Socceroos goalkeeper Mathew Ryan doubtful for Asian Cup opener
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Australia coach Graham Arnold is confident in his back-up goalkeeper Joe Gauci, should Mat Ryan miss the Socceroos' opener against India.
PHOTOL REUTERS
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SYDNEY – Australia’s national football team captain and first-choice goalkeeper Mathew Ryan is a doubt for the early stages of the Socceroos’ Asian Cup campaign.
Socceroos coach Graham Arnold said on Jan 7 that Ryan, 31, is “touch-and-go” for Australia’s Asian Cup opener against India on Jan 13 due to a fractured cheekbone sustained in training with Dutch club AZ Alkmaar in December.
Ryan has joined training in the lead-up to the tournament in Qatar but did not feature in their final friendly against Bahrain in Abu Dhabi on Jan 6, with 23-year-old Joe Gauci starting in goal and keeping a clean sheet in a 2-0 win.
Arnold said after the match that Ryan’s fitness for the opener was uncertain but praised the captain’s leadership in training.
He said: “He’ll be touch-and-go. But he’s training fully and it’s great to have him here, obviously, for his experience.
“It was good to get Joe Gauci on the pitch and give him that opportunity. Obviously in our goalkeeping department we’ve got to build depth as well. And I thought he did very well.”
Ryan is the most experienced player in the Socceroos’ 26-player Asian Cup squad with 86 international caps and, along with defender Aziz Behich, one of only two members who were part of the squad that won the 2015 tournament on home soil.
Arnold described the win over Bahrain as the perfect fixture for the Socceroos ahead of the tournament to prepare for teams he anticipates will sit back and defend.
He explained: “For us, it’s the perfect fixture to have before the Asian Cup because when we play against these type of nations, they sit back.
“Most nations we played against in the last 12 months haven’t really done that.
“You saw that we were getting better and better as the game went on, breaking them down but also making sure that we weren’t hit on the counter-attack, which they like to do.
“So it was probably the perfect fixture to have before we go into this Asian Cup and no doubt we’ll get quite a number of teams playing like that as well.”
Craig Goodwin, who played key passes in the build-up to both goals, added: “I think it’s something that we’ve started to work on.
“That combination football in the final third, and obviously coming into this Asian Cup, we’re going to have a lot more of the ball.
“So we need to be very good in those areas. Be patient and be decisive.”
Following the opening game against India, the Socceroos will face Syria on Jan 18 and Uzbekistan on Jan 23, with the top two teams in Group B automatically qualifying for the round of 16. XINHUA
