Slow moving, often cumbersome in passing, poor defensively and unable to dominate possession, this was not how Bert van Marwijk would have would wanted his first game since taking over from Ange Postecoglou to go. Yet a 4-1 battering by a bullish Norway, for whom striker Ola Kamara struck a hat-trick, might not have come as a total surprise to Australia’s new coach, who admitted the match in Oslo confirmed what he was already aware of – that the Socceroos are a work in progress.
As Van Marwijk told the Guardian this week the Dutchman is not a magician, and after just two training sessions with his troops it is illogical to expect him to have worked miracles, even against a side ranked 20 places below them. But few would have expected quite an embarrassment like this. The 65-year-old has three more friendlies and a 30-day Turkey training camp to shape his new team, with the 2018 World Cup in Russia racing towards them. On the evidence from the Ullevaal Stadion he will need every minute and maybe a few more to get exactly what he wants.
“I learned a lot with this game, that we are not ready yet,” Van Marwijk said. “But I already knew that before. It’s good when you lose, we deserved to lose 4-1, that you see the players in these circumstances. We made too many mistakes, especially defending. When you lead 1-0 and normally we have a man extra in midfield, when you lead 1-0 you must have the control, especially in the midfield. We didn’t do that. We lost the ball too easily and too much in that area.”
The Dutchman described Australia as “weak defensively” and will continue to look for players to improve his back four. “We have two important players who trained this week for the first time but still couldn’t play, [Matthew] Jurman and [Trent] Sainsbury,” he said. “But yes, you can see we have problems when we defend. I hope that Sainsbury and Jurman stay fit and start to play in one or two weeks. We will work and search to nominate players who will make our defence better.”
Van Marwijk handed attackers Dimi Petratos and Andrew Nabbout, so dynamic in the A-League this season, their debuts and used Aaron Mooy in a screening role alongside skipper Mile Jedinak. As expected he employed the 4-2-3-1 formation that he favoured so often with both Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands.
It was a quiet start for both teams with few attacking opportunities, the first coming to Fredrik Midtsjø in the seventh minute when he blasted his shot over the Australian goal. It was a sign of things to come as the hosts settled quicker and fashioned their first real chance, for Bjørn Maars Johnsen after a sloppy Bailey Wright pass.
It took 19 minutes for the Socceroos to register an effort on goal – and that was all they needed – as Jackson Irvine powerfully headed home against the run of play from Mooy’s corner to put Australia 1-0 up. But Kamara would have equalised four minutes later, had the LA Galaxy forward had not drifted offside.
Norway enjoyed more of the ball in the opposing half but poor technique often let them down. The Socceroos still remained particularly susceptible to quick long balls in behind the defence – a hallmark of the Postecoglou era. On 30 minutes Tore Reginiussen headed wide from a corner, but a goal was coming for the dominant Norwegians. Five minutes later Mohamed Elyounoussi skipped past a few defenders on the left and classily set up Kamara to tie it up.
It was much deserved for the European side, who were far more comfortable on the bumpy pitch than their opponents. Norway were unlucky not to take the lead soon after, as again the Basel winger Elyounoussi continued to torment the Australian back four and the score stayed at 1-1 as half-time dawned and the temperature dropped below zero. Australia then started the second half disastrously, falling immediately behind to a simple set-piece.
Rosenborg’s Reginiussen out jumped Irvine from a straightforward free-kick to make it 2-1. In a bid to reorganise his dire defence, Van Marwijk took off Wright and brought on debutant Aleksandar Šušnjar in the 53rd minute, with Mark Milligan moving to right-back. The change didn’t have desired effect and soon Norway struck again. A bad pass from Mat Ryan gifted Kamara a chance for his second, and the MLS player was in no mood to waste it.
Massimo Luongo, Tomi Juric and Tom Rogic were brought into action, replacing Mile Jedinak, Nabbout and Irvine, to try and spark the Socceroos into action. Australia’s urgency on the ball improved but it was not enough. Robbie Kruse and Nikita Rukavytsya were also introduced in the dying stages to add some attacking bite, however there was only slight improvement.
In injury time Kamara rubbed further salt in the Socceroos’ wounds, finding space to bend the ball around Ryan, notch his third goal of the evening and cap a disappointing debut for Van Marwijk.