Final thoughts
Well, Australia probably could have put ten goals past a sloppy and disjointed Kyrgyzstan but they did the job they were there to complete, cruising to a 3-0 win with the lack of finishing about the only major gripe, as well as a groin injury to Tomi Juric.
The Socceroos proved a constant attacking threat and Kyrgyzstan were too starved of possession to honestly appraise. Ange Postecoglou’s impressions? “It’s one thing to have the words but they’ve got to be backed up by actions,” he says, “I thought right from the kick-off we put them on the back foot.” He says he was happy with the intent, structure and discipline tonight and with that, it’s hard to disagree.
That’s it from me for tonight but thanks for joining us for all the live action.
A word from the skipper and the debutant
Mile Jedinak stops by for a chat and says he was happy with his side’s win. “More important tonight was the effort....and getting the minutes in,” he says. “Onto the next one. Rest, recover and get ready for the big game.”
First-gamer James Meredith also has a word and he’s all smiles. “It was brilliant, I loved every minute of it,” he says, adding that he was very grateful for the opportunity. He certainly made the most of it tonight with a creative and assured performance on the left side of Australia’s defence. “I was really surprised,” he says of his shock selection, “but I enjoyed every minute of it and can’t wait for the next one.” Meredith then wanders off and gives his shirt to a fan in the crowd. Great stuff.
Full time: Australia 3 - 0 Kyrgyzstan
90 + 3 min: There’s one last attacking thrust for the visitors but Federici has no problems with a rather tame shot to his left. And with that, we’re done. Australia are home. They had so many chances tonight and might have put a few more away but the job is done.
90 + 1 min: Blimey, Cahill should have scored again here after turning inside his man but his low shot from close range is beautifully saved by Pavel, who has had a mountain of work to do tonight. 30 seconds later he’s saving another clear chance for Cahill. This is crazy stuff.
90 min: Australia’s just massaging it around among their defenders now before McGowan lopes forward and into attack. It’s all a little ungainly and he’s cut off, as is Cahill by the referee’s flag when he’s offside. Cahill turns it into the net and earns himself a yellow card in the process. Milligan wasn’t booked before, by the way.
88 min: Troisi crosses low but a little slow to Cahill as he gallops into the box but he can’t swing it across towards goal. He thinks he’s been impeded by the Kyrgzstan defender but referee Kim Sang Woo is having none of it.
86 min: I’m sure Ange would be happy for this five minutes to disappear very quickly if it meant avoiding further injuries but the attacking spirit of the encounter looks like it’ll be maintained for the whole night. Even Adam Federici shows some nimble foot work with an opponent bearing down on him.
84 min: Lux gets another chance here - flashed across the face and wide - as Kyrgyzstan have their best period of sustained possession so far tonight.
82 min: Was that a yellow card for Milligan? Not even the broadcast team is sure. If so he’s going to miss the Bangladesh game, which would be a blow. Australia win a corner and Pavel doesn’t exactly fill his defenders with confidence when he awkwardly juggles it, but eventually he hangs on to clear danger.
80 min: This is all a bit ragged at the moment - end to end stuff and a bit loose from both sides - so both Lux and Troisi get chances, the latter after a nice one-two between he and Cahill. Neither comes to anything.
78 min: Aaron Mooy has been superb tonight and is almost queuing up for a goal here but he’s blocked before he can even lay his left boot on it and Cahill’s also denied moments later when Rogic puts him through in fine style.
77 min: Kyrgyzstan are scrapping away but not getting much reward for their exertions. Azamat is injured so makes way for Tamirlan.
73 min: Kyrgyzstan are hardly a finesse side so they’re going route one at the moment and trying to belt in some long-range shots. It’s good fun but not much of a threat.
71 min: Nathan Burns is down and out now, subbed off for Troisi because he’s labouring under some minor injury. He put in a shift tonight and probably should have scored.
Goal: Australia 3-0 Kyrgyzstan (Ildar OG, 69)
69 min: This is hardly beautiful football right now but Australia must stay on their toes, even given their dominance. But then...they get a third! Mooy’s delivery from a corner is troubling for the Kyrgyzstan defence and poor Ildar heads it into his own net. Oh dear.
