One in a Milligan performance
Monday, 16 July 07, 07:05 PM · Comments(4)
He may be the target of a lot of abuse from Melbourne Victory fans but there's no doubt that Australia sits in a quarter-final showdown with Japan at the Asian Cup thanks to Mark Milligan.
Milligan's textbook tackle with the Aussies holding a shaky 1-0 lead against Thailand last night saved the day after Schwarzer fumbled a long-shot into open space in the box. That moment highlighted the lift in defensive effort that earned Australia its first clean sheet of the tournament - the three goals scored in the final moments of the game just cosmetic improvement of the statistics.
The question now for Australia is what to do with Lucas Neill. Neill is having a mediocre tournament, while Beauchamp and Milligan both performed admirably last night. Japan are in hot form and the underdog tag will suit Australia, perhaps it will suit Neill as well.
Up front there are problems too, mainly because Sterjovski finds himself back in the frame without having even taken the pitch last night. Aloisi dogged it and picked up a stupid yellow card, while Brett Holman offered up the miss of the tournament. It doesn't bode well when the best alternative is to play Kewell as a floating man behind Viduka rather than a second striker.
And my excuse for not fronting up for a comment after the Iraq game? A severe hangover. Much like the rest of the football supporting population of Australia.
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If Kisnorbo never plays another match for Australia again, I won't cry over it.
MikeTuckerman - I would be hoping that Arnold keeps both Milligan and Beauchamp and brings back Neill. With that back three we can play 3-5-2 and be a real match for Japan both on the ground
and in the air. Kewell and Cahill should continue to be played off the bench at this stage to inject the energy we need late on in the games.
4 Comments · Add yours
Not to worry, you weren't the only one who didn't feel like talking about that horrible match on Saturday.
Milligan's performance last night demonstrated just how hard it is to become "one of Arnie's boys." He didn't do anything that doesn't do for Sydney FC and in training, but despite the fact that he's
a markedly superior player to Patrick Kisnorbo, because Milligan doesn't "play in Europe" (that won't be the case for much longer, I suspect) it takes a Basil Fawlty-esque performance from Kisnorbo
and a suspension to Lucas Neill for Milligan to get a look in. And when Neill does come back, Milligan will be shunted straight back to the bench with the "European-based" Beauchamp preferred.