Australia vs Nepal

Let's be realistic - this is a game we should expect to win easily. Nepal, although outclassed, put on a very plucky and committed display and didn't let us have it all our own way. Nonetheless, our relative positions in the FIFA rankings were clear from the get go and we accounted for them pretty easily. Once again we kept a clean sheet and we also did our goal difference no harm. So, on the positive side, this was an excellent result.

On the negative side, we were often wasteful or lacked a clinical touch. Graham Arnold took the opportunity to experiment with a few players and our lack of creative depth is a concern. On the whole, it's early days on what will be a long road to the finals and the signs are promising. We'll need to get a lot better though, come the later stages of qualification.