Final thoughts
Well, a scintillating first half in which Tim Cahill bagged a hat-trick gave way to a snooze-fest of a second. But entertainment value after the break matters little – the Socceroos had already done the job they went to Dhaka to do in a ruthless opening 45 minutes. Cahill proved his class with three well-taken goals and Mile Jedinak chipped in with one of his own, while Aaron Mooy continued to give ammunition to those who claim he is Australia’s best prospect.
That four goals didn’t turn into six or eight or 10 or however many you wanted might be a disappointment to some, but the fact is that Australia have emerged from Bangladesh with all three points, and there can be no complaints.
Victory puts Australia top of their qualifying group, at least until Jordan play Kyrgyzstan in about 30 minutes. And with Tajikistan next up, Ange Postecoglou’s side should head into their final match against Jordan with their fate in their own hands. Two more wins will secure their place in the second round of qualifying, and edge them closer to a place at the tournament proper in 2018.
Time for the Socceroos to jump on a plane and head back home, and for me to sign off. Thanks for joining me, until next time.
Full-time: Bangladesh 0-4 Australia
90+3 min: Indeed it is! All over in Bangladesh and the second half ends as the first did: 4-0 to the Socceroos.
90+2 min: A final chance for Australia to grab a fifth as they win a corner... but no, nothing comes of it and that should be that.
89 min: We’ll have three minutes of added time, which is just dragging out the inevitable three minutes too long.
87 min: We’re edging towards full-time and really, this has been a cakewalk for Australia. Which is just what they wanted from the game, given the difficult travel circumstances surrounding the trip.
85 min: Not sure what exactly’s going on here, but Islam, the Bangladesh skipper, gets booked for remonstrating with the referee a little too vociferously.
83 min: Noise levels have raised slightly in Dhaka over the past couple of minutes, a result of a couple of forays forward into the Socceroos half. Needless to say, nothing comes of them, but Australia will have to remain alert over the final minutes of this game if they are to keep a clean sheet.
81 min: Bangladesh make their first change of the night: Sojib, wearing No7, comes on to replace Ziban, who has cut a frustrated figure at times tonight and is in no apparent rush to get off the pitch. He ambles off to little fanfare.
79 min: Jedinak! The Socceroos skipper pulls off a spectacular overhead kick that is clawed to safety by Alam and interest levels in this dying game are briefly raised.
78 min: Alex Wilkinson throws his arms up in frustration after he slashes a shot wide and well he might – that was a decent chance for the centre-back.
77 min: Harps and Simon Hill are waxing lyrical about Aaron Mooy at the moment, and they’re right – he’s a tremendous player who has had a big impact on tonight’s game with his assists for Cahill. Best player in Australia at the moment? Quite possibly.
74 min: Is Tim Cahill the best header of a ball in the world? Possibly not any more, but there’s a good case he was in his prime. That said, he’s still a real aerial threat – he gets his forehead to another cross here, although this time his effort bounces wide of the post.
first time all 3 subs used before 60' in a @Socceroos match (excluding friendlies) since OFC Final v Solomons 12/10/04 #BANvAUS
— andrew howe (@AndyHowe_statto) November 17, 2015
72 min: Troisi tries to get the ball up and over the wall (which he does) and then down again (which he doesn’t) and the ball whizzes over the bar without troubling Alam.
71 min: Burns takes a tumble on the edge of the box after some neat footwork and Australia will have a free-kick, right on the edge of the ‘D’... could be danger here.
69 min: Josh Risdon’s man bun: better than Mile Jedinak’s beard?
67 min: Now Ziban’s having a moan, clutching his throat after being caught by an errant Wright arm. Sure he’ll be fine.
65 min: Meanwhile, Bangladesh win a corner! And if that isn’t a cause for celebration, I don’t know what is. Nothing comes of it, but still... a corner.
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63 min: Perhaps it’s time to jump on the bandwagon and reminisce about events of 10 year ago. Can you remember what you were doing? I can’t, but do vividly recall the following thought, having learned of the result (and being of an English persuasion): “Bloody hell, they’re going to start beating us at football too now.”
61 min: The game has hit a real lull. You may have realised since this MBM became a BMBM (bi-minute-by-minute). There’s really not much to talk about: Australia camped in Bangladesh half but unable to carve out real scoring chances just about covers the past 10 minutes.
59 min: Just over half an hour remaining and it could be a long 30 minutes for Bangladesh. Their chances of getting back into this one aren’t great. Even getting into the Australian half is proving pretty difficult at the moment.
57 min: Here comes Ange Postecoglou’s final change of the evening: Meredith off, Davidson on.
