Australia ventures into the unknown

Australia ventures into the unknown in tsunami game against Indonesia

Trevor Robb Agence France-Presse/Perth, Australia

Australia will be venturing into the great unknown when it tackles neighbor Indonesia in a one-off soccer match here on Tuesday to raise money for victims of the tsunami disaster.

Australia coach Frank Farina conceded they knew little about their Asian neighbor.

"We've seen some videos of games they played recently but it's difficult to get a lot of coverage of them," Farina said of the team ranked 92 in the world.

"I expect them to be well-disciplined, well organized -- defensively especially."

Australia, ranked 58, and Indonesia have met on 12 occasions, with the former losing just once, but there is no doubt they need to learn a lot more about the strengths of their rival Asian nations -- and quickly.

Last week the Asian Football Confederation voted unanimously to invite Australia to join them rather than compete in the Oceania Confederation for a berth in the World Cup finals.

The move means that after the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Australia, which previously had to win the Oceania group then face a two-leg play-off against the fifth-placed South American nation, will compete for direct entry to the World Cup against other Asian countries.

They defeated one of them, Iraq, 2-1 in a friendly match in Sydney on Saturday but that performance did not impress Farina, nor his players who conceded the team had been flat and lethargic.

Most of the Australians play professionally in Europe and Farina said distances, fatigue and time all worked against them when they come home for internationals.

Players such as Everton's Tim Cahill were all under pressure from their clubs to return as soon as possible, Farina said.

"In the ideal world you'd like to have a lot more time with them," he said.

"The reality is they have to play for their clubs on the weekend and get out on a long-haul trip to Australia.

"I won't just talk about Tim. I'd say 12 to 14 of the players in the squad had enormous pressure put on them... to try and get back early."

But he said the Australians could improve by 60 to 70 percent on their performance against Iraq and were still winning despite the difficulties.

"We haven't lost in 10 games... the team is traveling well," he said. "We're in a healthy state at the moment."

Defender Lucas Neill also conceded the team did not play well against Iraq because it was difficult for them to come from the high-pressure atmosphere of top-flight European soccer.

"We woke ourselves up with a few things," the Blackburn player said of the match against Iraq. "We got a bit complacent."

Neill said players just hoped the could get through the game unscathed but playing for Australia was a good motivation regardless of the occasion.

Farina said he had not finalized a starting line-up but would put out his strongest team for the match which will be played at Perth's Subiaco Oval.