A surprisingly warm autumnal day greeted the Caltex Socceroos who trained for the first time in Sydney on Sunday afternoon ahead of Tuesday night’s crucial World Cup qualifier against UAE.
After arriving on Saturday morning, Sunday was the day in which players made a community visit and a media opportunity at Taronga Zoo.
But the more serious part of the camp began on the track at 3.30pm.
Caltex Socceroos: Group B results and ladder
Sixteen outfield players, including Tim Cahill, and three keepers trained in front of a crowd of around 500, mainly children and parents, at picturesque North Sydney Oval on an excellent surface.
Luongo, and Leckie stretched separate to the group and Jedinak rested at the hotel but all are set to train on Monday with the remainder of the group.
SESSION REPORT (in chronological order)
- Foam rollers and stretching
- Light run and active stretching
- Sprints
- Passing drill in four groups of four (“get your legs moving” yells assistant coach Ante Milicic) in and around poles. Receiving on one foot, passing with the other 20 yards apart.
- Keepers Langerak, Ryan and Vuka warmed up and worked on passing and touch
- Keepers worked on fast ball movement out of the box straight from a restart
- Passing and moving, running onto the ball and playing through the poles one touch.
- Keepers: close shots, quick movement, fast feet
- Longer passing drill on the pitch with players split into two groups. Pass and move while moving forward through poles around 25m in length
- Keepers: close shots low down from both sides of box, fast recovery, next shot
- Keepers: shots from edge of the box
- 8 v 8 possession drill: fast movement, intense two-touch in corner of pitch (25mx25m area) with Pete Clamovski exhorting the players to “keep moving”.
- Keepers: playing out from the box, long and short passes.
- Keepers: stretch down
- Main group stretches down
- Team photo with fans in shot
The Caltex Socceroos tackle UAE in a crucial World Cup Qualifier in Sydney on March 28. Click here for tickets