Australia’s chances of automatically qualifying for 2018 World Cup were put in jeopardy after they were defeated 2-0 by Japan in Saitama on Thursday evening.
“At the moment, I can’t pinpoint it. It’s a hard one to take,” said Mark Milligan, who deputized as captain in place of the injured Mile Jedinak. “I have no doubt we will regroup and we will put in a wonderful performance on Tuesday night and we’ll be fine.”
“Japan’s a team while they might have been missing some big names, the ones that come in know what’s expected of them. They have very good players there,” he added, as quoted by Kyodo News.
The Socceroos, who are equal on points with Saudi Arabia, must gain a victory over Thailand in the final round of qualifying to avoid a third-place playoff scenario.