In the pre-game presser, Kyrgyzstan coach Aleksandr Krestinin admitted that some of his players were nervous ahead of their match against the Socceroos and that the team would “pay more attention to the defence”. Yet apart from a jittery opening minute his players were anything but overawed on Tuesday night.
This was the biggest match Kyrgyzstan had witnessed in Bishkek for many years and various fans and media personalities were predicting a blowout score in favour of the Socceroos. You would not have blamed the hosts if they had sat back and soaked up Australian pressure.
Yet under Krestinin the motive is steadfastly to play for three points, no matter how illustrious the opponent. And for the majority of the 2018 World Cup qualifier Krygyzstan were undoubtedly the better team, making a mockery of their 177th ranking in the FIFA standings.
In a week where football minnows such as the Faroe Islands, Albania, North Korea and Guam delivered shock victories, the White Falcons were close to delivering a similar headline-grabber.
This team did not look like a side that has never qualified for an Asian Cup, and certainly did not look like a team that had only played one competitive match in the past year or so.
The Socceroos can be grateful that goalkeeper Valerij Kashuba had a shaky start, though he was not aided by a dodgy bounce, letting through a routine Mile Jedinak free kick with barely a minute on the board. Following the lapse in concentration, however, the Kyrgyz attacked with gusto, pressing the Socceroos incessantly and holding an ambitiously high defensive line.
Forward Mirlan Murzaev scraped shots just wide of Mat Ryan’s post twice in the first half, there were a number of half-chances from distance and the Socceroos looked extremely vulnerable from set pieces.
The midfield trio of Edgar Bernhardt, Bahtiyar Duishebekov and Farkhat Musabekov hassled and harried like demons, exhibiting exceptional ball skills, coolness in possession and neat turns to shake off their direct opponents in Jedinak, James Troisi and Mark Milligan.
Australia’s wingbacks in particular were being given a torrid time, Aziz Behich struggling to contain a lively and skilful Anton Zemylanukhin – who would not look out of place in a top European league – and Ivan Franjic burned for pace every time Mirlan Murzaev got the ball on the opposite flank.
Then there was the Ghanian-born central defender Daniel Tagoe, who dominated in the air and made some crucial challenges throughout the 90 minutes. The most impressive were two sliding tackles on Mathew Leckie and Tommy Oar either side of half-time which prevented clear-cut chances.
The crowd was absolutely rocking, jumping to their feet every time Kyrgyzstan crossed the halfway line and getting more involved the longer their team continued to grab the best of the chances. They were just as surprised as anyone, and it was a pleasure to witness.
Kyrgyzstan did not let up in the second half either, continuing their dominance with Edgar Bernhardt twice wiggling free in the box and going close to goal. Yet an equaliser that almost felt inevitable never arrived.
Oar was the man who would eventually determine the result, his injection from the bench for the solid Nathan Burns giving Australia a more direct route towards goal. Oar’s willingness to run at the Kyrgyz defence paid dividends when Milligan took control in midfield and slipped through a perfect outside-of-the-boot through ball for the young forward to convert.
It was a cruel blow to Kyrgyzstan, but it had no affect on their game. The sell-out crowd of 18,000, probably overflowing with a few extras, and rapturous atmosphere was urging them to at least grab a goal, and the Kyrgyzs delivered in extra time.
There may have been a strong hint of handball – replays were not available in the Spartak Stadium press area – but Azamat Baymatov’s conversion from a corner was more than deserved.
For the Kyrgyzstan players this was the biggest game of their lives and they gave themselves and football in their country a huge boost.
“I think Kyrgyzstan football did very well. This was a very big game in Kyrgyzstan and I hope a lot of people were surprised that we played 2-1. It was OK for us, I was not surprised,” Tagoe said after the match.
“I think a lot of people were thinking 4-0, 5-0, 6-0 or 7-0 and more. And I said ‘no, football is football, the ball is round’. We knew that Australia they are a very good team but we said we’ll try our best with our own style.
“We had opportunities [to win] but I think some of our players were panicking or something. If we play a lot of big matches we get more confidence and we can play better than this.”
Kyrgyzstani-German Edgar Bernhardt admitted that the early goal “killed” Kyrgyzstan and was a big set back.
“But in the end 2-1 against Australia, against the Asian champion, and we don’t play kick and run, we play football. We try everything to make a good game, to make a good game for the supporters,” he said.
“I hope everybody enjoyed, of course the result is not good enough for us. We want three points.”
The ambition and confidence Krestinin has instilled in his players is not so different from what Ange Postecoglou has provided for the Socceroos, and this match will only give them further motivation to tackle the upcoming World Cup qualifiers with vigour.
For the Socceroos the victory in tough circumstances is a job well done, and a perfect start to qualifying for Russia 2018, albeit with a performance that will no doubt need improving.
Kyrgyzstan has more than enough quality to challenge Jordan for second spot in Group B, which would give them a strong chance of qualification for the 2019 Asian Cup. For this city, this nation, Australia’s visit could prove the catalyst for a brighter future for football.
Herbal Lint
Guest
No offence LordBrucie, but we are still ranked 61st out of *210* FIFA national teams....hardly in the realm of minnows, thankyouverymuch!
