The Socceroos lost a fifth consecutive match in a 6-0 drubbing from France on Friday night, leading to the sacking of coach Holger Osieck as the weekend ticked over in Australia.
The loss marked a second straight Socceroos big defeat, the first coming in a 6-0 loss to Brazil last month. Football Federation Australia chief executive David Gallop, in France, informed Osieck of the bad news shortly after the result.
Osieck had been under pressure since Australia qualified for 2014’s World Cup in Brazil earlier this year and recent rumours has former Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink as the likely replacement.
Veteran keeper Mark Schwarzer was rested against France, but his young replacement, Mitchell Langerak, was overwhelmed by a Frank Ribery led French attack.
The Bayern Munich star scored in the opening 10 minutes after a David Carney mid-air handball resulted in a penalty before back-to-back goals from Arsenal’s Oliver Giroud helped push the lead out to a stunning 4-0 before the 30-minute mark. The Socceroos first real attempt on goal came 30 minutes later, a Tim Cahill miss from outside of the box.
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Osieck wasn’t able to do much about the scheduling of both Brazil and France in consecutive matches.
“I was pretty much aware of the risks,” he told Fox Sports, referring to the unlucky draw.
“Maybe it’s a good moment now to see where we are – right now we are definitely away from the international standard of top teams.”
Lucas Neill refused to point the finger at the beleaguered coach.
“(It’s) very disappointing, (we’re) very frustrated,” he said.
“We’re not willing to accept it, we’re going to have a long hard look at ourselves.”
“It’s all over the pitch – we’re half a yard off the pace, we’re not keeping the ball, we’re not playing as a unit, we’re low in confidence.”
“It’s not about playing for your manager, it’s about playing for your country, and at the moment we’re letting the country down.”
It will be too late to save Osieck’s job, however the Socceroos have a chance to get back on track against Canada in London on Wednesday.
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Chung Sung-Jun, Getty Images.
