Here’s Stephen Ganavas’s match report:
We’ll leave the final words to Martin Turnbull: “Oh yeah!” he says, a relieved man, like many will be.
And with that, we’ll leave you. Australia are through to the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup. Just.
Well then. The Australian players split their celebrations between Mat Ryan and Leckie, but it’s the Brighton keeper that deserves most of the praise. He saved two of those efforts really well and put his country through to the next phase. It wasn’t pretty for the most part, but Australia are through, where they will face either hosts UAE or the Kyrgyz Republic, whose game kicks off shortly.
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Australia beat Uzbekistan 4-2 on penalties
Matt Leckie buries it into the corner and Australia are into the quarter-finals!
PENALTIES - Australia 3-2 Uzbekistan: Bikmaev stutters in his run up...AND RYAN SAVES! Bad penalty, good save, and Australia can go through if they score their next penalty!
PENALTIES - Australia 3-2 Uzbekistan: Giannou for Australia...sends the keeper the wrong way.
PENALTIES - Australia 2-2 Uzbekistan: Akibaev now...brilliant penalty, right into the corner beating Ryan’s dive.
PENALTIES - Australia 2-1 Uzbekistan: Kruse has a brief argument with the referee about placement of the ball on the spot...but then sticks it into the top corner.
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PENALTIES - Australia 1-1 Uzbekistan: Tukhtakhujaev can give Uzbekistan a big advantage...AND HE DOESN’T! He smacks it high straight down the middle but unusually Ryan stays on his feet and SAVES BRILLIANTLY!
PENALTIES - Australia 1-1 Uzbekistan: Behich up for Australia...and it’s SAVED! Great stop down to his left.
PENALTIES - Australia 1-1 Uzbekistan: Shukurov hammers it straight down the middle.
PENALTIES - Australia 1-0 Uzbekistan: Nestorov gets a hand to it but Milligan buries his kick into the corner.
Looks like Australia will take the first penalty. Milligan steps up...
How are your nerves? Martin Turnbull’s sound frayed...
“Getting worried, along with my son. Went to all the games four years ago - his first love of football.
“We have the better keeper. Just not sure we have the better penalty takers...”
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Full-time, after extra-time: Australia 0-0 Uzbekistan
Penalties it is...
120 mins: Uzbekistan on the attack at the end, Alibaev taking a big wind-up at a shot from long-range but he completely skews it.
118 mins: Khashimov tosses another cross into the middle but it’s too deep. That’s been a feature of the centres from both sides, throughout the game.
115 mins: Milligan takes over long throw duty from the right but an Uzbek defender throws himself to the turf under minimal contact from Giannou, and a free-kick is given.
114 mins: Uzbekistan have been much the better side in this second-half of extra-time. Removing Rogic might turn out to be a mistake for Australia.
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112 mins: Khashimov darts down the right and whips in a low cross, which is cleared at the near-post. He then crumples to the turf with cramp, making sure he stays on the pitch for his treatment.
111 mins: Getting pretty scrappy now. A slightly curious change as Massimo Luongo comes on for Rogic. The Celtic man had a ropey first-half but his influence grew as the game went on. Plus he can’t play in the next game. All a bit odd.
109 mins: Grant takes a booking for pulling back Alibaev, grabbing several pieces of clothing as he hauls his man in.
107 mins: Cuper is going sub crazy: a further change as Azibek Turgunbaev comes on in place of Khamdamov.
106 mins: We’re off again. No score yet. Australia are knocking on the door though.
Extra-time, half-time: Australia 0-0 Uzbekistan
Peeeeeeeeeeeep. Still no score, another 15 to go...
105 mins: Kruse dribbles into the box but steps aside when Rogic arrives for the shot, which curls just wide of the post. Another change for Uzbekistan, as Farrukh Sayfiev replaces Zoteev.
104 mins: Grant hurls a long throw into the box from the right but Leckie was pushing his marker. Meanwhile Shomurodov is removed, replaced by Bikmaev.
103 mins: Leckie sticks one into the mixer looking for Giannou, but he can’t quite win the header. Australia chipping away.
101 mins: Leckie stops and tries to flick a pass over the massed ranks of the Uzbek defence, but it goes to nobody and out for a goal-kick.
98 mins: Giannou passes along the edge of the box, Kruse dummies it for Behich who shoots, but straight at the keeper.
97 mins: Change for Australia: here is Robbie Kruse, on in place of Ikonomidis.
95 mins: Shomurdov, quite in the second-half of normal time after an excellent first 45 minutes, streaks towards goal on the counter but is halted by an Irvine tackle. Fairly? The referee says so, but the Uzbeks aren’t so sure...
94 mins: Australia on the attack: Rogic has a shot which is beaten away, it falls to Leckie but his effort is weak and trickles through to the keeper.
