Australia, already qualified for the next phase, played host to Saudi Arabia in a packed mid-sized stadium under a light drizzle in Melbourne. From the opening whistle, there was no questioning Australia's desire to win the match, but the Green Falcons dominated possession early. After twenty minutes of dominion over the ball, a beautiful double cut-back to his right left Salem Al Dawsari open for a long-range screamer, which he unleashed past a diving Mark Schwarzer for a 1-0 Saudi lead. Australia started to get a foothold in the match, however, and a Mark Bresciano ball led to a toe poke goal from Alex Brosque (pictured, blue) just ahead of his sliding defender to level the match at one-goal apiece. Saudi Arabia had an instant response to Brosque's goal with a stoppage time goal from Nasser Al-Shamrani that gave the Green Falcons a 2-1 lead at the break.
After the resumption of play, Australia maintained their motivation and desire to push for victory, which was surely appreciated by Oman and Thailand who were playing their match simultaneously and needed Australia to come back from their 2-1 deficit. Australia appeared to equalize again when Lucas Neill crushed a header that was too hot for Saudi Arabian goalkeeper Waleed Ali (pictured, yellow) to handle, but Neill was controversially ruled offside. Immediately following the offsides, Saudi Arabia attacked down the right flank through Mohammad Al Shaboub, who played an excellent ball across the box to Al-Shamrani. The resulting toe poke went wide of the open net vacated by the onrushing Schwarzer. The man of the match up to the point when Al-Shamrani was substituted off the pitch was Saudi right center back Osama Hawsawi, but he lost that title over a magical three-minute stretch of Aussie perfection. The introduction of Saudi striking legend Yasser Al-Qahtani counter-intuitively invigorated the Aussies. Brosque went up the left side of the pitch and slotted a ball across the box to Harry Kewell, who finished with his first touch for 2-2. Nary two minutes later, Brett Emerton came up the left flank and lofted a pass to a wide-open Brosque at the six-yard box, who then calmly flicked the header into goal for a 3-2 lead. Australia stole the resulting kickoff and got a sliding block of a clearance from Emerton that ended up in the back of the net, netting Australia two goals within a span of thirty seconds and a 4-2 lead with fifteen minutes left to play. Australia held on after a crucial Schwarzer save on Naif Hazazi, winning the match 4-2 and sending Saudi Arabia out of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Of course, Australia alone could not eliminate the Saudis. Hosts Oman or visitors Thailand would have to put up a sufficient result in Muscat to do the job. A goal within ten minutes by Oman let Saudi Arabia know that only a win in Australia would suffice. Surely Oman were scoreboard watching and knew that the 2-1 Saudi halftime lead would be enough to eliminate them, but Oman kept their focus on Thailand and maintaining their clean sheet. Oman brought their 1-0 lead into the break.
The deeper the match went a 1-0, the more desperate Thailand became. With fifteen minutes to go, Oman surely knew that Australia had Saudi Arabia down 4-2, so Oman simply had to hold on to victory in order to advance. Thailand's Teeratep Winothai was ejected for a red card in the eighty-fifth minute, and Oman took advantage of their numerical superiority for a second goal in stoppage time that clinched a 2-0 victory. The win coupled with Australia's means that Oman have advanced to the AFC Fourth Round. Thailand and Saudi Arabia have been eliminated.
Australia 15 pts - IN
Oman 8 pts - IN
Oman 8 pts - IN
Saudi Arabia OUT
Thailand OUT
Thailand OUT
Goals
Australia
Alex Brosque 43,75
Harry Kewell 73
Brett Emerton 76
Saudi Arabia
Salem Al Dawsari 19
Nasser Al-Shamrani 45+2
Oman
Hussain Al Hadri 9
Abdul Aziz Mubarak 90+1
Match Reports:
Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCm413jWdp0 (Australia v. Saudi Arabia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7NvP6yUBW0 (Oman v. Thailand)
Full Match Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXX0hGC0UtA (Australia v. Saudi Arabia)
Full Match Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXX0hGC0UtA (Australia v. Saudi Arabia)
No comments:
Post a Comment