They were disciplined and aggressive. They attacked with intensity and with a freedom that allowed their natural talent and instincts to shine. As full time approached, and the party atmosphere inside the stadium began to reach fever, the Green Falcons were out there just having fun and showing a little razzle dazzle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The scoreboard showed it was a 1-0 win, but it could and should have been so much more were it not for the heroics of Maty Ryan in Australia\u2019s goal; the custodian, struggling for minutes at Spain\u2019s Real Sociedad, producing two world class saves to deny Salem Al-Dawsari and Firas Al-Buraikan in a second-half blitz from the Saudis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leading the charge for the Saudis were the usual suspects – Al-Dawsari, Salman Al-Faraj and Yasser Al-Shahrani, as well as Mohamed Kanno, who has surely developed into one of Asia\u2019s best central midfielders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, primarily because of where they play their club football, do we fully appreciate and value their talent and success?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What has been interesting in the discourse around the current state of the Socceroos has been the discussion about where Australia\u2019s footballers are, or more to the point, aren\u2019t playing their football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gone are the days of the so-called \u2018Golden Generation\u2019 playing at the very top of European football in England, Italy, Spain and Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, this current iteration of the Australian national team has a number of players playing domestically in Australia, a smattering across Asia and North America, and the rest in Europe in places like Turkey, Norway, Denmark, Scotland and Belgium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n