Stephen Ganavas's report from the Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium
Updated
And with that, I shall say goodbye. Thanks for reading everyone - always a pleasure.
So Australia qualify for the second round. Jordan win the group after their 0-0 draw with Palestine in the other game. Syria finish bottom and go out, which is a real shame based on their performance in the second-half of this one. Palestine must wait for the other results to see if they go through as one of the four best third-placed teams.
What a cracking game that was. Australia dominated for spells but ceded the advantage too easily and almost contrived to throw the game away a couple of times. In the end, they hung on and obviously sealed things with that late Rogic pearler. The Celtic midfielder was the class player on the park, and if Australia are to retain the Asian Cup they’ll need more performances like that from him.
Full-time: Australia 3-2 Syria
Peeeeeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins +3: Australia keep the ball for a long spell down the right, but after some back and forth Ikonomidis cuts the ball back to Rogic who has an absurd amount of space around 25 yards from goal, and he has time to pick his spot. Spot picked, he slams the ball home to send Australia through.
GOAL! Australia 3-2 Syria (Rogic 90+3)
And that’s that!
90 mins: Four minutes of added time. Australia make a late change: Luongo off, and defender Matt Jurman comes on.
89 mins: Free-kick for Syria out on the right. The cross is half-cleared straight to Youssef, he briefly considers a first time shot but instead checks back, tries a delicate cross into the middle but it’s not delicate enough, and goes out.
87 mins: Another corner for Syria, which despite the presence of Al-Soma making life extremely awkward, the Australian defence scramble it clear. But then Youseff gets down the left and cuts back on his right foot, crosses to the far post where Khribin lurks, but he just can’t manage to direct his header at goal.
85 mins: Heavy pressure now from Syria. The dangerous Khribin has a cross that is blocked and put behind. He takes the corner himself, which makes its way out the Youseff on the edge of the area who tries a first-time shot, but it goes wide.
83 mins: Australia will be filthy with themselves if they throw this one away. The Syrians look re-energised after that goal, and they make a final substitution: Mohamad Zaher Almedani replaces Al Mbayed.
81 mins: One more change for Australia: Mabil is hooked, and Robbie Kruse comes on.
GOAL! Australia 2-2 Syria (Al-Soma 80)
Al-Soma takes the penalty himself, sends Ryan the wrong way and we now have quite a ten minutes on our hands.
Penalty to Syria!
79 mins: Well then! After Khribin has a fine free-kick saved, the ball is returned to the middle where Soma goes down in the area. Initially the referee is unmoved, but perhaps after a word from his assistant, points to the spot!
76 mins: Out of nowhere, Syria have a big chance. Three in a minute, in fact. Firstly Milligan does well to head a cross to the near post away, then Mawas booms over a big ball from the right that Soma heads but Ryan saves. Then another save for Ryan, as Khribin gets up for a header at the back stick, but that time he’s penalised for something. Possibly a handball, possibly climbing on his marker.
75 mins: Post! Mabil slips a pass to Giannou on the right side of the box, he splits his stride and carefully thwacks a shot towards goal, but it hits the post and bounces out. Mabil gets to the rebound, but skews his effort wide.
74 mins: An alternative view on the penalty, here:
@NickMiller79 That’s not a hand ball. Confusion about hand ball has mostly come from VAR decisions in World Cup and since which seem to be rewriting the law. Has to be deliberate. It bounced off his foot and he didn’t move his arm towards the ball.
— Roy Allen (@Roy_Allen) January 15, 2019
Meanwhile, another change for the Syrians, as Abdul Malek Anizan replaces Jwayed.
73 mins: Sub for Syria - Fahad Youssef replaces Osman.
72 mins: Rogic has the ball in the net, but after some smashing interplay and passing, after which Rogic rounds the keeper to score, the offside flag is raised.
70 mins: Great chance for Ikonomids, getting some space down the left side of the area. He has a choice between opening up his body for a shot, or crossing to Giannou, but in the end does both and neither, opening his body and skewing a cross/shot out for a goal kick.
69 mins: Good chance for Australia, and Giannou and Mabil exchange passes after the former held the ball up nicely, it falls to Rogic but his shot is weak and easily saved.
67 mins: That’s it for Maclaren, who comes off to be replaced by Apostolos Giannou.
66 mins: Eeesh, that penalty shout doesn’t get any better with the replays. Meanwhile, Luongo splits the defence with a pass through to Maclaren, but the forward was marginally offside.
64 mins: Rogic tries another of those threaded passes through to Ikonomidis, but that one is blocked.
62 mins: Luongo is booked for a hooked challenge from behind on Mawas. Syria try to take a quick free-kick but waste it.
60 mins: Huge protests from the Syrians for a penalty: the ball very clearly hit Milligan on the arm inside the area, but the only reasonable explanation for the referee’s decision not to penalise him was that the ball popped up off the Aussie captain’s foot. Could have gone either way, that.
59 mins: Mawas goes into the book for sticking his elbow in Behich’s face. It might have been accidental, but he can’t complain too much. Well, obviously he can, because he does. At length.