66 min: Pete Smith has another crowd update as McGowan is brought down in a rare attacking foray for the big man. “Official crowd 19,412. Impressive,” says Pete. “Just under the 20,000 that turned out in in Canberra for the visit of Kuwait in 2009.... but way above the 15,000 for the FFA Cup final in Melbourne last weekend!” I feel like Victory fans got off lightly for that one, even though the ticket prices were somewhat prohibitive.
64 min: Kyrgyzstan win a corner after a brief moment of ascendancy but Cahill heads it away so emphatically that you’d half wonder whether he wasn’t trying to score down the other end in the process. Lux looks lively since coming on.
62 min: It’s pretty uninspiring stuff at the moment as Australia play keeping’s off. Mass Luongo is still working hard and contributing for Australia’ He’s been excellent tonight.
60 min: There’s another substitution here for Kyrgyzstan with Islam off and FC Nuremberg’s Vitalij Lux on. Australia meanwhile, sub off Mile Jedinak for Tom Rogic, the local boy. The crowd go almost-wild. Canberra wild. A polite clap and some whistling.
57 min: Mark Milligan has a wild volley now but it lands in row ZZ, so in time-honoured fashion he ducks his head away from the cameras and pretends he’s not even there.
Yellow card: Z Kairat (55)
56 min: Tomi Juric must be spewin’ right now watching Burns manufacture chance after chance. This defence is leaking like a sieve. Still, Burns is yet to score. Kairat was subbed on at the break apparently and now he’s picked up a yellow for a clumsy challenge.
54 min: Burns is just peppering the goal here. He’s like a school bully. Cahill too. Somehow Burns again contrives a way to avoid scoring. Decent save though, even if Pavel had it smashed straight at him.
52 min: The problem here for Kyrgyzstan is that Australia boast far too many attacking options to be fully closed down and soon after Cahill gets his deserved goal, Mooy puts a low free kick into the mixer and Cahill’s almost on the receiving end of a penalty. The visitors survive the attack but this could get ugly I reckon.
Goal: Australia 2 - 0 Kyrgyzstan (Cahill, 50)
50 min: Meredith is getting involved again down the left and it has to be said, has been hugely impressive tonight in winning his first international cap. There’s some slack defending here from Kyrgyzstan, which gives Cahill space off the back to gather a superb pass from Mooy’s in-step and drill it across the face of goal to score! He’s finally on the board.
48 min: Sainsbury floats one over the top hoping that Aaron Mooy can latch onto it but it drifts into the gloves of Pavel, and none of this particularly pleases Ange Postecoglou, who is shaking his head and giving directions to his men after their aimless start to this second half.
Peeeep!
46 min: Aaand we’re away in the second half with some fairly artless hacking around by both sides before Ryan McGowan has to chop off an awkward ball into Kyrgyzstan’s area.
That first half in brief
Kyrgyszstan had a couple of moments, but let’s be honest, with better finishing the Socceroos could be five goals clear on account of their complete and utter dominance. James Meredith has been fantastic on debut, Aaron Mooy and Massimo Luongo a current threat and Tim Cahill and Nathan Burns have done about as much as forwards can do without scoring. Were they wasteful? A little, yes.
The stats are damning: 14 attempts on goal to 1, 71% of possession to the Australians and 4 corners to 1. If that doesn’t convince you the Aussies are right on top, 23 passes into the box to 4 surely does. The only negative for Ange Postecoglou is the groin injury to Tomi Juric that prompted Burns’ introduction after 20 minutes.
One goal to the Croatian bushranger #socceroos
— John Davidson (@johnnyddavidson) November 12, 2015
Half-time: Australia 1-0 Kyrgyzstan
45 + 3 min: There’s one more chance for the Aussies before the break and it falls at the feet of Nathan Burns, who has been an absolute nightmare for the Kyrgyzstan defence since coming on. Lucky for them he blazes his shot a foot or so high.
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45 +2 min: Mass Luongo has been razor-sharp tonight and batters one into the back of the net here but moments earlier he’d been off-side, so it won’t count. Don’t bet against him scoring soon enough though.
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45 min: there’s three minutes of added time and Mass Luongo uses a portion of the first to cut loose by the corner flag but he’s chopped off moments before he was planning on squirting through a low cross.
44 min: Burns is deep in attack on-side when he jinks free on the outside to send a high, looping cross into Cahill but the 35-year-old human marvel can’t get enough on his header so it bobbles un-threateningly to the keeper Pavel. How many shots has he had? 10? 12?
