Defensive Woes Continue for Socceroos

Australia have been beaten for the third time in as many matches in the Confederations Cup after a distinctly disappointing 2-0 defeat against Tunisia.

It was unsurprisingly deficiencies in defence that ultimately cost the Socceroos third place in Group A but in truth it was a lacklustre performance all round in a match where qualification was an impossibility for either country.

Frank Farina made five changes from the side which produced a respectable effort against the form team in the world Argentina in the last match, with McKain, Culina, Petkovic, Viduka and Colosimo all starting in a revised 4-4-2 formation.

It was a quiet opening to a match between the two sides without a point between them and it took some enthusiasm from Tunisian Captain and most famous export Hatem Trabelsi to provide the first meaningful effort on goal, feeding Ben Saada who fired into the grateful arms of Michael Petkovic.

Petkovic was claiming his first Socceroo appearance in four years following an injury to usual back up Zeljko Kalac, and the Turkish based shot stopper would've been keen to impress.

Scott Chipperfield was playing at left back in the continued absence of first choice Lazaridis and an early attacking foray saw him behind the Tunisian defence, only for his cross to evade Viduka in the centre.

In an incisive counter attack Culina on the right was similarly put through but once again his attempts to find the Middlesbrough striker proved unsuccessful.

After 22 minutes Australia thought they were staring at yet another first half deficit to contend with when bizarrely Anis Ayari whipped in a free-kick which evaded everybody and ended up in the back of the net.

The Tunisian players wheeling away in celebration were to be disappointed however when the referee rightly disallowed the goal, the free-kick had been indirect and without a second touch cannot count.

But it wasn't long before the all too familiar calamitous defending by Australia was costly.

It took only four minutes for Tunisia to belatedly take the lead in Leipzig, following the most obvious of several defensive errors in this tournament.

When the cross came in it seemed to be a formality for the rarely used Petkovic, but after colliding with defender Lucas Neill the goalkeeper subsequently dropped the ball into the path of a grateful Santos who could hardly miss.

Jason Culina tried to bring his side immediately level with a long range attempt but the events of the preceding minutes had seemed to deflate the confidence of the Socceroos.

After some impressive link up play from the African side the ball fell to Guemamdia who blazed over a first time shot and the Tunisians were now in complete control of the match.

Despite being outplayed in a below par half Australia could have actually finished level following a good effort from Culina. After controlling a long ball from Josip Skoko he took the chance early but still couldn't test the goalkeeper Kasraoui as his right footed strike missed the target.

Milicevic had taken Chipperfield's place in defence following a first half injury and at the beginning of the second stanza Farina made his next change, bringing on Archie Thompson for the still recovering Viduka.

Skoko tried to provide Thompson with an early chance but the inexperienced keeper collected the ball before any damage could be inflicted.

At the other end Australia's defensive misery continued after a mix up where as with the goal communication between goalkeeper and defenders was non-existent.

After substitute Ljubo Milicevic nodded the ball past a jumping Petkovic, Australia were perhaps fortunate to have their collective blushes spared as the ball was cleared to safety.

The Socceroos had one of their first tangible goal efforts when Archie Thompson got free in the box but the young Kasraoui did enough to block his shot.

Culina was looking the brightest spark going forward for the Aussies and he released Thompson only for the offside flag to end another attack prematurely.

Tim Cahill was then introduced into the midfield for Skoko and within seconds he was booked after a wild two-footed challenge on Santos which saw Tunisia's top scorer in World Cup qualifying briefly taken off the pitch.

Easily the best chance of the evening for Australia fell in the 67th minute after a fortuitous bounce saw the ball land with Culina. The FC Twente star then cleverly found an onrushing Cahill but the man looking forward to Champions League football next season spurned a glorious opportunity, executing a left footed volley which went agonisingly wide.

Australia were certainly beginning to dominate proceedings but that miss would prove to be costly as Tunisia capitalised on some good fortune themselves to double their lead in the 70th minute.

Perhaps focused on attacking duties the Australian defence were again caught out as an unlucky touch from Captain Craig Moore diverted the ball perfectly into the path of Santos, and the Brazilian born striker made no mistake with an impressively taken second goal.

Colosimo may have stunningly pulled one back with a seemingly attempted lob from long distance but the crossbar kept the clean sheet for the African champions.

Both sides then had chances in a frantic few minutes, Trabelsi in particular impressing with his marauding runs down the right for Tunisia.

The Socceroos were quite simply bereft of any inspiration and could be thankful to the linesman for not being 3-0 down after a second Tunisian goal was disallowed, this time Guemamdia sweeping the ball home with alarming ease.

Still another great chance that could've reduced arrears arrived and departed as defender Milicevic struck a decent effort wide but the disappointment of the Australian performance could not be overlooked.

Rangers winger Namouchi skewed another attempt wide and that proved to be the last kick of the game as the Australian side went out of the tournament on a note of understandable dissatisfaction.

Germany and Argentina drew 2-2 in Group A's other match, resulting in the host nation finishing ahead of the South Americans on goal difference.

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