In the end, it really should have surprised no one that Graham Arnold constructed his own reality in the build-up to the Socceroos 1-0 loss to Saudi Arabia. “I’ve been around the national team now for 40 years and I’ve never known a game to be a dead rubber,” he declared. “It’s more about going out against this team that’s qualified for a World Cup and showing our worth, and giving an opportunity for these players to step up and for them to push for a position in the playoff squad.”
Yet despite any contortions in logic to argue otherwise, a dead rubber is exactly what this match was. A 2-0 defeat against Japan the previous week meant that, no matter the result in Jeddah, the Socceroos knew the fate of their qualification campaign now lay in the playoff path. Meanwhile, the Green Falcons were safe in the knowledge that their ticket to Qatar 2022 – as symbolised by the large jumbo jet tifo erected in the stands – was already punched.