42 min: Oof, Cahill is doing everything tonight and he nearly skips through again before being chopped off before he can get a shot in.
Goal: Australia 1-0 Kyrgyzstan (Jedinak 40)
40 min: Jedinak smashes it into the top right corner and the Aussies finally have the goal they rightly deserved. It was a while coming but they’ve got there.
Penalty!
38 min: Burns is brought down under a heavy challenge and that’ll be a spot kick for Australia. It was a crazy challenge on the edge of the area and Kyrgyzstan finally pay the price for Australia’s sustained period in attack.
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38 min: nothing comes of the corner but Tim Cahill is in one of those moods where he’s just going to score through sheer force of personality, I can tell. ARGH! Mark Milligan has missed a sitter here off a rebound from Nathan Burns’ searing shot. He should have buried a close-range volley there. He tried to side-foot it.
36 min: Phil Withall has also noticed the desperate crowd situation. “It could be the cheap, low-fi television I’m watching on but there doesn’t seem to be much crowd noise tonight, well apart from the OI,OI,Oi chant’s of the school kids. I can only imagine what it would sound like if Australia concede one.” Burns has earned them a corner. That’s a start.
34 min: Football scribe and all-round nice guy Pete Smith has a crowd update. “A couple of chants of Aussie Aussie Aussie which are half-heartedly backed,” he says. “Ironic? Retro cool? Embarrassing Dad? You be the judge!” Just plain old embarrassing, really. Normcore but bad. Borecore?
32 min: Meredith streaks forward again now but sort of stops five yards sooner than Tim Cahill was expecting so the resultant pass to the latter is cut off easily. The Socceroos continue to press hard as Cahill almost closes down the keeper but we’re still amazingly without a score.
30 min: Cahill cushions a header back into danger zone to set up Mooy but his volley is closed down in another hairy moment for the Kyrgyzstan defence. They’e hanging on for grim death but the Aussies are all over them now. It’s a matter of if, not when.
Substitution: Tom Juric off, Nathan Burns on for Australia
28 min: Meredith has a better moment here when he heads forward with great positivity - he’s done very well other than that clumsy challenge - and a cross from him sails just over Cahill’s head, after which another flurry of shots rain down on the visiting goalkeeper. Kyrgyzstan are living on the edge. Both Mooy and Cahill could have thumped one home then.
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26 min: Now Tomi Juric is hurt and in the opinion of Robbie Slater MD, it’s a groing complaint. He doesn’t look happy so Nathan Burns is warming up.
25 min: Phwoar, James Meredith really was lucky to avoid giving away a penalty before. It was a clear infringement on Viktor but after having most of the best chances, the Aussies have probably earned a little luck. Meredith is playing for Bradford City right now and there’s a an appropriately no-nonsense clearance from him here when he puts his foot through it to repel a brief threat from Kyrgyzstan.
23 min: Juric wins a corner for the Socceroos on the far side and Aaron Mooy is the man who takes the dead ball. Cahill’s the target but he’s covered off so comprehensively by defenders he looks like he’s being crushed at the opening of the Boxing Day sales.
Yellow card: Shamshiev Islam
22 min: There’s a yellow here for Islam, though I was a little too focused on checking who he was to see what it was for. The visitors bench is also getting attention from the officials though all seems in order now.
20 min: There’s a bit of a delay here as McGowan’s bloodied nose is seen to and perhaps that’ll give the Kyrgyzstan players a little bit of time to regroup. They’ve been outplayed here but also found some openings themselves in the first twenty minutes.
18 min: James Meredith has a very awkward moment here and was very fortunate not to give away a penalty retarding Viktor, who was in a scoring position. Oof, that was lucky. Very clumsy. McGowan’s also covered in blood after copping an accidental elbow to the schnoz. Ouch.
17 min: The Cahill miss has brought the Aussies to life a little now and they’re soon pinging it about with flair and confidence. Replays reveal that Cahill really tried to massage that shot and it went perilously close to opening the scoring.
15 min: but for an unfavourable deflection there Kyrgyzstan might have counter-attacked with genuine menace, but the game’s in a bit of holding pattern until Jedinak puts Mooy through (he’s cut off well) and then Cahill hits the wood work with his left boot. That came out of nowhere! Cahill’s had two decent chances now.
13 min: The visitors have been able to take the sting out of Australia’s early momentum here, even if they’re breaking down completely as they head forward. Juric gets only a second on the ball before he’s closed down by the corner flag and Aaron Mooy is having a tough time wriggling free too. Mass Luongo looks the threat right now.
