After beating Bangladesh 5-0 at the Perth
Oval earlier in the campaign, the Socceroos could have been excused for taking their
collective foot off the pedal in the return fixture at the Bangabandhu National
Stadium in Dhaka. Under a security cloud caused by the appearance of ISIS in
the once terror-free Subcontinental republic, the visitors notched up another
goal difference-boosting win, knocking four goals past their opponents.
Australia, in their now-quotidian
gold-trimmed navy blue away kit, attacked from the kick-off, forcing the Bengal
Tigers to boot the ball out of their penalty area multiple times in the first
three minutes before Tim Cahill headed an Aaron Mooy free kick into goal. The
Melbourne City midfielder has had a blinder of an international break,
involving himself in all four goals here in addition to his excellent
playmaking against Kyrgyzstan.
It was a humid night in Dhaka, and the
hosts’ shirts (red with green trim) were visibly moist and clung to their
bodies as tightly as the players did to their more illustrious opponents.
Bangladesh took nineteen minutes to bother Adam Federici, though they made
their presence felt at the other end: they committed four fouls in the first half-hour
and goalkeeper Shahidul Alam clashed heads with Mile Jedinak.
Shahidul did well on the twenty-eight
minute mark to hold the ball in the field of play after being barged into by
Cahill, but within four minutes his side were 2-0 down, the aforementioned
Cahill fighting off Shahidul and three rossoverdi
defenders in a goal-mouth scramble.
With the ‘Roos having seventy-nine percent
of possession in the opening half, more chances would eventually come their
way. Massimo Luongo tried a header in the thirty-sixth minute, before Mooy and
Cahill combined for the third gialloverdi
goal a minute later. The former broke through the Bengali defensive line and
put himself one-on-one with the keeper, before laying the ball up to the
latter, who made no mistake despite being double-teamed by two defenders.
From the second of two successive free
kicks conceded by the ill-disciplined youngster Hemanta Biswas, Jedinak was
able to put a name other than ‘Cahill’ on the scoresheet, finishing off Bailey
Wright’s headed volley of Mooy’s kick.
Mooy and Luongo were rested at half-time,
replaced by Tommy Oar and James Troisi. Not content with their limited
opportunities thus far, Bangladesh tried to catch Federici napping by pumping a
free kick at him from the half-way line, and frustration got the better of
their captain in the eighty-seventh minute when he saw yellow for remonstrating
with the referee.
The Socceroos, who had seventeen shots on
goal to the Bengal Tigers’ two, played it safe in the second half. The closest
they came to scoring was in the seventy-first minute, when Nathan Burns was
fouled on the edge of the area but sprayed the resulting shot well over the bar,
and nine minutes later, when Jedinak tried a speculative bicycle kick.
Another three points on the board for
t’lads and, thanks to our good mates Kyrgyzstan beating Jordan at home for us, we
now top the group.
Bangladesh 0 – Australia
4 (Tim Cahill 6’, 32’, 37’; Mile Jedinak 43’)
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