Eduardo
Guest
All in all considering the shocking state if the pitch ill take the win but to be fair kyrgyzstan came out and played some good football and bodes well for them in the future, especially the fact they didnt come out and park the bus like most asian teams seem to do against australia. In regard to team selection elrich should have started over franjic who just looked awful, behich didnt look much better and from when i have seen him play a handful of times for bursaspor over the past season he has looked quite solid so needs to translate that from to the national team, playing two dms i thought was a mistake would rather see them take one of them out and start tommy oar on the left side of the middle three instead like where he has played at club level for the past few seasons.
Realfootball
Guest
Certainly we are desperately in need of a skilful ball playing midfielder. Troisi isn't a 10. Not sure what he is, actually.
Midfielder
Guest
Dortmund trained Musty as 6 or 8 ... wonders aloud if he should get a start in one of the lessor games...
Midfielder
Guest
+9999
Realfootball
Guest
Indeed...
Realfootball
Guest
My word Jedinak is an awful player. So, so desperately slow and cumbersome. His turnover rate was horrendous. What on earth was Ange thinking when he made him captain and therefore undroppable? Both fullbacks done like dinners by their wingers and our midfield horrible until Oar came on. Milligan had his worst game for the NT. He was very poor. What was there to like about this performance? Only Oar. The CBs were ok, Leckie worked hard. Absolutely nothing else. Very, very poor, even taking into account the pitch and the away game.
Waz
Guest
Hard to know exactly what conclusions can be drawn from this game, it was an odd performance with question marks surrounding several individuals. But was it the timing in the off season, the distance, the pitch, over confidence, the opposition, all of the above? Hard to say really but poor old Ange has got a bit of a conundrum to figure out. Fair to say good teams and good players don't go bad that quickly, that is unless confidence suffers or has suffered which I doubt is the case (yet). I'd love to be able to offer an explanation/opinion on why this performances happened but I just can't. Maybe it's just another example of why football is what it is, the FFA Cup R32 starts in just over four weeks and no doubt we "experts" will be called upon to explain why a so-called superior team couldn't put away the minnow ..... It's football Jim, but not as we know it!
pete4
Guest
Yes 3 points was the main thing here on the long WCQ road Interesting to note our commentary mention the flood lights at Bishkek stadium was donated by the Qatar FA
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Waaay tooooo much information :)
Jack
Guest
I don't and have never rated franij. Bechich is decent though. Trolisi will struggle to stay in team long trrm
LordBrucie
Guest
Bondy - Rather contradictory but quite amusing nonetheless. In my slippers at 1:30am in God knows what country? If it was 1:30am then it's fairly obviously I was in the eastern part of this country! You're wrong about the slippers though - I was however wearing my Kyrgyzstan shirt over me undies!
Freycinet1803
Roar Rookie
I thought Jedinak was close to the worse on field for us. Troisi is a good player, but he isn't that creative midfielder we need in our system (he is best further up). De Silva or Amini I think would have provided greater options for Australia with Luongo out.
Freycinet1803
Roar Rookie
It was 0-0 in Japan. Turkmenistan managed to hold Iran to 1-1 draw at home (considering Iran are the top ranked nation in Asia).
Fadida
Guest
Agree with all of that. What hasn't been mentioned is that Australia scoring in the first minute changed the game totally. Any thoughts the hosts had of containing us went out the window in the first minute. The goal free them up, the pressure was off. Ultimately we won in incredibly challenging circumstances. We know Jedinak is an issue. We know the fullbacks are an issue.
Fadida
Guest
Agree. A poor player. Sadly Franjic isn't the brightest player either.
Chris
Guest
Perspective. Japan dew at home to Singapore and Iran drew to Turkmenistan. It's a tough confederation, Kyrgyzstan are clearly as capable as any of your second tier Asian sides and the reality is that any NT in the world - ANY - would have struggled on that deck up against that side playing as if their lives depended on it as they did overnight. You have to look at the full picture; we played well, well below par, but were it not for the ref missing two blatant handballs (quite unbelievable, both of them) we win this fixture 3-0 and no one ever remembers how tough it was. Full credit to the Kyrgyz, they were excellent in their endeavour but lacked the quality to finish off some of their better work. Saying that Ryan was barely troubled all night. Ange, the staff, the media and all the players assumed they would park the bus; they didn't, they pressed, hard, and Ange was very happy with the result and the experience gained when asked post-match. He was 100% right in saying a year ago we lose that match. Good teams win when they don't play well and don't necessarily deserve to. We take a reality check, learn from it, and we move on with the three points.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
"I just think it’s wonderful to be able to get a little view into a foreign place through football like this." I really like this comment - well said.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
Solid performance, our boys got the chocolates - enough said really.
Bfc
Guest
A great occasion, and the crowd was amazing... We won the points on offer (their goal was a clear handball...) but Kyrgyzstan was not humbled...as reported, the wingers really torched Behich (the right winger has impressive ball control skills) and Franjic, while their MF upstaged ours. Their harassing resulted in a lot of misplaced passes by Jedinak and Milligan, though Milligan made the killer pass that lead to Oar's goal. I would think that Ange will need to reconsider: 1. the MF combo of Jedinak/Milligan/Troisi...lacking in creativity, the front three hardly got any decent ball (how many touches did Cahill have...or Burns for that matter..?) 2. the fullbacks...Franjic seemed 'short of a run' and Behich had a torrid time But...we will happily take the 3 points and note that Singapore had a HUGE result against Japan. A 1-1 draw...the fans of the "Lions" will be partying while the Blue Samurai fans will be drowning their sorrows.