55 min: Guardian contributor Andrew Howe is an incredible fountain of knowledge. Try this one on for size:
Josh Risdon (born Bunbury) the 1st regional WA-born @Socceroos player I know of since Con Purser (Collie) 1957
— andrew howe (@AndyHowe_statto) November 17, 2015
53 min: The game gets weirdly stretched for a moment as Bangladesh throw a few bodies forward on a rare sortie out of defence, only to get caught short at the back by a long Socceroos ball over the top. Burns is sniffing around, but the home side mop up the danger soon enough.
51 min: It’s safe to say that despite having conceded four, Bangladesh’s best player so far has been their keeper, Sahidul Alam. That may be because he’s touched the ball far more often than any other player in red, but he’s certainly stood out.
50 min: A shot! A Bangladeshi shot! Ziban is the man with it but it’s not on target (indeed it’s sliced high, wide and not very handsome). But it’s a shot nevertheless. Ziban was the man with it
49 min: That’s a shame Luongo has gone off. He’s a player I always enjoy watching, someone who generally gives the impression he can do something special.
48 min: Khan Raju is the next to have his name taken, for welcoming Troisi to the game with a tasty challenge.
47 min: Cahill! Close to a fourth, with his head once again, but this time wide of the mark. And he’s not too happy with himself for missing that chance.
Peeeep!
46 min: And we’re back under way in Dhaka. Two changes to tell you about at the break: Aaron Mooy and Massimo Luongo have departed, with Tommy Oar and James Troisi are on.
Half-time: Bangladesh 0-4 Australia
45+3 min: And there goes the half-time whistle. No complaints from the Socceroos camp after a ruthless opening period. Tim Cahill scored a hat-trick inside 37 minutes and Mile Jedinak grabbed a fourth and surely this is over as a contest. Back with the second half in a bit.
45+2 min: Nathan Burns bustles his way through the Bangladeshi defence, until his run is ended by what could on another day be interpreted as a foul. This isn’t another day though and it will stay 4-0 for now.
45 min: Two minutes of added time to be played is signalled by the fourth official.
Cahill with 1st @Socceroos hattrick since Archie Thompson v Guam 7/12/12. Last >3 goal haul: Joel Porter (4) v Fiji 10/7/02
— andrew howe (@AndyHowe_statto) November 17, 2015
GOAL! Bangladesh 0-4 Australia (Jedinak, 43)
43 min: Another! Jedinak gets his name on the scoresheet with a simple header into an empty net from close range, after Mooy’s deep free-kick found Bailey Wright at the far post. His header back across the face of goal finds Jedinak and that, as they say, is that. Four-nil and no looking back for the Socceroos now.
41 min: Biswas cuts a frustrated figure after he trips Risdon and is pulled up. He flaps his arms around and really he should be a little more careful, given his yellow just moments earlier.
39 min: Biswas goes into the book, the first player to be shown a card tonight, for a flare-up on the far side.
38 min: Right from the off tonight, Cahill had that look in his eye. The kind of look that says “I’m going to score a lot of goals”. You know the one.
GOAL! Bangladesh 0-3 Australia (Cahill, 37)
37 min: Three for Cahill! Three for Australia! McKay feeds Mooy out on the left and his delivery into the middle is neatly turned home by Cahill. This could become a tennis score very quickly. As in a set score, not the score during a game. Although that said, who knows?
34 min: Oooh! Luongo should score here! And that’s a bad miss from the QPR midfielder, heading wide of the post from an unmarked position. Cahill was right behind him, and you suspect he wouldn’t have been so profligate.
GOAL! Bangladesh 0-2 Australia (Cahill, 33)
33 min: And another for Cahill! On the face of it, it looks like the scrappiest goal ever scored, as Cahill gets on the end of Risdon’s cross and bundles the ball across the line amid a scrum of Bangladesh players. Yet Andy Harper calls it “ingenious work”. Hmm, could be somewhere in between, to be fair, with Cahill managing to bounce the ball up into the air before volleying it in.
30 min: Current group leaders Jordan don’t play in Bishkek until 1am, AEST, so if the Socceroos win tonight, they go top, for a while at least.
29 min: Bangladesh aren’t too happy with the treatement being meted out to keeper Alam so far. To be fair, he has been clattered several times. Meanwhile, Guardian contributor JP Howcroft has been impressed by Rayhan Hasan.
#BANvAUS feels like a VHS clip from the 80s uploaded to YouTube. Especially when Ban's number 2 and his dodgy mullet creeps through the haze
— Jonathan Howcroft (@JPHowcroft) November 17, 2015
28 min: Cahill lurks, but Alam gets to Mooy’s delivery first and punches to the relative safety of outside the box.
