Jedinak: Vidal is only one player Australia captain Mile Jedinak believes his sides early arrival in Brazil will stand them in good stead once the FIFA World Cup™ begins. The Socceroos were the first team to arrive in the host nation and played a friendly against Croatia in Salvador last Friday. They begin their Group B campaign against Chile in Cuiaba this coming Friday and Jedinak, who plays for Crystal Palace, believes they will have the edge in terms of acclimatisation. Its been a great experience so far, particularly I remember having the experience in South Africa four years ago and having it now, its a little bit different with the weather, said the 29-year-old defensive midfielder. But youre able to acclimatise, having the game here as well in Salvador the other night, its giving you that opportunity and I think weve all benefitted from it. Definitely under more trying circumstances than where we are at the minute, its going to stand us in good stead. Chile are likely to be missing key midfielder Arturo Vidal, who is struggling with inflammation under his kneecap, but Jedinak is not expecting his absence to give Australia any advantage. You go through their squad and its one player, he said. He is an important player, but they have many players who are playing at a good level and a number of players in his position who are strong. We know what hes about and how he does things, but we have to prepare how we would normally whether hes playing or not. We cant always control that so we have to prepare for both scenarios. Pressure off the Socceroos According to attacking midfielder Tommy Oar all the pressure is on the talented Chileans, whereas the Aussies do not expect to even make it out of the group and are feeling more relaxed. With the two South Africa 2010 finalists, Spain and the Netherlands, as their other group opponents, a defeat in this game would more than likely end either sides hopes. From our perspective we know all the pressure will be on Chile going into the first game, said the 22-year-old. Were looking forward to trying to take the game to our opponents and showing everyone what were made of. The way expectation will be on them, they know that if they dont get a good result against us their backs will be against the wall. For us, we can go into the game with a lot of confidence and really take it to them.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 21:20:19 +0000
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