) and also the second striker (Juric), our number 10 (Tom Rogic), sometimes pressed in the wrong moment; they did it on their own. Then the rest of the team couldn’t come close to them and there was too much space between the lines and too difficult to control midfield plays for the game.

“They do some things themselves, only they have to do the right things themselves.’’

If Australia progress through the group they will play the winner of group D in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday.

That team could be Croatia, an interesting clash given many of the Socceroos players have Croatian heritage.