On the Roos' rush towards crossing the Indian Ocean

I had a pretty tenuous day. Crappy internet connection at home, pancakes that gone south for the winter, maple syrup running over the plate, my professor unfamiliar with Geico commercials...

And so I pondered the possibilities of the Socceroos booking their spot in the FIFA 2010 World Cup. From Fox Sports...

Earning a point, learning a lesson

Comment by Tom Smithies

February 13, 2009

NEVER mind the quality, feel the points - that is the message Pim Verbeek and his troops were articulating after their priceless draw in Yokohama on Wednesday night.


Sitting top of the group with 10 points from four games, and the most difficult fixtures of this final round navigated successfully, is an enviable position and one that Verbeek's paymasters at Football Australia would have snatched at when qualification began.

So let's acknowledge the positives first of all - the most overwhelming being that Australia stand on the brink of a second successive World Cup appearance.

The last two were 32 years apart but, like buses, it seems Germany and South Africa will follow in quick succession. We could get used to this.

The point earned in Japan came on the back of essentially no preparation, no time for work on tactical shape and barely a chance to stretch properly after the flight.

It was built on the acumen and resilience this squad has accrued over recent years and, while there was luck involved, Japan didn't have a huge number of real chances.

There was also a fourth consecutive clean sheet, a miserly statistic to be proud of.

Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill and Craig Moore are a holy trinity for Verbeek and he knows it.

The coach was a satisfied man in the aftermath of the draw, well aware of the fine margins that define success at this level - in this case the centimetres by which a deflected shot flew wide of Schwarzer's goal at the death.

But Verbeek also touched on some of the negatives, chief among them the carelessness with which possession was squandered.

Albeit against inferior opposition, remember the way Australia kept the ball in the 1-0 victory over Uzbekistan in Tashkent? Handing over possession so much on Wednesday just invited Japan to keep coming at the Socceroos.

Part of that was Tim Cahill's struggle to hold the line as a makeshift striker.

Boxed in by smart defending and crass refereeing, Cahill failed to give his side respite by holding on to the ball - not surprising as his natural game is not remotely one with his back to goal.

As an experiment it didn't work and deprived the team of Cahill's lethal qualities from midfield.

There is only one sure-fire solution to the forward line issue, and it answers to the name of Mark Viduka.

How well Australia might do in South Africa - assuming those final qualifying points are secured - could be defined by whether Viduka will ever be fit enough again to pull on the gold shirt.

But for now the focus is on Uzbekistan in Sydney in April. The best-case scenario would be for Bahrain and Qatar to both lose their games on March 27, so an Australian win five days after would mean they could only be overtaken on goal difference.

But whenever the actual point is reached, it's going to take an absolute disaster to prevent Australia reaching the World Cup from here.