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92 mins: Ikonomidis cuts in from the left and shoots towards the near-post, but that’s saved by Nesterov.
91 mins: We’re off in extra-time. Tense moments...
Daniel Graham has some observations: “Aussies moving the ball way too slowly - Uzbeks just stood there. A complete lack of quality on both sides
“What has Arnie got on the bench to change things?”
Erm...Robbie Kruse? Andrew Nabbout?
Well then. Australia got better - much better, although they couldn’t have been much worse - in the second-half, but couldn’t punch through. Will they manage it in the 30 minutes of extra-time?
Full-time: Australia 0-0 Uzbekistan
Peeeeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins + 2: Close! Ikonomidis stands up a cross from the left which Giannou gets his head to, but can’t beat the keeper.
90 min +1: The first of three minutes injury-time...can Australia find a winner?
90 mins: Khashimov puts over a cross which is put behind for a corner by Sainsbury, as we enter stoppage time...
88 mins: Extra-time looks imminent....
87 mins: Have Uzbekistan been playing rope-a-dope for the whole second-half. Suddenly they look revitalised and on the attack...
86 mins: HUGE chance for Uzbekistan. A cross comes in from the left, it goes over Shomurodov’s head and Masharipov meets it on the volley...but it’s deflected wide. Eeesh, that was close.
84 mins: A rare Uzbekistan attack ends with a wayward cross. And then they’re back to them parking the bus as Australia pass it around. Rogic tries a cross from deep, but it’s too strong and goes over the heads of the attackers.
82 mins: “It’s the little stuff with Australia that is the most frustrating,” writes a frustrated Clare Lawrence. “Passes are constantly too long, short, hard, soft or just plain inaccurate. It’s hard to put a team performance together when we can’t even distribute the ball. Is this just the life of an Australian supporter?”
81 mins: Ikonomidis puts the corner into the middle and it goes within a whisker of Irvine and another Australian (couldn’t quite see who) as they attacked it in the box. Closer, closer, closer.
80 mins: Australia are getting closer: Rogic shoots, it takes a deflection and was probably heading wide anyway, but Nesterov scrambles to the right and paws it behind for a corner anyway.
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78 mins: Khashimov is pretty lucky to stay on the pitch, after ploughing through the back of Milligan. He gets a stern talking to but no more from a referee who has discovered leniency in the second-half, after previously dishing out yellows like free cans of a new fizzy drink outside a train station.
77 mins: Close! Close! Close! Leckie skips down the right, beats his man and enters the area, shoots across goal but it’s saved, and the rebound is smuggled clear by Ismailov before any of the other Australian attackers could react.
75 mins: Another sub for Australia: Apostolos Giannou comes on in place of Maclaren.
73 mins: Change for Uzbekistan: Alibaev is on in place of Sidikov.
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72 mins: Leckie lines up a shot from about 25 yards out, which makes it through the massed ranks of the Uzbek defence and bounces just in front of Nesterov, and the keeper makes an awkward-looking but ultimately effective save, punching the ball clear.
70 mins: Big chance: Rogic passes to Ikonomidis down the left, he cuts back to Rogic who tries a sort of pass-shot hybrid, stabbing the ball into the six-yard box from the edge of the box, where Maclaren stretches but just can’t divert the ball towards goal. He might have been offside anyway, but Australia continue to improve.
68 mins: Change for Australia: Matt Leckie is on for Mabil. Mabil doesn’t look entirely impressed, leaving the pitch on the right side when the benches are on the Australian left. An injury or a tantrum?
66 mins: Short corner for Australia on the right, but Rogic’s cross to the far post is too strong. The Celtic man is usually Australia’s most creative threat, but has been very quiet so far: just an off day, or maybe he’s been spooked by that early goal which will rule him out of the next match. If there is a next match for Australia, that is.
64 mins: Uzbekistan have been quiet in the second period so far but Khashimov gets down the right and zips in the cross, which is headed clear by Sainsbury.
62 mins: Ikonomidis runs down the left and reaches the edge of the box, and looks like his run is curtailed by a heavy challenge from Khamadmov, but the referee turns down the appeals. Ikonomidis might have been penalised for staying on his feet there.
60 mins: Huge chance for Grant again. Mabil delivers a corner from the right, it eventually falls to Degenek outside the box, he skims a cross to the back stick where Grant arrives at pace and gets the header, inside the six-yard box but at a tight angle, but sends it over the bar.
59 mins: Here’s Martin Turnbull again: “Oz is sorely lacking a midfielder with authority. Missing Mile big time.”
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58 mins: Chance for Australia: they get a little joy down the right of the box, the cross comes in which is half-cleared but drops to Grant, rushing forwards from right-back, and his looping header is on target but saved. Again, thin gruel, but signs of improvement at least.
