In June, Kyrgyzstan thrilled this blog with
a display of scintillating end-to-end soccer, a sort of Central Asian totaalvoetbal, if you will. They were
unlucky to lose only 2-1 to the Socceroos, and it would be interesting to see
what the men from the steppes could serve up at Bruce Stadium.
It had been cold and wet in the national
capital, and the Canberrans had their umbrellas out prior to kick-off, while
many of the couple-of-dozen-strong away support sported traditional Kyrgyz
hats. The ‘Roos, playing in the familiar combo of yellow shirts, green shorts,
and white socks, had chances early. They entered the Kyrgyz penalty area thrice
in the first ninety seconds, Tim Cahill plowing the best chance into goalkeeper
Pavel Matiash, whose lime green kit surely reminded the locals of sporting
triumphs of days gone by…
At the quarter-hour mark, Melbourne City
midfielder Aaron Mooy had a decent chance and Cahill followed up with the
rebound, his shot grazing the corner of the goal frame. Two minutes later, the
Snow Leopards, resplendent in white shirts with single navy blue and royal blue
hoops at the top, white shorts, and red socks, thought they had a case for a
penalty when replays showed debutante Australian defender James Meredith
pulling the shirt of Akram Umarov.
There was more physicality to come: striker
Ildar Amirov contested a loose ball with right-back Ryan McGowan; Amirov’s
elbow and McGowan’s nose both came off second best. Cahill’s strike partner
Tommy Jurić was substituted early for Nathan Burns. Various gialloverdi attackers peppered the
visitors’ goal, typically assisted by through balls from Mooy, playing the role
of über-cool shiny-headed regista
with aplomb; the most promising was the thirty-seventh minute Burns shot, which
would have been turned in had Mark Milligan got onto the rebound.
The thirty-ninth-minute penalty was more
clear-cut than Kyrgyzstan’s earlier shout; Islam Shamshiev giving Burns a trip
and then a hip-and-shoulder for good measure. Captain Mile Jedinak, a trusted
figure at the penalty spot, hit the top right-hand corner of the net; Matiash
guessed the correct side but dived too low. Los
australianos led 1-0 at the break, Massimo Luongo having an injury-time
tap-in disallowed for offside; the hosts had also cornered the possession
market with seventy-four percent of the ball.
Mooy was in the thick of things early in
the second half, getting on the end of a Jedinak pass and finding Cahill loose
in the box for the Socceroos’ second goal. Four minutes later, Mooy sent a fast
ball across the face of goal which a fuera
de juego Cahill couldn’t get past the keeper.
Things wouldn’t get much better for ак барстар. In the fifty-sixth minute,
Kairat Zhyrgalbek Uulu was cautioned for a foul on Meredith. Midfielder
Shamshiev was subbed off for Vitalij Lux, a forward who plies his trade with 1.
FC Nürnberg’s reserve team, and captain Azamat Baymatov, the inside of his arm
sporting the tattooed words (in English) I
am the master of my fate, ironically found his fate in the hands of the
trainers when he was stretchered off fifteen minutes from time.
The third Australian goal came in the
sixty-ninth minute, when Mooy bombed a corner kick into the six-yard box and
forced an own goal from the head of Amirov. With the three points in the bag,
the home side were able to rest Jedinak and Burns, off for Tom Rogić and James
Troisi respectively; the entry into the fray of the Canberran Rogić met with a
passionate from the knowledgeable locals.
In the seventy-ninth minute, the Central
Asians had their best chance of the night when goalkeeper Adam Federici slipped
over and would have been powerless to stop Lux’s shot had it been executed
better. Troisi and Cahill one-twoed a minute later but the former skewed the
resulting shot, before the Shanghai Shenhua striker had a blinder in the final
few minutes: he appeared to have been brought down in the box, then was ruled
offside (and shown a yellow card, seemingly for tapping the ball into the back
of the net after the linesman’s flag was raised), then had two shots saved in
stoppage time, the second from point-blank range.
It was a commendable performance by both
sides: the Socceroos never surrendered the free-flowing verticalité which has served them so well in the Postecoglou Era,
while the Snow Leopards were solid at the back, and all Australia will be
cheering them on when they take on Jordan at home next week.
Australia 3 (Mile Jedinak 40’ pen.; Tim Cahill 50’; Ildar Amirov 69’ o.g.) – Kyrgyzstan 0
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