Goal-shy Socceroos to next face Indonesia in Asian Cup – as coach Graham Arnold insists his team is ‘getting better’ after slow start to the tournament in Qatar

The Socceroos will play Indonesia in the Asian Cup round-of-16, with the daunting prospect of either South Korea or Saudi Arabia waiting in the wings if they reach the quarter-finals.

Australia and minnows Indonesia will meet for the first time since the Socceroos claimed a 1-0 Asian Cup qualifying win in Brisbane in 2010 – making the world No.146 a fresh challenge for Graham Arnold’s current charges.

‘It’s nice to play against different new teams, new opponents, totally different kinds of football and it will be really exciting,’ midfielder Jackson Irvine said.

‘I’m really looking forward to it.’

Claiming top spot in group B gave the Socceroos the nominally easier path of facing one of the best third-placed teams in Doha.

Until Kyrgyzstan scored an 80th-minute equaliser in their 1-1 draw with Oman on Thursday – knocking their opponents out of contention to progress – Australia  appeared destined to play Palestine.

Defender Harry Souttar will be a key figure against Indonesia in the heart of defence

Indonesia qualified with three points from a difficult group D that included Iraq, Japan and Vietnam, scoring in all three games, with their win over Vietnam proving enough to seal progression.

They joined Palestine, Syria and Jordan (all four points) as the best third-placed finishers.

‘I’ve watched most of the games along the way, and they [Indonesia] have done really well,’ Irvine added.

‘We are expecting a difficult game as always against a team that’s shown they are capable of scoring.’

If Australia does get through, a tough task awaits in the quarter-final against either world No.23 South Korea or world No.53 Saudi Arabia, who famously beat eventual champions Argentina at the 2022 World Cup in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Socceroos coach Graham Arnold remains adamant his team is ‘overachieving’ amid repeated questions about patchy Asian Cup form and a lack of goals.

For the third match in succession, the Australians struggled in attack versus Uzbekistan, with Arnold lamenting the lack of a cutting edge in the final third of the pitch.

Coach Graham Arnold is also confident his team will click into gear after a slow start to the tournament

‘We played some good combination football, we played some good attacking football, but it is the last pass, and it’s the last maybe cut back or finish…that’s down to the individual,’ he said.

‘The individual needs to put them in the back of the net – I can’t do that.

‘Of course we can do things better, but when you’ve only had them [the squad] for about two, three weeks to get them sorted out and when we’ve got to play games as well, it’s always about team culture and commitment.

‘Do you know how hard it is to get 26 players together who play all around the world in different competitions? They are all coached in completely different ways.

‘We have great team culture and mateship. When the energy is high and the boys are good mates, you can overachieve, and that’s what we are doing.’