55 mins: Some vaguely promising signs for Australia: Mabil gets down the right but his cross is blocked, then there’s a spell of possession which ends with Rogic’s long pass intercepted. Clutching at straws perhaps, but that was a little better.
52 mins: The ball is played out to the left of the area to Behich, who controls and tries to bring infield, but he stops dead after a clash with Khamdamov. Behich claims he was hit in the face, but at worst that was a rogue hand with no real aggressive intent: no free-kick, and really there was no way he should have stopped waiting for the referee to give him a decision, there.
51 mins: Rogic receives the ball in plenty of space outside the box, looks left, looks right but decides to put his head down and drive into the box himself. But he’s crowded out and eventually just runs the ball out for a goal-kick. A neat summary of things so far for Australia: when they’ve had the ball, they haven’t really known what to do with it.
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49 mins: Neither side really able to put their foot on the ball so far. If Arnold gave the Aussies a rocket at the break, it hasn’t showed yet.
46 mins: A spicy start to the second-half as Khashimov goes flying into Behich, studs up, and gets a massive chunk of the Aussie full-back’s foot. Interesting one for the referee: in most circumstances that was probably a yellow card, but by the standards of the booking he dished out before the break, it was a red. In the end, he chooses yellow.
The players are out for the second-half. Can Australia find something? Can Uzbekistan convert their dominance into goals?
Martin Turnbull is telling it like it is: “Let’s not sugarcoat it. The worst Oz side in a decade.”
Well, no doubt who was the better team in that half. Uzbekistan were dangerous and purposeful, the one thing perhaps missing being a great final ball or a real, clear chance on goal beyond the one Shomurodov hit straight at Ryan early on. Australia, by contrast, were stilted in possession, blunt going forwards and iffy at the back. Plenty of work for Graham Arnold to do at the break.
Half-time: Australia 0-0 Uzbekistan
Peeeeeeeeeeep.
45 mins: Milligan feeds Mabil on the right, who has been quiet as a mouse so far, but despite having options in the box he plays a pass right back to the Australian defence. The ball comes back upfield, Rogic has the ball on the edge of the box with a shooting chance, but it’s on his right side and he isn’t confident enough to take the effort. Another attack fizzles.
43 mins: Finally a little attacking purpose from Australia, as Behich and Ikonomidis exchange passes down the left, but eventually the latter overruns things and Uzbekistan get it clear.
42 mins: Masharipov makes some more tricky moves down the left, he cuts in on his right foot but puts far too much on the cross and it sails over the heads of everyone in the box.
40 mins: ...and after all that discussion, Rogic thumps it into the wall. Not great, this.
39 mins: Behich tries to make something down the left, but in the end is fouled by Khashimov. A number of Australian players gather around the ball to debate what to do with the free-kick, around 25 yards out to the left...
36 mins: More troubling signs for Australia, even if the eventual shot ends up in the stands. Shomurodov simply bullies Sainsbury down the left side of the box, he checks back and tees up Khamdamov, who blazes the left-footed effort from about 25 yards high over the bar. But the ease with which they built that attack and the time Khamdamov had to shoot should be worrying for Arnold.
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35 mins: Quiet spell of the game. Rogic leads a counter-attack for Australia but after he spreads the ball left to Ikonomidis, a heavy first touch gives Khashimov the chance to put in a saving tackle, which he does.
32 mins: Maclaren gets the ball fairly deep and tries to clip a pass over the top, but it’s far too strong and gently trots out for a goal-kick.
31 mins: Australia still really struggling to get any sort of meaningful attack going. They do at least have a spell of possession, but it’s fairly sterile, lots of sideways passing around the halfway line.
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28 mins: Yeesh, Uzbekistan go very, very close. Brilliant work from Masharipov, cutting in from the left, dancing past a couple of Australian defenders like they’re training cones. He squares to Sidikov, about 25 yards out, who shoots low, with some power but it skips just past the post.
25 mins: Another yellow card: Behich is the latest man to go in the book, for a very slightly late challenge on Khamdamov. Extremely harsh. Going on the opening 25 minutes, it’ll be astonishing if we end the game with 22 players on the pitch.
24 mins: Early thoughts on the emails from Clare Lawrence: “The Uzbeks have nice fluid movement between the lines in attack and a good high press. Australia need to react quicker both in attack and defence and be more creative.
“Referee is certainly card happy which doesn’t bode well for the game moving forward.”
22 mins: A ball over the top looks for Maclaren but it’s just too strong for the forward and goes through to the keeper. Australia just haven’t got going yet.
21 mins: Have I mentioned former Valencia and Inter manager Hector Cuper is in charge of Uzbekistan? Well, he is.
