Halloran wants Chile start

Ben Halloran is still hoping to start Australia’s FIFA World Cup opener against Chile despite only coming off the bench against Croatia.

With Ange Postecoglou moving Tommy Oar from out wide to a central playmaking role, Halloran had appeared to be in with a chance of beginning the warm-up game in Bahia on Friday.

Instead, he had to settle for a cameo off the bench as Dario Vidosic got the nod from the off in the 1-0 loss.

But that has not stopped the Fortuna Dusseldorf man from targeting a late charge into selection contention for Friday’s Group B showdown with Chile.

“I want to be pushing to start, everyone wants to start in this team,” Halloran told reporters from the team’s base camp in Vitoria.

“Dario did very well in the first half and I was pretty happy with my performance when I came on so hopefully I can push for a start in next game.”

Despite failing to win the game and struggling to create chances, it was something of an improved Socceroos performance from the disjointed 1-1 draw with South Africa.

And Halloran believes the team are making progress with less than a week to go until the eagerly anticipated Chile clash.

“For the majority of the game we played relatively well, I think that goal was pretty fortuitous,” he said.

“We played to our strengths, we played the way we wanted to play but up front maybe we need to be a bit sharper.”

“I think we might gel a bit more in the next week and chances will come.

“But with a week to go before the Chile game I think the signs are good.”