11 min: Jedinak meets the corner at the near post and hoofs it away with his head. “Hoofs it with his head?” you ask and yes, I can confirm, this is something the Aussie skipper is capable of. His head is stronger than most feet, I swear.
10 min: I think reader Geoff Foley has been stuck in Canberra traffic before. “Hopefully the people will finally get through the inevitable jam (always happens when more than 20 people want to go to Bruce Stadium) and show that there will always be a good demand for soccer in the Capital. Such a strong NSL history with City and the mighty Cosmos. Alumni such as Farina, Bryant, Alston, Warren and De Jesus deserve better!” Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan are having a decent few minutes here and win a corner.
8 min: They don’t have anything to show for it yet but the Socceroos are dominating possession as they look to thread it through. Jedinak has a long-range shot but it’s deflected out of danger, precipitating more scrambling defence from Kyrgyzstan. Ryan McGowan lays a STRONG tackle in his first big moment of the game to thwart an attack from the visitors.
6 min: Jedinak is gently exerting his influence now, directing play with both his hands and his neat passing to bring Meredith into play again, as does Milligan with a nice one-two. Mooy gets it in space 30 yards out but he’s quickly and judiciously closed down.
5 min: James Meredith is showing a bit of pace down the left but can’t keep it in play when he might have been off to the races to cross it in again towards Cahill so Kyrgyzstan move forward again, but ineffectually. They really haven’t settled yet and they’ve being given no time on the ball.
3 min: Gawd, the Aussies really are going for the jugular right now. They’ve been forward four times in the first three minutes with the Cahill miss the only gilt-edged chance. It bobbed up, he flew at it and caught it on the way up but couldn’t quite bounce it past Pavel with his volley.
Peeeeeep!
1 min: Aaaand we’re away. Kim Sang Woo from South Korea is our referee tonight and with his first whistle we’re a-go. Cahill streams forward for a surprise attack but he’s cut off smartly. The Aussies knock the ball about in defence before heading forward through Meredith before Jedinak hacks it into the area and Cahill almost scores with a volley!
Both teams are now out on the arena and the anthems done with
Mile Jedinak is captaining his national side for the 18th time tonight and he’s in no mood for smiling as he leads the Socceroos out and the ticket-holders who have managed to take their seats give them a rousing reception before the anthems.
Much has been made of the efforts of Kyrgyzstan to source players from any location they can find ‘em (and what else are they meant to do?) but plenty of those playing tonight belt out their anthem to be fair, as do the Aussies. Jedinak’s beard is looking luscious and proud, like he’s just emerged from some mythical ravine with a bearing a magical elixir. Spoiler alert: it’s just a bottle of Gatorade.
Traffic jam watch
Poor Canberrans, they barely get a decent sporting event all summer and when they’ve got one, they’re stuck in the car. 19,000 tickets sold for tonight but there’s nowhere near that number of patrons inside GIO stadium right now.
Reports of traffic jams outside. I hope that's right because as it stands now this is a poor crowd. Not even 10k in here yet, 10m from KO.
— Ray Gatt (@Gatty54) November 12, 2015
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Ange is up for a chat
“Ultimately it’s all about what we do,” says the Australian boss. He says he’s not worried about Mile Jedinak’s lack of match practice. “Everyone else is fit and ready,” he adds, lying just a little bit. “It’s more about us composing ourselves.”
“Tim’s always a threat...with both of them in there it gives us multiple threats in front of goal,” he says of the Cahill-Juric strike partnership. It’s hardly a revelation but I can’t make his quotes up so that they’re more interesting, so there you go. Juric might drop back a little of course, but hopefully his goal-scoring form of recent times continues.
Les Murray is disappointed
Though Rogic himself seems fairly philosphical in an interview with Fox just now. He says he’s not getting ahead of himself right now, though he’s hardly going to tell all of Australia that he’s a massive legend, is he?
Disappointed Rogic is not starting.
— Les Murray (@lesmurraySBS) November 12, 2015
Traffic chaos in Canberra
Don’t laugh, it is now also the capital of traffic congestion.
Big traffic jams on the way to GIO #AUSvKGZ
— Les Street (@official_lesdog) November 12, 2015
Before we get under way tonight
...why not check out David Squires’ A-League cartoon for this week, in which he weighs into the Western Sydney Wanderers ‘grubs’ debate in typically fine style.
