Muscat was the scene welcomed Oman home to take on Jordan. Oman were two points adrift of Jordan for second place in Group Two coming into the night. The first half was relatively quiet until the final minute, when Fouzi Bashir's shot beat the goalkeeper, but luckily for Jordan fullback Mohammed Al-Dmeiri was on the line to make a clearance. The half ended scoreless.In the opening minute of the second half, a long cross from Jordan captain Amer Deeb led to a sliding shot by Ahmad Ibrahim inside the six-yard box, but he knocked the ball wide of frame. A couple of minutes beyond the hour mark, Oman scored off a messy corner kick play. Ismail Al Ajmi headed down weakly , but his teammate Ahmed Mubarak was first to go to ground and was able to toe poke through two Jordan defenders and into the goal for the opener. With three minutes left to play, Oman sealed the victory. Confusion between a Jordanian center back and his goalkeeper on how to deal with a cross that landed on the six-yard box allowed the ball to bounce to Jumaa Darwish for a sharp-angled tap-in at the far post, leading to a four-person choreographed dance routine in celebration. In the final minute of regulation, a very smooth one-two-one-three-two play by Jordan led to a goal from Thaer Bawab. Oman would not allow Jordan to take advantage of any further lapse in concentration in stoppage time, however, so Oman win 2-1 to leapfrog Jordan in the standings.
Doha, Qatar was the nominal home venue for Iraq as Australia came to town. Both teams were mired in joint last-place on the table coming into the match but knew that a victory could catapult them into second place. The first half was woefully devoid of offense and ended 0-0.
Robbie Kruse nearly opened the scoring for Australia, but he sent a shot centimeters wide of the post. Australia looked like the more dangerous side, but it would be Iraq who would come through with eighteen minutes left to play. A Younis Mahmoud header off a beautiful floated cross half the length of the field from his right back was nodded perfectly behind Matthew Spiranovic, the one defender back, and into the path of substitute Alaa Abdul Zahara. Zahara slotted to the bottom corner to give Iraq a 1-0 lead and life in the group standings. A determined Australia were not about to lose again and go bottom of the group, however. A mistake on the marking scheme on an Australia corner ten minutes from time left forward Zahara on Tim Cahill, one of the best headers of the ball in the history of the sport. Matt McKay's outswinging corner kick came to Cahill on the penalty spot, and he rose above Zahara to push an excellent header back toward the near post for the equalizer. The Socceroos were not down scoring. Spiranovic had a header chance two minutes later but he sent his shot wide. Two minutes after that, another breakthrough happened when two fresh Australia substitutes combined on the match winner. A perfect cross from Tommy Oar allowed Archie Thompson to have a free look at a flick header in the six-yard box, and Thompson converted, giving Australia the lead and the fans an opportunity to witness Thompson and Cahill joining forces as they boxed with the corner flag in celebration. Australia win 2-1.
Japan 10 pts +10
Australia 5 pts 0
Oman 5 pts -2
Jordan 4 pts -6
Iraq 2 pts -2
Goals
Oman
Ahmed Mubarak 62
Jumaa Darwish 87
Jordan
Thaer Bawab 90
Australia
Tim Cahill 80
Archie Thompson 84
Iraq
Alaa Abdul Zahara 72
Match Reports:
http://main.omanobserver.om/node/115577
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/news/newsid=1785977/index.html
http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/football/230713/football-socceroos-back-track-iraq-win
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/no-room-for-complacency-20121019-27wnc.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeqnE9qpNuE (Oman v. Jordan)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sN80pWzPaI&feature=related (Australia v. Iraq)
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