Sadly for Socceroos captain Mat Ryan, this was the moment that his World Cup will be remembered for.
Australia’s heroic goalkeeper from the group stages, Ryan was looking for a hole to bury himself in after living out his nightmare in the 57th minute against Argentina, as he conceded a goal to Julián Álvarez after attempting to dribble the ball out.
With two players in blue and white closing in on him, Ryan had his pocket picked and moments later the ball was in the back of the net and Argentina had a 2-0 lead.
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“Utter despair for the Socceroos. Argentina have had little opportunities and we gifted them a goal,” Luke Wilkshire said in commentary for SBS.
“Decision making there for Maty Ryan, should have let the ball go. Tries to dribble out with it. Been pickpocketed and punished yet again.”
Ultimately, it was this moment that proved decisive, with Australia clawing back one goal but unable to find a second.
Ryan has a reputation for being excellent with his feet, with his passes out of defence key to the Socceroos’ ball retention. Yet at this moment he was under so much pressure from closing defenders that even the most ardent advocates of possession football would agree that he should have cleared the ball with his first touch.
Craig Foster said as much at full-time, although he added the caveat that he’d rather see the team stay true to a philosophy based on playing out from the back and make mistakes than to revert to long balls at the first sign of trouble.
“This is a ball back to Maty when he’s drawing the pressure. So from here, the ball goes, you want to play forward,” Foster said. “He plays back. Now the press is coming. And so for Maty Ryan you don’t need to take a touch. That’s the moment you need to decide, that’s just decision making.
“I have said many times and I will say again, I would rather we make the mistake doing this and continuing to play in this way, rather than just getting rid of the ball all the time. Mistakes do happen, [even] the top keepers in the world, Maty Ryan’s had a unbelievable tournament.”
In the moment the mistake happened, social media went into meltdown with Australians sympathetic to their captain.
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FIFA World Cup 2022 in pictures: Agony for Australia as Argentina advances
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