Shout-out time
And who better to receive the honour than the man making his debut tonight in replacing Matthew Spiranovic? Go well, James Meredith.
@rustyjacko any chance you can give a mention to #bcafc left back James Meredith please? Making his first ever appearance for Australia!
— Martin Spivey (@bantam84) November 12, 2015
The Socceroos are warming up
Yep, there’s no doubt about it, this is a warm-up. There’s stretching, keepy-uppies, passing and a lot of chatter; all the hallmarks of elite athletes preparing themselves in a professional manner.
“Every kid should know that a brick wall is their best friend,” says Mark Bosnich on Fox. He’s just been presented with a cap by David Gallop, possibly on the strength of that particular observation.
Aaaand your @Socceroos are out for warm up!! #AUSvKGZ #GoSocceroos pic.twitter.com/8mFdq7eJ4m
— Socceroos (@Socceroos) November 12, 2015
Team line-ups
Ange Postecoglou has gone back to basics with a 4-4-2 formation tonight, a tactic I always found worked beautifully in the DOS-based management game ‘One-Nil ‘95’, but the stakes are admittedly higher here.
Australia: Adam Federici (GK), James Meredith, Trent Sainsbury, Bailey Wright, Ryan McGowan, Massimo Luongo, Mark Milligan, Mile Jedinak (c), Aaron Mooy, Tomi Juric, Tim Cahill.
Kyrgyzstan: M Pavel (GK), M Viktor, S Talant (c), B Azamat, K Valerii, S Islam, D Baktyiar, M Farkhat, A Ildar, F Ivan, B Edgar
.@Socceroos name side for tonight's WC qualifier against Kyrgyzstan - live coverage on Ch 505 from 7.00pm EDT pic.twitter.com/K1hKELOkgg
— FOX SPORTS News (@FOXSportsNews) November 12, 2015
Preamble
Greetings folks and welcome to tonight’s big World Cup qualifier between the Socceroos and Kygryzstan at GIO Stadium, coming to you live and uninterrupted.
It’s Canberra, that cradle of the beautiful game, where Australia hasn’t played an international since 2011, so I’m sure the locals are primed for some piping hot international action. Well, maybe not in a literal sense. The weather forecast for tonight is dismal to say the least. Let’s hope it doesn’t bucket down quite as badly as the meteorologists are predicting.
Kyrgyzstan, in case you were wondering, currently sit in 124th place on the Fifa rankings, but they’re only a point behind the Socceroos and genuinely hungry, because tonight shapes as a last chance saloon. Back in June, at Bishkek, they were gallant. Tonight they’ll need to be downright heroic. Their coach thinks they can be. I’m not quite so sure, personally. I get the feeling that they’re in for a rude shock in the opening 20 minutes.
There’s plenty to be optimistic about as the Socceroos head into this game, so let’s instead start with the negatives. Pacey winger Matthew Leckie is missing having been grounded in Germany with a respiratory illness and so too is defender Matthew Spiranovic (who has done himself some kind of calf-based mischief). Goalkeeper Mat Ryan and left-back Jason Davidson have been under a cloud all week and also miss out.
But fear not. Lion-hearted, concrete-boned skipper Mile Jedinak is back and will hopefully lay waste to every challenger in front of him, even if he’s been short on game time of late.
Struggling just as badly on the injury front, if not worse, are the visitors. Coach Aleksandr Krestinin will have to go in without his own threatening wingers Mirlan Murzaev and Anton Zemlianukhin and with them goes much of the counter-attacking panache from the June fixture.
Let’s be honest, the fit players in this Australian squad - Aaron Mooy, Mark Milligan, Massimo Luongo and Tom Rogic - should do the job for the locals in the middle of the park and the likes of Cahill and Juric up front, but we shall see.
Canberra, it's cold but we've got you covered! FOUR different scarves for sale tonight!! #AUSvKGZ #GoSocceroos pic.twitter.com/JWeMy5fro5
— Socceroos (@Socceroos) November 12, 2015
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Russell will be here shortly to take you through tonight’s big game in the nations’s capital, home of the federal parliament but most importantly of all, the burial site of the Canberra Cosmos NSL franchise. Former Socceroos captain Paul Wade once played for them, you know? So did Uruguayan Milton Cortes but he doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. That must sting.
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