Goals galore as Socceroos go down

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Aaron Mooy smashes in a long-range stunner against China at the East Asian Cup. Source: Ahn Young-joon / AP

SOCCEROOS coach Holger Osieck insists his side's forgettable East Asian Cup finals campaign was a "valuable experience" despite Australia being the worst team at the four-nation tournament.

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Australia's ordinary Cup finished with another loss, this time to China, who beat the Socceroos 4-3 at the Seoul Olympic Stadium in Jamsil.

It was looking far more ugly for the Australians, who trailed 4-1 late in a game played in steamy, energy-sapping conditions.

But consolation goals to substitute Adam Taggart and Mitchell Duke added some respectability to the scoreline.

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However, there is no escaping from the fact that the experimental Socceroos squad, made up largely of A-League players, were outclassed in their three matches, having only a point to show for their efforts.

Ironically, that point came from the match in which they produced the worst performance of the finals, their 0-0 first-up draw with South Korea.

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They somehow managed to escape from that wreckage without defeat, thanks mainly to heroics from goalkeeper from Eugene Galekovic.

But any cracks that were masked that night were well and truly exposed for the rest of the tournament, which Osieck described as the unofficial start of the Socceroos' 2014 World Cup preparations.

Australia will have a vastly different squad in Brazil  next year, when Osieck will be able to call on his first-choice players.

However, a host of fringe players had a chance at this tournament to push their World Cup cause.

And while the likes of Galekovic, Central Coast Mariner strikers Duke, new Western Sydney Wanderers signing Tomi Juric and China-based defender Ryan McGowan put their hands up at various times over the nine days, several others didn't take their chance.

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"We have eight players in the group who have never played at national team level before, but I think it was a valuable experience for all of us to see where they stand and how much work there is ahead to really make it to this level," Osieck said.

"That was definitely the purpose to be here, to play against good Asian teams who are in full swing and in their season."

Osieck last made eight changes to the team that started in Australia's opening two matches of the tournament and gave Socceroos debuts to goalkeeper Mark Birighitti, his Newcastle Jets teammate Josh Brillante and substitute Connor Pain.

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Used in the midfield at the Jets, 20-year-old Brillante admitted he struggled in defence, with centre-back Robbie Cornthwaite having a night to forget.

The only players to start in all three games were McGowan, Duke and seasoned utility Matt McKay, who had more caps combined that the rest of the team that started against China.

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Poor defending allowed China to grab and early lead through Yu Dabao, and even though the Socceroos temporarily got back on level terms through a wonder-strike from Aaron Mooy, the Chinese outfit deservedly grabbed the leadt again 10 minutes into the second half through Sun Ke.

Late goals to Yang Xu and Wu Lei provided the icing on the cake, before strikes from Taggart and Duke eased the Socceroos' embarrassment on the scoreboard.

"We found it difficult to get into the game. Our midfield had been completely restructured," Osieck said.

"We made it a bit easy for them. We couldn*t find the right adjustment in midfield.  There was a lot of maturity in their game."

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