Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson proved during his side’s 4-1 loss to Olympiacos he is fit to play in the upcoming Qantas Socceroos fixtures, according to coach Ange Postecoglou.
Melbourne Victory striker Archie Thompson proved during his side’s 4-1 loss to Olympiacos he is fit to play in the upcoming Qantas Socceroos fixtures, according to coach Ange Postecoglou.
Thompson, named in Australia’s 26-man squad for the friendly against Denmark and World Cup qualifiers against Oman and Japan, netted from the penalty spot in the friendly loss on Saturday night.
Questions had been raised over whether the 33-year-old was match fit, but Postecoglou said Thompson had dismissed any such concerns with his 90-minute performance at Etihad Stadium.
“I thought he (Thompson) looked sharp. We wanted to keep him out there for 90 minutes. He ran the game out pretty well. He still ran pretty hard at the end,” Postecoglou said.
“From a fitness point of view, (Socceroos coach) Holger (Osieck) will know that he’s OK. For the most part, he looked pretty sharp.
“He got in behind (the defence), he caused some problems and got his pen (penalty) and maybe could’ve had one more in terms of opportunities. I think he feels pretty good at the end of the game.
“I’m sure if there were any doubts about his fitness, they’d be dispelled now.”
Thompson started on the left-hand side but drifted across the front line throughout the friendly.
With his team 3-0 down inside 25 minutes, Thompson pulled a goal back from the penalty spot after being brought down, and was lively throughout.
Postecoglou, who led the Brisbane Roar to back-to-back A-League titles with a possession-based game, praised his team for trying to put the plan into practice despite several nervy moments.
“(Olympiacos are) a good side, they’ve just come off their season. We had a really inexperienced outfit, particularly defensively,” he said.
“They had five internationals going off to the Euros (Euro 2012) in their starting line-up.
“I thought we rallied quite well after that (opening 25 minutes). Archie got the pen and we created a couple of good opportunities after that.
“To the boys’ credit, at no stage did I feel like we got into survival mode. They were still trying to play their football, the way we want them to play, full credit to them.”
With a disappointing crowd of 16,879 in attendance, Postecoglou questioned the timing of the friendly.
“Do I think there’s still a place for it? Yeah, but I really think the key thing is timing,” Postecoglou said.
“If this game was in July, when we’ve had a month of pre-season and they’re just on the verge of their season, we would have two or three of our new signings.
“I guess it would be more of an enticement for our supporters to come out here and it would be more a measure of strength between the two teams then.
“I guess the timing of this one is probably a little bit out of kilter to be honest. I think that probably affected the crowd more than anything else.”
