Socceroos fume over Saudi Arabia’s ‘s***housery’ tactics

Australian players were repeatedly forced to endure lengthy stoppages in the game with Saudi players staying on the ground after challenges on the field.

Aussie football commentators on Thursday night were scathing of the behaviour from the visiting team as they desperately tried to hold on against a Socceroos side that was pressing hard early in the second half.

However, the game was turned on its head in the final 20 minutes with Saudi Arabia having three clear chances to score — if not for some classy saves from Mat Ryan in goals.

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However, it was all Australia in the first 70 minutes and Saudi Arabia was doing nothing to disguise the team’s clear tactic of bunkering down and doing everything in their power to cut the time available for Australia as they searched for a goal.

It was not the dream homecoming Australian fans had hoped for when seeing the team play on home soil for the first time in 763 days with the 0-0 result being played out with dumping rain falling on BankWest Stadium in Western Sydney.

Australia had a number of clear chances in both halves with Ajdin Hrustic having a difficult volley from an unmarked position which fizzled into the turf early.

Matt Leckie also nearly found the net with a charge into the box from a wide angle, but his shot was tipped out across the goal.

It looked like Martin Boyle had finally broken the deadlock in the 65th minute when he pounced onto a shot that had rebounded off the Saudi keeper. His strike was again kept out by the keeper with the ball ricocheting into a Saudi defender and bouncing just wide of the goal.

However, from that moment it was all Saudi Arabia.

The away side showed why they remain unbeaten in the final stage of World Cup qualifying as they very nearly pinched the win in the final minutes.

It took three classy saves from Ryan to keep the scores locked at 0-0 — and the Aussies looked very happy when full time was blown.

However, Arnold — and many Australian commentators — were far from happy after the final whistle.

“I think a little bit of frustration set in that with the time wasting and the tactics from the Saudis,” he said.

“You know we have to learn to be better with that. I think that was when they got a couple of their chances.”

Aussie football commentators on social media were much more scathing of some Saudi players when they appeared to exacerbate contact.

Australian journalist Ben McKay posted on Twitter: “Saudi Arabian s***housery is so ordinary yet so brazen it simply must be applauded”.

Other viewers suggested Saudi players had been taking dives.

The result was made even more painful for Australian with key defender Harry Souttar suffering a knee injury. He was stretchered from the field in the second half after buckling in a moment where he was making an explosive change of direction.

Arnold confirmed after the game that Souttar had suffered an injury and will go for scans on Friday.

The Socceroos next fly to Sharjah in the UAE for a clash with China on Wednesday morning (2am AEDT). China face Oman overnight, hunting a second victory to go with three losses in this stage of qualifying. The last time the teams met in September, Australia claimed a 3-0 win thanks to goals from Awer Mabil, Martin Boyle and Mitchell Duke.

The result means Australia now has 10 points from its opening five Group One matches and it three points behind group leaders Saudi Arabia with five game to play.

The top two teams from the group will qualify automatically for the 2022 Qatar World Cup finals.

Originally published as Socceroos fume over Saudi Arabia’s ‘s***housery’ tactics