It may have been a friendly, but the Socceroos 4-1 loss to Norway on Saturday (AEDT) hasn't been received too kindly by fans and future opponents alike.
With new coach Bert van Marwijk taking charge of the team for the first time, Australia struggled across the park with Norway taking full advantage as Ola Kamara claimed a hat-trick to ensure the unflattering scoreline.
Less than three months out from the World Cup, the result has got alarm bells ringing for fans while easing the concerns of Socceroos Group C opponents Denmark.
With their coach and indeed nation watching on, the Danes rubbed salt into the Socceroos wounds with newspaper BT declaring in their post-match headline: 'Do not worry, hareide! Norway humiliates Danish World Cup opponent'.
MORE: Socceroos not ready yet for World Cup – Bert van Marwijk
Set to face each other in their second group games in Russia, the Socceroos weaknesses were exposed against Norway with Denmark undoubtedly taking note.
"Norway showed Friday night how to beat Australia, which is one of Denmark's opponents at the World Cup," BT wrote.
"Australia did not show scary strength at all when the team lost 1-4 to Norway in a test match on Friday night."
That analysis was echoed by former Socceroo Craig Foster who described Australia as 'lost' on Twitter.
Australia is lost. Confused. Go forward, step back. Press, don’t press. Attack, defend. Players are caught in the middle. The least they can expect is consistency of plan and vision. A reactive approach made Norway look like Brazil. A rare achievement that.
— Craig Foster (@Craig_Foster) March 23, 2018
The Socceroos must find themselves pretty quickly with another friendly against Colombia looming on Wednesday morning (AEDT).
Ranked 13th in the world, the South Americans will offer an even sterner test for van Marwijk, with Colombia in fact beating fellow Group C side France 3-2 in a friendly on Friday night.
Drawn in Group C for the World Cup, the Socceroos will play France, Denmark and Peru come June in Russia.
