The Socceroos are just 24 hours away from kicking off their campaign to lift the Asia Cup. For many in the squad this could be the last hurrah. Skipper Mark Viduka will hang up his international boots at the end of July, but seems set to go out on a high. Viduka was very sharp in saturdays friendly win over Singapore, scoring twice, and looking more like the EPL striker we've seen over the past 6 months. His partnership with Harry Kewell looks to be the key for Australia. The combination between the two looked fabulous, with Viduka converting Kewell's pinpoint cross to seal the 3-0 win.
Viduka is in many ways the ideal "lead-the-line" style striker. The only thing that let him down in Germany was a lack of goals. I'm expecting the Asian defences to be more forgiving.
But while the immediate future up the front looks bright, at the back it's a very different story. Singapore caused a rather makeshift back four plenty of problems, and offered a few clues to the Socceroo's group opponents, on how to make life uncomfortable. The primary area of concern is the left side of defence, and Luke Wilkshire's role. Without the steadying presence of Scott Chipperfield, coach Arnold has few options, and while Wilkshire is a versatile player, he is no natural full back.
Add to that a below par display from the normally impeccable Lucas Neill, and the expected selection of the inexperienced Paddy Kisnorbo, then you can see that Graham Arnold may have a few headaches to come.
It may have been hit and miss on the pitch, but off it the Socceroos have been making all the right moves, from integrating with their hosts in Singapore and Thailand, to making confident predictions of tournament success.
In 24 hours we'll know exactly how confident those predictions are.
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