Osieck vaunts ´brilliant´ Socceroos

Australia coach Holger Osieck credited his team’s compact structure as the foundation for their 6-0 Asian Cup thrashing of Uzbekistan.

With a place in the final of the Asian Football Confederation’s premier tournament at stake, a tight contest was expected in the semi-final between heavyweights Australia and an Uzbekistan side that had impressed throughout the competition.

But a one-sided match in Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium caught everyone by surprise, as Australia ran riot on Tuesday to book their place in the final against Japan and leave German Osieck delighted with the performance of his players.

“We had a brilliant game today,” Osieck said.

“The players put on a great show and performance. I’m full of praise and credit for them, what they did today was fantastic.”

“You can’t expect a result like this. We definitely wanted to win the game and go to the final but you can never predict the score.”

“The secret was the way we presented ourselves on the pitch. We were well structured, we had a great shape, we played high, we tried to create, Harry Kewell (who scored the game’s opening goal) had a great game and he’s had a great tournament so far but he’s not the only one.”

“All the other boys have done well and I’m very happy with the way our team has developed in the tournament.”

“The entire team works well defensively. We are very compact and the defence starts with the strikers, they close the opponents down and we are very well-structured behind them.”

“When the opposition dribble into midfield, they run into a wall. We win the ball and we play our game. It sounds simple but it took some time to get the structure together.”

“The more we play together, the better we become.”

Uzbekistan coach Vadim Abramov could scarcely comprehend the manner in which his side were comprehensively dismantled.

“Congratulations to Australia,” Abramov said.

“Their win is historic but it’s a bad day for the Uzbekistan team.”

“The way we played today, I cannot describe it. We were prepared but we played badly, this is a big problem, we made too many mistakes.”

“Up until now, I believed that we could beat Australia and win the tournament. I don’t know what happened. After the second goal, we wanted to attack but we made too many mistakes at the back.”

Australia face Japan in the Saturday’s final after they beat South Korea on penalties following a 2-2 draw in the other semi-final.