Socceroos Player Ratings v Japan

Yours truly assesses just how good the Socceroos were individually against the Samurai Blue in Saitama. Hail to Mark Schwarzer!

Mark Schwarzer: Showed that age nor Fulham signing another keeper shall weary him. He delivered a superb performance for the Socceroos. His one-on-one stop in the first half against Shinji Kagawa was as good as it gets and could only be beaten by a Keisuke Honda penalty. Rating 9

Matt McKay: Delivered a top-notch display right up until the moment he failed to remove his hand from the path of the football. In the end that penalty cost the Socceroos dearly. Rating 6

Lucas Neill: Fox Sports commentator Simon Hill asked pre match “Has a captain ever been under more pressure?” At the time yours truly would have said ‘no and his career is in the balance-. Wow what a performance, this was Lucas Neill around 8 years ago. Brilliant performance from the captain, who routinely cut out Japanese attacking raids in a dominant display. Rating 8.5

Sasa Ognenovski: Back into the side but he didn-t really give a whole lot. Gave away a couple of cheap free kicks in dangerous areas and his plying out from the back wasn-t really up to scratch as Japan pressure him. Rating 5.5

Luke Wilkshire: He just does all the tough work and again Wilkshire delivered on his job. Did little more than that and had to deal with a marauding Kagawa. Rating 6

Tommy Oar: The thing about Tommy Oar is he plays with a freedom to his football. It doesn-t always come off and occasionally her loses control, but sometimes it works. It-s part of being young and the fact his goal may have not been a shot doesn-t matter, the end result does. Rating 8

Mark Milligan: Hard-nosed and hard at it describes Milligan to a tee. He-s captain commitment and he never shirks the task, made several key challenges throughout a solid performance. Rating 7.5

Mark Bresciano: Just wasn-t his night at all. Looked to be off the pace and struggled to control the midfield in his usual manner in this game. Rating 5

Robbie Kruse: Had the chance to put the Socceroos ahead 1-0 in the first half only to be denied by a great save from Kawashimi in Japan-s goal. Made some intelligent runs but didn-t have the overall impact he would have been looking for. Rating 6

Brett Holman: Much maligned after the Oman game, Holman was at his attacking best during this one. Full of running he was the biggest threat the Socceroos had on the Japan goal throughout the match and his creativity to set up chances for others was brilliant to watch. Rating 9

Tim Cahill: Didn-t really find his groove in front of goal but created plenty of chances for other and took Japan-s defenders with him everywhere he went as they worried about his aerial ability. Smashes a difficult volley over the bar in the first half, but played his role without the necessary heroics of matches past. Rating 7

Dario Vidosic: Got 17 minutes as a substitute for Holman but wasn-t able to really influence the result either way. Rating NA