57 mins: Just a brief post-goal interlude, for something nothing to do with this game: here’s Raul Meireles performing in Portugal’s version of ‘Lip Sync Battle’. Enjoy.
Raul Meireles is living his best life.pic.twitter.com/RoagvD11UF
— Dave Phillips (@lovefutebol) January 14, 2019
54 mins: Brilliant work from Rogic out on the left, swinging over one of those nightmare crosses that give defences nightmares. Jwayed almost seems to leave it as the ball goes towards the back post, possibly not realising that Ikonomidis was there, but the forward lunges towards the ball and stabs it under Alma. A desperate dive tries to hook it off the line, but it had just gone over - the Syrians protest at length, but the goal is given.
GOAL! Australia 2-1 Syria (Ikonomidis 54)
Just - just - over the line!
52 mins: Ryan gets away with one after slicing a clearance straight to Mawas who heads it straight back into the danger area, but Australia get away with it because Osman and another player (Soma, I think) were offside.
51 mins: Good play from both teams: nice play between Behich - with a little nutmeg thrown in - and Ikonomidis sets the latter into the penalty area, but Mohamad had tracked his run and did enough to ease him off the ball. Good attacking, good defending.
49 mins: Al-Saleh humps a long ball downfield, but Australia deal with it well enough.
47 mins: Mabil, pumped with confidence from his goal before the break, lines up the free-kick...but sends it miles over.
46 mins: We’re off. Australia immediately have a free-kick around 30 yards out, just to the left of centre.
The players are back out for the second-half. Weird opening 45 for Australia - they started sluggishly, got back into the game and capitalised on their latter good play with a superb goal, then immediately threw it all away by conceding straight afterwards.
Well then. First thing to say is the other game in the group, between Palestine and Jordan, is currently 0-0. So as things stand, the group is very much as you were, with Jordan top on seven points, Australia second with four, then Syria and Palestine on two each, the former ahead on goal difference.
Half-time: Australia 1-1 Syria
Peeeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins: Australian nearly retake the lead on the stroke of half-time. Maclaren gets to the near-post and flicks a shot towards goal, but Alma saves. This has turned into a terrific game.
43 mins: The old cliche about a team being most vulnerable just after scoring, which is usually rot and nonsense, turns out to be true! Al-Jaan puts in a great cross from the left, Khribin gets up in the middle to meet the header, Mat Ryan saves really well, but Khribin himself reacts quickest to slam the rebound into the roof of the net.
GOAL! Australia 1-1 Syria (Khribin 43)
The lead lasts barely a minute!
41 mins: Australia take a quick free-kick and Ikonomidis feeds Mabil on the right side of the area, he cuts back onto his left foot and curls an absolutely sensational shot into the top corner.
GOAL! Australia 1-0 Syria (Mabil 41)
What a goal!
40 mins: Eventually from that corner a cross is clipped to the far post where Mabil is on his own. He hits a strong first-time volley but it’s blocked in the middle: the shot might have been heading wide, but Maclaren was waiting right behind the defender to turn it home.
39 mins: Australia on top here: Ikonomidis shimmies to create a bit of space on the left side of the area, but his attempt at a cross is put behind for a corner.
38 mins: Lovely piece of skill by Osman to skip around Irvine, but ultimately it comes to nothing.
36 mins: Australia go close again with their best bit of football of the game. Some slick interplay eventually leads to Rogic playing an absolutely beautiful threaded pass to Maclaren on the right side of the box. He tries to beat Alma at the near-post, the shot is saved but rebounds back to him, and the second shot is saved too.
35 mins: Ikonomidis takes a rather more direct route to goal, unleashing a woof of a shot from about 25 yards that Alma saves.
34 mins: Ikonomidis is fed by Rogic to the left of the area but quiet literally runs around in a circle before crossing, a cross that is easily headed away.
GOA...NO!
30 mins: That free-kick is fizzed into the middle by Ajaan, seems to miss absolutely everyone and goes straight into the net! But wait! Osman had showed Milligan what physical contact really should be, quite brutally blocking him off as he tried to intercept the ball. Milligan looks groggy for a bit, but gets to his feet and continues.
29 mins: Milligan delicately brushes the shirt of Osman, much like a master dressmaker might gently caress a beautiful new piece of fabric. Osman drops to the floor as if smacked with a house brick, and Syria have a free-kick out on the right.
28 mins: Mabil pops up on the right this time and plays a threatening low ball into the middle, but it’s cleared.
27 mins: Mabil has been pretty quiet so far, but he makes progress down the left and cuts in, shooting when perhaps he could have crossed. The effort is blocked, and Rogic just fails to pick up the pieces.
25 mins: Corrections and clarifications dept: you’re quite right, although that does depend on other results.
@NickMiller79 re: Philippines/Sven - they're not out yet, a win tomorrow should see them qualify as one of the best 3rd placed teams
— Jack Tanner (@mrjacktanner) January 15, 2019
24 mins: Grant suddenly looks a big threat down the right for Australia: Luongo plays him in, he belts into the area and tries a low cross but Al-Saleh gets there in the nick of time to concede a corner, which ultimately comes to nothing.