19 mins: And now some more rough-housing from Australia...well, sort of, but this one is pretty damaging. Rogic plays a pass to his right, just eluding the challenge of Masharipov, but in putting his foot down following the ball he stepped on his opponent’s foot. Yellow card, most look entirely baffled but it means Rogic will miss the quarter-final, should Australia make it through. Big blow, that.
17 mins: One way to deal with the threat of Shomurodov is to give him a kick, which Sainsbury does, taking his man out on the left touchline. A free-kick is given but no more, and the Uzbek forward goes down holding his back.
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15 mins: No doubt who’s been the better side so far: Uzbekistan are knocking the ball around with purpose and confidence, and it might be troubling for Graham Arnold that his side have started slowly for the second game in a row. A pass through the defence by Akhmedov is cut out by Degenek, but not convincingly and it takes another go to properly propel it from danger.
12 mins: Australia take their first shot on goal: the ball falls to Behich, loping forward from left-back, on the edge of the box, but while his effort had a bit of oomph behind it, it was straight at the keeper who saves with relative ease.
10 mins: Huge chance for Uzbekistan: they win the ball strongly in midfield, then Shomorodov is set away down the left side of the box. The Australian defence just seems to melt away, leaving Mat Ryan as the last/only line of defence, but luckily for the Aussies the Brighton keeper stays big and stops a toe-punted shot. Slightly troubling how easy that was for the Uzbeks, though.
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8 mins: Shukurov tries to test his goalkeeper’s stones/control by absolutely battering a pass back, but fortunately Nesterov, the man with the gloves, dealt with it rather nicely.
5 mins: Uzbekistan have a spell of patient possession, initially moving to attack but when that became untenable they calmly passed it back and started again. A long diagonal finds Masharipov on the left side of the box and his fine first touch takes him past Grant, but Sainsbury swoops in to clear up the danger.
3 mins: Milligan takes the resultant free-kick but his skimmed ball to the back post is too strong.
2 mins: A big ball up field finds Maclaren, and his knock-down eventually makes its way to Milligan, but his shot is blocked. Then Maclaren is wiped out by the nails-looking centre-back Tukhtakhujaev - no early reticence with the cards from the referee, he flashes the yellow before the end of the second minute.
1 min: We’re away. The first casualty of the game is Jackson Irvine, who goes up for a header and comes down holding his neck. Doesn’t look too serious though...
The players are out. Coldplay is on the PA. The one about the stars. No, not that one, the other one.
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If you’re after one to watch from the Uzbekistan side...well, I can’t pretend to be an expert on Uzbek football, but the obvious one would seem to be Eldor Shomurodov, their 23-year-old forward. He plays for FC Rostov in Russia and, while he hasn’t pulled up many trees there, he has scored in every game at this tournament so far.
“What price on Graham Arnold’s retention as coach if the Socceroos exit early from the Asian Cup, given Alen Stajcic’ s sacking?” writes Lawrie Smith.
On the off chance you missed this, Stajcic was surprisingly removed from his position as Matildas coach last week, despite a good results record and to the widespread dismay of the players. Some details here:
A little dash of David Squires will always liven up your day: here he is on the tournament so far.
Match preview? Match preview. Here’s Stephen Ganavas with all you need to know.
Just the one change for Australia, and a pretty predictable one: Trent Sainsbury returns after a one-game suspension with Massimo Luongo dropping out, which obviously means Mark Milligan returning to midfield.
Team news
Australia
Ryan; Grant, Degenek, Sainsbury, Behich; Irvine, Rogic, Milligan; Mabil, Maclaren, Ikonomidis
Uzbekistan
Nesterov, Ismailov, Khaskimov, Zoteev, Tukhtakhujaev, Akhemdov, Khamdamov, Shukurov, Sidikov, Masharipov, Shomurodov.
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Preamble
The group stage is all about getting through. At the 1982 World Cup Italy drew their round robin games but scraped into the next round, and eventually won the thing. Four years ago Australia lost to South Korea, finished second in their group but progressed and lifted the title.
Their opening games this time were arguably even scrappier than that, but the point is Australia are here, in the knockout round, still alive and contending. Now that the hefty sigh of relief has been breathed, they might be able to grow a little confidence. They won their latter pair of games, the second in particular, a madcap win against a Syrian team playing with the freedom of the eliminated and a side with a manager they all liked (the previous one having been sacked a few days earlier) displaying no little skill and character.
On the face of things, you would imagine this to be...not a straightforward tie, but one Australia should win. After all, this is the holders against a side who have never progressed beyond the quarter-finals of this competition. But it still will be ticklish. Uzbekistan won their opening two games and gave Japan a good run in the last.
The hope will be, for Australia, that after a slow start they are gaining momentum. Find out exactly how much momentum shortly.
Kick-off: 1am AEDT/2pm GMT/6pm local
