Australia captain Neill: We are taking Oman seriously

Australia skipper Lucas Neill insists the team is taking tonight’s opponents Oman very seriously.

Despite the Middle Eastern nations FIFA ranking of 74 compared to Australia’s 14, Neill says Oman, along with a lot of other Asian nations need to be treated with caution.

Speaking yesterday at a press conference on the eve of the Socceroos’ Asian Cup qualifier against the Omanis, the Everton defender said.

“We’ve had a lot of experience with Asian teams,” said Neill.

“We’ve read various things but the public and the media have got to start taking these teams seriously. We have, we always have, there are no easy games and if you look at the table at the moment, they (Oman) have more points than us which is a true reflection of how the group is.

“We haven’t performed, they have so from momentum alone, they will be going into this game with confidence and we have a lot of respect for them and the preparation we have had for this game has been very good for us.

“The boys are in great spirits and the lessons we learnt in the Asian Cup in Bangkok, is something that we take into games like this just to give us a reminder that we have to make sure from the very first whistle we are ready.”

When asked why the Socceroos are sitting on the bottom of their group with just one point, Neill was forthright with his answer.

“Because we haven’t stopped teams from scoring and we haven’t scored enough,” Neill added.

“That’s as simple as it is. We haven’t performed to the ability that Australia can and that’s something we are going to have to put right tomorrow night. We have to make sure we start right, make sure we score the first goal and keep a clean sheet.”