Australia has cast aside another minnow, disposing of Kyrgyzstan in Canberra to get their World Cup qualification campaign back on track. From the manner of the win to the absence of fans scaling the light towers, the match bore little resemblance to June’s corresponding fixture in the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek.
It was a relatively subdued atmosphere in the nation’s capital and things were far less hostile on the field for Ange Postecoglou’s men too. They might have left Kyrgyzstan with the points in June, but they were on the back foot almost the entire time. Tonight they controlled the game from the outset, giving Postecoglou something close to the all-out attack he had called for during the week.
Even Australia’s line-up had a vastly different look about it. Postecoglou had fielded 24 players in four games already this campaign and two more were added to that list tonight, with Trent Sainsbury deputising for injured centre-back Matthew Spiranovic and the uncapped James Meredith slotting in alongside him at left-back. Ryan McGowan was given the duties at right back.
Captain Mile Jedinak returned to the midfield, where Aaron Mooy has now become a regular fixture alongside Asian Cup star Massimo Luongo and Mark Milligan, the only Australian to have started every match this campaign. In the absence of Mathew Leckie, Tim Cahill was partnered with Tomi Juric up front, while the visitors had to make do without their leading marksman, Anton Zemlianukhin.
It took 40 minutes and a decent penalty shout for the home side to open their account. It was Jedinak, the man who scored after just two minutes in Bishkek, who again got things under way. This time he converted from the spot after Nathan Burns – an early substitute for Tomi Juric, who picked up a knock in the opening half-hour – was brought down in the box.
The Australians should have been further in front at the break given the way they dominated possession and stirred up the Kyrgyzstan box. Mooy played a leading role in the centre of the park. At one stage he set up Burns; the ‘keeper parried and the ball fell to Milligan, running in on an open goal. It wasn’t to be.
It was fairly typical of the half. Though under plenty of fire, the visitors repelled each wave of attack, even if they had trouble clearing the ball. There was little relief going the other way, save for one iffy moment. With the break looming, Luongo danced through traffic and put the ball past keeper Matiash Pavel, only to be called offside.
Cahill doubled the lead shortly after the resumption of play, beating Pavel at his far post. It was a goal set up by the creative Mooy, who used the outside of his boot to find Cahill in space. The pair almost pulled off an even better effort a few minutes later, Mooy firing across goal to an outstretched Cahill, who nearly snuck the ball in at the near post.
Mooy’s role in the third goal was a little more fortunate. The corner specialist sent the ball towards two Kyrgyz defenders, who outdid Cahill and headed the ball home. The visitors caused a few headaches in the remaining 20 minutes and so to did Cahill, though his only netted ball was disallowed.
A crowd of over 19,000 – not a sell-out but close to it – saved their biggest cheer for local product Tom Rogic when the jet-lagged Celtic striker was brought on in place of Jedinak for the final half hour.
The win will give the Socceroos a nice little bump in their goal difference, and given the way the rest of the continent’s big guns have been scoring, they may need it. But it was again left to a couple of old stagers to get the result.
“I’d prefer we won 10-0, which we should have,” Postecoglou said after the match. “But you look at the number of chances we created, the way we played our football, where we played our football, yeah, I was very happy.”
“I knew that they would sit back tonight,” Postecoglou said of Kyrgyzstan. “And I just knew with the creative players we’ve got in the midfield areas, if our fill backs did their job and stretched them wide, we’d cause them some real problems.”
“We weren’t really happy with the way the last game went...Right from the kick off we were very dominant, which we set out to do.”
Kyrgyzstan now fly back home the Bishkek to host Jordan, who they held a goalless draw last time round. For the Australians, it’s off to Dhaka to face Bangladesh. The Socceroos’ fate won’t be known until March, when they reconvene at home for the deciding matches of these qualifiers.
