2018 World Cup qualifying match review: Australia v. Jordan at Sydney (SFS)

Needing only a draw, if that, to book a spot in the next phase in their long and winding World Cup qualifying campaign, the Socceroos faced the oddly-shaped nation of Jordan at the scene of many great international matches, the Sydney Football Stadium.

Given Jordan’s 2-0 victory in the reverse fixture in Amman last October, a close match was to be expected; instead, the Socceroos routed their opponents, whose appointment of English supercoach Harry Redknapp has been in vain, having failed to secure one of the top four runners-up spots.

The hosts were slow to get going: the first major incidents of the match were an early Brad Smith’s tête-à-tête with Baha’ Abdel-Rahman and a Tom Rogić shot on target in the seventeenth minute. Hamza Al-Dardour then snuck onside from a free kick but lacked passing options and was closed down by the Socceroo defence.

In the twenty-fourth minute, the procession of goals began. The first combined assists from Aaron Mooy and Robbie Kruse with a Tim Cahill six-yard-box tap-in. The second came from a counter-attack, Mooy finishing with a sublime strike, unmarked and well outside the box. For the third, Kruse deftly chipped an aerial ball onto the head of Cahill, acting as stand-in captain in the absence of Mile Jedinak.

Cahill’s first shot of the second stanza was blocked, but Tom Rogić goaled with the rebound. Mooy and Mathew Leckie were rested in favour of Massimo Luongo and Chris Ikonomidis after the hour mark; five minutes after their introduction, Ikonomidis got on the end of a Smith throw-in and laid up the assist through a napping Jordanian defence for Luongo to score Australia’s fifth.

The sourest note of the match was the sixty-fifth-minute caution of Yousef Al-Rawashdeh: the Jordanian forward appeared to deliberately ‘cork’ Kruse, whose injury troubles have deprived Socceroo followers of an interrupted experience of his glorious crosses and breathtaking runs down the wing. Not taking any risks, Ange Postecoglou replaced him soon after with Nathan Burns.

Los australianos hammered the Jordanian goal in the final ten minutes but goalkeeper-captain Amer Shafi’s cat-like reflexes repelled everything they threw at him. Al-Nashāmā botched a counter-attack two minutes from time, but soon found a consolation goal when Abdallah Deeb threaded through a fatigued ‘Roos defence.

Australia 5 (Tim Cahill 24’, 44’; Aaron Mooy 39’; Tom Rogić 53’; Massimo Luongo 69’) – Jordan 1 (Abdallah Deeb 90’)

Cautions: Yousef Al-Rawashdeh (Jor.) 65’; Baha’ Faisal (Jor.) 77’; Bailey Wright (Aust.) 80’; Tom Rogić (Aust.) 89’

2018 World Cup qualifying match review: Australia v. Tajikistan at Adelaide

The Socceroos, presumably in homage to Coldplay, unveiled their All Yellow strip (with green socks) as they resumed their World Cup qualifying campaign against Tajikistan on a cut-up Adelaide Oval surface seemingly covered in big strips of green masking tape. Piling up a cricket score against the hapless and wounded Central Asians, they ploughed on ahead of Jordan at the top of Group B.

The sizeable crowd were barely in their seats when Massimo Luongo opened the scoring in the second minute, taking his chance from outside a chockers penalty area. Ten minutes later, captain Mile Jedinak converted a penalty occasioned by keeper Alisher Tuychiev professionally fouling international debutante Apostolos Giannou.

The Socceroos kept firing balls into the penalty area – twenty-three by the fortieth minute to Tajikistan’s one – without adding to the 2-0 scoreline, and the visitors had two players stretchered off. Looking très haut-couture in their white shirt with thin green-then-red-then-green-then-red-again chevrons, they were looking competent enough at the back until they came undone after the interval.

Defender Davron Ergashev was cautioned for collaring Giannou in the box, substitute captain Mark Milligan putting i gialloverdi 3-0 up. Nathan Burns had a few chances before tapping in an Aaron Mooy cross in the sixty-seventh minute, and the subsequent introduction of Tom Rogić, on for Luongo, fired up the Socceroos’ offence. Within five minutes, the Celtic man had netted a brace: the first a Wembley-Tor from a Mooy free kick, the second an opportunist extra-areal strike.