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27 min: Risdon does well to win a free-kick down his right flank, and Aaron Mooy will have another chance to put a searching ball into the box.
26 min: The Bangladesh keeper goes down again following a hefty midair collision with Jedinak, who also hits the deck. Both appear winded, but both should be fine to continue.
25 min: Twenty-five minutes of this World Cup qualifying Asian Group B clash gone and the Socceroos lead 1-0, thanks to Tim Cahill’s headed goal.
23 min: Andy Harper on the telly can’t seem to get over the state of the pitch, so it’s worth a quick mention – the grass is long, and Socceroos players have on several occasions appeared to get their feet stuck a bit.
21 min: Biswas is now down following a challenge from Mooy, and there’s a break in play, which is probably a good time to plug David Squires’ latest cartoon, which is beautifully poignant this week.
19 min: There’s a growing part of me that would love to see a Bangladesh goal tonight. Because it’s not going to affect the result, right? But it would certainly be a sight to behold, given the excitable nature of this crowd.
18 min: Meredith is effectively playing as a second left winger and again he manages to get in a cross, which flashes across the face of goal. There’s no one there to meet it this time though and the chance goes begging.
17 min: Nathan Burns puts in a typical striker’s challenge on Nasirul Islam, agricultural at best, and Bangladesh have a free-kick as they begin to find their feet.
16 min: Ziban nicks the ball off Wilkinson as he tries to clear his lines and for a moment, however brief, there’s a chance Bangladesh might be in. The hope vanishes as soon as it appears though, not that the crowd appear bothered. Big noise, and as the commentators say, what’s going to happen if they do actually score?
14 min: But wait! Bangladesh launch a ball into the Australia box and the crowd start celebrating like one of their players has just scored a 30-yard screamer. Of course, nothing comes of the move, but still the stadium reverberates in excitement.
13 min: Already this is looking like a case of men against boys. Adam Federici will be lucky to get more than a couple of touches tonight.
@mike_hytner anthems can be a highlight, camera scrolling by the players, individual renditions being belted out. Best / worst: Tony Adams?
— John Murray (@johnismurray) November 17, 2015
Absolutely can be a highlight. My particular favourite is the Italian anthem. Just the kind of track that can be sung with real gusto.
11 min: Lots of play coming through Meredith, the Bradford City youngster, so far. He links up well now with Mooy, who shows real class with a neat turn to get to the byline. His cross is put behind for corner number... three? Four? Lost count already.
10 min: Mooy sends over a high ball into the box from the corner, but this time nothing comes of it and the ball is cleared.
9 min: Barman wins the ball for Bangladesh, but the hosts’ possession is brief. Very brief. And here come the Socceroos again, as they win another corner.
7 min: So, the Socceroos are on their way, and no real surprises as to the identity of the scorer – Cahill doesn’t miss when presented with those opportunities.
GOAL! Bangladesh 0-1 Australia (Cahill, 6)
6 min: Cahill opens the scoring with a neat header from the edge of the six-yard box, nothing more than a nod down as the ball reaches him from Mooy’s free-kick! The Bangladesh defence are nowhere in sight, which could be good news for fans of goals, lots of them, but not so much defensive purists.
5 min: Mooy shows his strength on the ball until he eventually bundled over by Hasan. Free-kick to the Socceroos and they’ll pump it into the box once more.
4 min: Alam is OK eventually, and play continues. His kick is immediately propelled back into the Bangladesh half and the pattern of play in these opening moments has been set.
3 min: Cahill again wins a header in the Bangladesh box, and the Socceroos win their first corner of the night. Wilkinson goes up and bangs into Sahidul Islam, the Bangladesh keeper, who goes down and stays there. Free-kick, and nothing more.
2 min: James Meredith immediately gets involved down the Socceroos’ left-hand side and his deep cross finds Cahill who heads back across the face of goal. There’s a moment of panic in the home side’s defence before the ball is cleared, but an early indication of their composure at the back.
Peeeep!
1 min: Wang Di from China is the main man in the middle out there tonight. And as toots shrilly on his whistle, Bangladesh get things under way in Dhaka!
Advance Australia Fair plays over the Tannoy, although it’s not the greatest rendition ever heard, largely due to the local sound technician fiddling with some knobs, presumably in an effort to pick up what the players are singing, but sadly only succeeding in drowning out everything. They sort it out for the Bangladesh anthem, but that only subjects us to footballers’ sining voices. Which are universally terrible. Not even Chris Waddle or Glenn Hoddle could change opinions on that.