21 mins: Oh, HUGE chance for Australia. Grant is played in down the right and immediately flings in a perfect cross to Maclaren, who nicks a yard from his marker and meets the header in the middle of the goal, about eight yards out...but glances it wide.
20 mins: And once more, Al-Soma, causing problems in the Australian defence. A big cross from the left aiming for the striker goes just behind him, then skips up and strikes Behich on the arm. Big penalty shouts...which are stopped by the offside flag. Al-Soma’s forehead was just - just beyond the last man.
19 mins: There’s Al-Soma again, collecting a long ball forwards in the area, but he loses his footing at the crucial moment and falls to the turf. There are some vague calls for a penalty, but it was pretty clear the centre-forward slipped.
18 mins: Al-Soma tries a run from deep but he’s eventually stopped. He looks a handful though, to say the least.
17 mins: Australia inch their way back into the game. Luongo cuts a cross back from the left but it’s cleared.
15 mins: Free-kick for Australia out on the right. Rogic and Grant play a little training ground game, each pretending the other is going to swing the cross over, before the former eventually does but the header by Milligan is well saved by Alma.
13 mins: Chance - no, two chances - for Syria: Firstly Mawas gets down the right and does brilliantly to dig out a cross into the middle, and Soma rises semi-unchallenged in the middle to get the header, but he sends it over. Then Khribin is played in on the right side of the area and skims a low shot along the ground, but it goes just wide. Some troubling gaps in the Australia defence there, though.
11 mins: Khribin drifts into the middle from the left and tries to surge towards goal, but he’s knocked to the ground by Irvine, gets up then is knocked to the ground by Rogic. The second foul is penalised.
8 mins: Ikonomidis makes a run down the left channel and for a second it looks like he might streak through on goal, but a fine challenge by Jwayed halts his progress.
6 mins: Australia attack for the first time, after a fashion. Behich charges down the left and clips a cross over, but Syria keeper Alma jumps to catch with no real problems.
4 mins: Syria win a free-kick from absolutely miles out - probably not far off 40 yards when the angle is taken into account, just out to the left. Soma doesn’t let that discourage him though, and takes a long-jumper’s run-up for the shot, but predictably enough it doesn’t make it past the collection of gathered defenders.
3 mins: Not much to report from the opening few minutes. A period of lightly jabbing each other as both teams feel their way into the game.
1 min: We’re away. Syria kick-off and launch the ball straight down the field.
The players are out, lined up and ready to go. Incidentally, it seems Al-Saleh’s kind words about the new coach has paid off: he’s captain today, for the first time.
A few minutes til kick-off, just enough time to read this interview with Philippines coach, Mr Sven Goran Eriksson. The Philippines are out having lost their first two games...but...still.
As mentioned earlier, Syria sacked their coach Bernd Stange - a man familiar to the Australians since he used to coach Perth Glory - after the last game, a 2-0 defeat to Jordan. And it sounds like the decision was a popular one, if centre-back Ahmad Al-Saleh’s views are representative of the dressing room:
I would blame the previous coach 100 percent. He didn’t have the right plans for us, and you can see the result. As soon as Fajr (interim coach Fajr Ibrahim) arrived at the pitch, we knew his tactics and his plans. We all like him and we all wanted him as head coach.
Match preview? Match preview.
Team news
Australia
Ryan; Grant, Milligan, Degenek, Behich; Luongo, Irvine; Rogic; Ikonomidis, Maclaren, Mabil.
Syria
Alma; Al Salih, Al Jwayed, Ajan, Al Midani; Haj Mohamad, Al Mawas, Mobayed, Osman; Khribin, Al Somah.
Updated
Preamble
This should be relatively straightforward for Australia, right? Right? Second in the group, poised to saunter through to the second round, all that’s required is a point against a Syria team who haven’t managed a goal in the tournament yet and who with flamboyant disregard for mid-tournament etiquette, sacked their manager after their last game.
And yet. And yet.
We all expect Graham Arnold’s side to make shortish work of this one and continue in their defence of the trophy, but then again we expected them to beat Jordan in the opening game. Defeat there is why we now reach the third group game in a state of slight uncertainty, and perhaps more than that why there’s a hint of doubt at the back of everyone’s mind that, actually, trouble might be ahead.
The only change from the 3-0 win over Palestine last time out - a win which caused a sigh of relief with more force than the Freemantle Doctor - is expected to be QPR’s Massimo Luongo in for the suspended Trent Sainsbury, with skipper Mark Milligan dropping back into defence. Apostolos Giannou, not even in Arnold’s initial squad, made a case for a starting spot after scoring from the bench last time out, while Andrew Nabbout is back in consideration after his groin twang cleared up, but the front three of Chris Ikonomidis, Awer Mabil and Jamie Maclaren may well stay the same.
So let’s settle in and watch Australia progress, comfortably, right? Right? G...guys? Right?
Kick-off: 00:30am AEDT/13.30GMT/17.30 local
