Hearts' Atkinson sees 'confident' Australia
- Published
Australia are "very confident" over their Asian Cup chances, says Hearts defender Nathaniel Atkinson.
Atkinson, 24, started Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan as Australia topped Group B. They face Indonesia in the round of 16 on Sunday.
"Everything's sort of gone to plan for us," Atkinson told 大象传媒 Scotland. "The boys are buzzing at the moment. To top the group without any losses is definitely a positive.
"We鈥檙e very confident. Our performance has showed at the World Cup that we can compete against the best teams in the world. Not just Asia, but the world. This team's growing together and we're slowly wanting to climb the rankings in the world as well. We've been doing that with our performances.
"The powerhouses of Asia - South Korea and Japan, then the Saudi Arabians, the Irans - they're all ahead. We're getting used to the Asian teams at the moment, how they want to play the game. Uzbekistan was probably our most predicted tough game and that's how it was, that's how it panned out."
Atkinson now has 10 caps for the senior side.
"It's always good to get a cap and put the jersey on for Australia," he added. "It's been a while, I was injured for the last three months. So it's good to get the badge back on and representing Australia.
"Obviously, we've come into the tournament to win the whole thing so we've got to win every game from here on out and every team is dangerous.
"[Indonesia have] probably got a point to prove and obviously they're happy to get through to the next round and they could be dangerous if we're not up to our standards."