Former Socceroos Craig Foster says Australia's 3-0 defeat of Palestine was a positive reaction after their shock loss to Jordan in their opening game in the Asian Cup.
Early goals from Jamie Maclaren and Awer Mabil gave the defending champions the ideal start before Apostolos Giannou sealed the all-important three points with a third in injury time.
According to Foster, the next game against Syria will be a much tougher assignment for Graham Arnold’s men as they look to seal qualification to the knock-out stages.
“I think they’re heading in the right direction,” Foster told SEN Afternoons.
“The first game was a little bit slow, Jordan were very good in many ways; very aggressive, they matched us physically which we didn’t deal with well, which is surprising.
“I think Graham Arnold is doing a good job broadly, he’s taken them in the right direction, they’re playing the type of football that we need to see.
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“The second game against Palestine - I think they were lower in quality, particularly on the counter, so we didn’t experience the same problems to unbalance us, but it was a good reaction.
“I think they’re starting to grow, we’re capable of doing really well – even winning the tournament, but we’ll know more against Syria, who I think are between Jordan and Palestine.”
Australia will guarantee qualification to the Round of 16 with a draw or a win against the Syrians on Wednesday morning at 12:30am AEDT.
Listen to Craig Foster's chat on SEN Afternoons with Andy Maher in the player below