Not done yet, Rogić hit the bar in the seventy-fifth minute, and his team would hit the woodwork twice more. Burns’ second goal completed the rout, a mere training drill on the road to Russia.

Australia 7 (Massimo Luongo 2’; Mile Jedinak [pen.] 13’; Mark Milligan [pen.] 57’; Nathan Burns 67’, 87’; Tom Rogić 70’, 72’) – Tajikistan 0

Cautions: Alisher Tuychiev (Taj.) 11’; Daler Tukhtasunov (Taj.) 27’; Davron Ergashev (Taj.) 56’; Trent Sainsbury (Aust.) 81’; Kamil Saidov (Taj.) 85’

2018 World Cup qualifying match review: Bangladesh v. Australia at Dhaka

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’)

Cautions: Hemanta Biswas (Bang.) 40’; Monaem Khan Raju (Bang.) 47’; Mamunul Islam (Bang.) 87’

2018 World Cup qualifying match review: Australia v. Kyrgyzstan at Canberra

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

Cautions: Kairat Zhyrgalbek Uulu (Kyr.) 56’; Tim Cahill (Aust.) 90’

2018 World Cup qualifying match review: Tajikistan v. Australia at Dushanbe

After the Socceroos’ opening World Cup qualifier in Kyrgyzstan, their next away assignment was an encounter with the equally post-Soviet republic of Tajikistan. The venue was the Pamir Stadium in Dushanbe, one of those stadia surrounded by an athletics track that one sees in those sorts of countries.

Tajikistan had been the scene of civil unrest in the lead-up to the match, and the pitch was surrounded by men in forest green military fatigues. With the home team anchored by a core of club-mates from Istiqlol Dushanbe, the Socceroos found it difficult to convert their high tally of early set pieces into goals. It was easy enough to dribble through the Tajik midfield, but the hosts’ sterling defence showed no sign of letting up.

Melbourne City’s Aaron Mooy was ubiquitous, constantly testing the Persian Lions’ defence with his set pieces, before a corner led to a goal-mouth scramble in the fifty-seventh minute, Mark Milligan slotting home the ball after it appeared to ricochet off the back of a Tajik defender. When in possession, шери порси were inventive, but could never quite put the visitors under enough pressure to threaten an upset, though los australianos had their own problems adjusting to the artificial turf – a far cry from the pock-marked pitch they endured in Bishkek.

His job done, Mooy was substituted off eleven minutes later, and shortly afterwards a Ryan McGowan cross found Tim Cahill, who put the ‘Roos 2-0 up. Tractor Boy Tommy Oar came on for Mathew Leckie, and soon made it three by crossing and thereby facilitating a Cahill header with seconds of normal time remaining.

Tajikistan 0 – Australia 3 (Mark Milligan 57’; Tim Cahill 73’, 90+1’)

2018 World Cup qualifying match review: Australia v. Bangladesh at Perth

The Socceroos met Bangladesh at the Perth Rectangle Oval in their second match on the road to Russia 2018. It was an easy match for the hosts, whose domination of the contest demonstrated the stupidity of the Asian Football Confederation’s decision to expand the group stage of the qualifiers to forty teams.

A brace of Socceroo goals in the sixth and eighth minutes signalled the beginning of the onslaught. The first went to Mathew Leckie courtesy of an overlapping pass from Massimo Luongo, while Celtic’s Tom Rogić did the honours for the second goal, ably assisted by Tarek Elrich. Rogić repeated the dose in the twentieth minute, but Bangladeshi defender Topu Barman (note the surname) got the credit for an own goal.

Nine minutes later, Nathan Burns put the hosts 4-0 up by ending a tense goal-mouth scramble. The following minute, replacement gialloverdi goalkeeper Adam Federici got his first touch of the ball. The Australians’ hegemony was reflected in the tallies of completed passes (500-113 around the hour mark) and in the crowd’s hipster-ironic cheer of the South Asians’ first shot on goal, a speculative effort from the half-way line in the thirty-second minute which went well high and well wide.

In the sixty-first minute, Melbourne City midfielder Aaron Mooy set sail with an outside-the-area strike that gave the ‘Roos a 5-0 lead. Leckie and Rogić were substituted off soon after for Tim Cahill and Chris Ikonomidis; the Shanghai Shenhua forward tried in vain in the final minutes to give the Westralian crowd the headed goal they had come to see.

