Olyroos need to switch on defensively
The Olyroos performed relatively well in their first game against Korea Republic.
Trevor Morgan’s side had a careful pressing plan, mainly sitting in a 4-2-4 mid-block and choosing their moments to squeeze the opponent into its defensive third.
When Australia pressed, it was aggressive, but it also left them exposed if they didn’t win the ball back early.
Which is exactly what happened when the Koreans took the lead in the opening minutes.
Korea broke down Australia’s high press, shifting the ball wide to the right.
Franco Lino and Akol Akon communicated well as the former went out to the ball and the latter tracked an overlapping run.
But no one tracked a deep run in midfield — which was probably Rhys Youlley’s job — which eventually led to a cutback and a simple finish for Ha Jeong-woo.
Defensive miscommunication and a lack of focus on that side of the ball were prevalent throughout.
Given the quality of the Koreans, many are likely to talk positively about Australia’s pretty competitive performance in the defeat.
But the players must take the feedback from this first match, which was fairly straightforward: lazy defending will be punished.
It was good to see the Olyroos inflict their own punishment when Medin Memeti’s centring pass, on a rebound from a Miguel Di Pizio strike, was turned in by Korea’s goalkeeper.
Despite being outmatched in technical quality, Australia built on the moment and gained the ascendancy for a brief period.
The momentum might have stayed with them if not for another careless defensive moment, this time from Joshua Inserra.
In the 38th minute, Alexander Robinson made a decent save, though parried the ball out into the middle of the penalty area.
The first problem was that no defenders were near the ball as it came out; quite bizarre, given how close Korea were to the goal.
There was a lack of desperation, and after a Korea player collected the rebound, Inserra stuck a leg out to win the ball; the mistimed tackle led to a penalty.
Regardless of whether contact was minimal, there was no need for the Melbourne Victory man to dive in.
Just stay on your feet and show him away from goal.
So Korea retook the lead, and held onto it until the end, despite late shots from Atiya Waraga and Amlani Tatu both smashing off the frame of the goal.
Australia almost stole a draw after a drop-off second half, which would’ve been a solid result in game one.
But had they focused on a couple more defensive actions in the first half, they could've avoided the need for a late equaliser altogether.
Onto game two on Tuesday afternoon.
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