An outspoken Sainsbury said last Sunday he was sick of the constant criticism directed at the Socceroos.

Since the 4-0 loss to Brazil, Sainsbury had a light-hearted approach, joking that he’d now had some sleep after his gripe.

The Jiangsu Suning centre-back still saw positives against Brazil and felt they can match it with Germany, Cameroon and Chile at the Confederations Cup.

“The biggest thing for us is confidence, when we believe in ourselves that we can play against the best team in the world and pop the ball around,” Sainsbury said.

“That’s what it’s all about for us, we’ve got to start doing that and getting to that level, otherwise we’re just going to continue to stagnate.

 

“We can always be that country that sits still or we can try and progress and get to the level where Brazil are at now.”

Sainsbury felt despite conceding early against Brazil, they recovered before suffering a killer goal after the hour mark.

He added: "We won’t be doing that in the Confederations Cup."

The 25-year-old also drew comparisons from the 2015 Asian Cup win, remembering they were in poor form before their successful campaign.

“You look at the lead-up we had into the Asian Cup, I don’t think we won a game for like nine or 10 games,” he said.

“It’s about getting minutes into the legs, trying formations, getting confidence in the boys but when the time comes to really nail down for the Confeds Cup, we’ll be ready.”

Irvine walks off the MCG turf pre-match against Brazil. By Ashley Perez Photography

Socceroo midfielder Jackson Irvine also said the rotations played a part in the loss to Brazil.

He said it was important for second-choice players to have a taste before a big tournament.

“Everyone will be needed over the three games in such a short turnaround,” Irvine said.

“There’s plenty of things to take from it at the end of the day we were all disappointed with the result but we need to move onto the game coming up against Germany.

“We’re going to come up against equally good opposition over there, so it was a good chance for us to prepare and lead a few younger players as well. A few debuts for Dylan (McGowan) and Ajdin (Hrustic) as well.”

Main Photo: Sainsbury, Mitch Langerak and Tim Cahill sing the national anthem. By Ashley Perez Photography