Bangladesh failed to get the scalp of the Aussies at soccer, but a little birdy tells me that they’re soon being visited by an Australian team in another sport: an Australian team who are playing just rubbish enough to lose to them. Good luck, fellas.

Australia 5 (Mathew Leckie 6’; Tom Rogić 8’; Topu Barman [own goal] 20’; Nathan Burns 29’; Aaron Mooy 61’) – Bangladesh 0

2018 World Cup qualifying match review: Kyrgyzstan v. Australia at Bishkek

Being a connoisseur of sport in the former Soviet Union, I was looking forward to seeing the Socceroos play at the Spartak Stadium in the city formerly known as Frunze.

An article in the antipodean edition of the Guardian gives a feel of the essential post-Sovietness of the ground: dilapidated seating, low-grade turf, and Cyrillic writing, the city’s residents housed in rows upon rows of khrushchyovka. It’s the sort of description calculated to repulse the (post-)modern globalised consumerist Westerner, but it serves as a reminder that there was once another world, born in revolt against capitalism and more real than our baudrillardien pottage of hypocrisy and hyperreality.

Both teams lined up in an alledged 4-3-3 on a pitch that looked not so much post-Soviet as post-grass. The tone for the match was set in the first minute, when the Socceroos attacked from the kick-off, Mathew Leckie drawing a foul. The subsequent free kick was belted in by Mile Jedinak, and the Asian champions had taken their first step down the road to Russia in 2018.

Before they could get settled in, however, the Snow Leopards came at them with all guns blazing. They had mounted two attacks on Mat Ryan’s goal by the seventh minute, the suspiciously European-sounding Edgar Bernhardt looking particularly dangerous. Indeed, the visitors’ next half-chance came in the seventeenth minute. At one end, Mirlan Murzaev hit the side netting; at the other, Nathan Burns had a penalty shout turned down. By the half-hour mark, eight shots had been taken, three-quarters of them by ак барстар.

Defender Daniel Tagoe was cautioned for his challenge on Leckie, but i gialloverdi could do little with the ensuing free kick-corner kick combo. The teams went into the sheds with a 1-0 scoreline showing on the electronic scoreboard in that 1980s alarm clock font, but the real stars of the show were the home side, determined to take the game to their illustrious opponents, and the turf, whose pot-holes and unpredictable bounce forced both sides to avoid the midfield passovotchka and engage in a relentless end-to-end shootout.

After the break, the men in red from the steppes showed that they had more tricks up their sleeve. Their tactic of javelin-throwing the ball into the box at throw-ins almost resulted in Murzaev doing a play-the-ball into the goal. Still threatening with three-quarters of the match played, Kyrgyzstan would finish ahead nine to two on corners and nineteen to eleven on shots. They had dictated the frenetic tempo of the match, and it would be their undoing as a steal by Mark Milligan in the Australian half was passed to a charging Tommy Oar on the left wing, who coolly slotted the ball past the keeper.

To the credit of the Central Asians, they persisted with their high-intensity game, their forcing of a pressured clearance from Ryan just two minutes later nearly resulting in a goal for Anton Zemlianukhin. They did get one back deep in injury time, when a corner kick came off the head of captain Azamat Baymatov and was fully over the line before appearing to touch the hand of substitute forward Almazbek Mirzaliev at the far post. The other interesting occurrence came in the seventy-ninth minute, when a piece of the advertising hoarding surrounding the pitch fell over of its own accord.

But these descriptions of who scored and in which minute don’t do justice to this match. This was the most frenzied ninety minutes I have ever seen: counter-attack upon counter-attack, long balls, verticality, hurried clearances, powerfully launched throw-ins, pressing and gegenpressing. It was as if a new game had been born, one devoid of the tedious passenacio which has come to define modern football. And it was all thanks to a team nicknamed, of all things, the Snow Leopards.

Kyrgyzstan 1 (Azamat Baymatov 92’) – Australia 2 (Mile Jedinak 2’; Tommy Oar 67’)

Cautions: Daniel Tagoe (Kyr.) 31’; Bakhtiyar Duyshobekov (Kyr.) 57’; Alex Wilkinson (Aust.) 83’