Massimo Luongo and James Troisi have crowned Australia as the kings of Asian soccer in an historic 2-1 triumph against South Korea.
Both scored as the Socceroos downed the Koreans in an extra-time Asian Cup final thriller at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Saturday night.
The Socceroos claimed their first major men’s soccer title amid high drama.
Australia now hold clutch the Asian Cup and A-League club Western Sydney Wanderers the Asian Champions League trophy – the first time any nation has held both at the same time.
The hosts led 1-0 just before halftime courtesy of a magical moment from Luongo.
Luongo, with two sweet caresses – first with his right foot, then his left, all while on the turn – delicately controlled a Trent Sainsbury pass.
The 22-year-old upstart then rifled a 20 metre right-footer which didn’t rise above thigh high to beat the diving Korean keeper Kim Jin-Hyeon.
Luongo’s precocious strike was the first goal the South Koreans conceded in 525 minutes in the tournament.
And it appeared the winner until well into injury time in regulation play when South Korea’s national hero Son Heung-Min equalised just two minutes from fulltime.
But Troisi the crowd of 76,385 into raptures with the winner 15 minutes into extra time.
After substitute Tomi Juric bullocked his way into the box and shot from an acute angle, Troisi pounced on a spillage from Korea’s keeper.
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Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
What if we celebrated all of the achievements big and small, and weeded out those hell-bent on bringing down a game that is doing a hell of a lot right?
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
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