Apparently there are 36,000 fans inside the Bangabandhu National Stadium and the atmosphere is rocking. Here come the teams, and it’s great to see the Socceroos wearing by far and away their best kit ever – the all navy blue affair with yellow trim and numbers. Bangladesh are in all red, with green Tiger slashes across their chests.
A little late, here’s the Bangladesh team:
TEAMS | Bangladesh | Alam (GK), N. Islam, Barman, Khan, Mojumder, Khan Raju, Hasan, Bhuyan, M. Islam, Ziban, Biswas. #BANvAUS
— Socceroos (@Socceroos) November 17, 2015
Here’s Ange Postecoglou, talking to Fox ahead of kick-off:
This game’s an opportunity for us to rejig things a little. [Risdon] has looked pretty good in training. We’ve got a good chance of winning tonight. It’s been an unusual build-up. For the most part the players have been very focused. So far there hasn’t really been any distractions. The mood in camp is phenomenal.
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Just looking at Fifa’s world rankings (depressingly sponsored by a well-known teeth rotter), Bangladesh are 180th, out of 207. So they’re the 27th worst team in the world, worse than Laos and the US Virgin Islands, but better than Djibouti. And the same as New Caledonia and Bhutan, who are equal 180th. So there you have it.
I’ll be honest, Bangladeshi football is not really my thing (there’s hipster and then there hipster) and I’m really hoping the ‘boys’ on the telly will give me an insight into their side. Ned Zelic is on the panel tonight. Love Ned Zelic.
Kick-off is fast approaching in Dhaka. Well, it’s more likely just approaching at a normal speed, what with it being impossible to actually make time go any quicker and all, but anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that we’re pretty much exactly 30 minutes away from starting the game. Kick-off is at 5:30pm local time, 10:30pm on the eastern seaboard of Australia, and 11:30am GMT. Anywhere else, you’ll have to work it out for yourself.
Team news
Here’s how the Socceroos line up tonight:
TEAM NEWS | Here is the @Socceroos team to play Bangladesh in our @FIFAWorldCup qualifier. #GoSocceroos #BANvAUS pic.twitter.com/OfYzoaHo12
— Socceroos (@Socceroos) November 17, 2015
So, Perth Glory defender Josh Risdon gets a first start in a Socceroos shirt. Well done to him. Alex Wilkinson replaces Trent Sainsbury at the back, Tomi Juri and Tom Rogic are both out, so in come Matt McKay and Nathan Burns, and Adam Federici is in between the sticks with Mat Ryan on the bench.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome one and all. It’s a big night for the Socceroos, with a victory against the team currently ranked 180 in the world by those esteemed guardians of our game, Fifa, to put them in a great position to secure a place in the next round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia! Huzzah!
And despite the disrupted preparations due to safety concerns, Ange Postecoglou’s side should have what it takes to come away with all three points from what is something of a smash-and-grab mission to Dhaka. The last time the two teams met, in September, the Socceroos won 5-0, and yes, Dhaka isn’t Perth and a tiring fly-in-fly-out charter from Singapore isn’t quite the same as jumping on a bus from the hotel in Perth CBD to nib Stadium, but still, anything less than victory tonight should be considered a bad night out.
Should all three points be pocketed though, Australia would have 15 with two games to play, both at home, against Tajikistan and current group leaders-by-a-solitary-point Jordan, who play away in Bishkek. So in a nutshell, a Socceroos win tonight should set up a decider to determine the group winner in March against Jordan.
The set-up is slightly confusing, but out of the eight groups in the Asian conference second round, the eight group winners, plus the four best runners-up go through to the third round of qualifying. In the third round, the 12 teams are split into two six-team, home-and-away round-robin groups and... and... and this is where I lose the will to live. Click here for a full explanation from Fifa, who employ special bods who are better at this kind of thing than I am. To say the road to Russia is a long one is an understatement.
Just a small bit of housekeeping before we crack on – you can get me on the email address or twitter handle above throughout the evening if you fancy imparting any wisdom about the game, the Socceroos, football or life in general.
Mike will be here shortly to guide you through events at Bangabandhu National Stadium. In the meantime, have a read about the Socceroos’ disrupted preparations for the game. Here’s coach Ange Postecoglou:
The events in Paris sort of [affected us]. Not just for us – I think anybody in the world, when things like that happen, you want to be close to home.
But Postecoglou said his players for the most part have been comfortable and their minds trained on the clash.
They’re very focused on the game tomorrow night now, and they understand that’s the most important thing for us
Read the full article here.
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