The Socceroos took a win in thrilling style against Greece on Saturday night as Matthew Leckie kicked a goal on the final play of the game to give Australia a 1-0 win.
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Australia threw everything at their visitors on Saturday night at ANZ Stadium, where the rain mercifully held off for the 38,682 who watched the first of two ties between the sides.
Four minutes after Tim Cahill’s 89th-minute goal was disallowed when the ball went out of play, Leckie arrived to belt in the winner from the top of the penalty box in the final play of the match.
Debutant Alex Gersbach provided the slick pass, proving instrumental in his 10 minutes on the field.
The goal was a long time coming for Ange Postecoglou’s men who, despite their possession and 17 shots on goal to Greece’s five, lacked the finishing touch on a patchy pitch.
Greece’s signature defence provided a test for the Socceroos’ developing attack, spearheaded by Greece-born Apostolos Giannou.
It was telling Michael Skibbe’s visitors also brought the new-found aggression, with Apostolos Vellios nearly opening the scoring after one early attacking foray.
Greece were in danger of losing not one but two goalkeepers to injury amid a busy night for medics.
Starting gloveman Orestis Karnezis was forced off inside 10 minutes after copping a heavy blow in an aerial contest with Mile Jedinak before his replacement, Stefanos Kapino, was left worse for wear after smashing into the post while saving a would-be own goal.
That he continued was fortunate for Greece who, after a threatening start, were stretched and sapped as Australia became desperate to penetrate.
Nathan Burns should have netted first. With only Kapino to beat, the winger rolled his sliding effort wide before reinstated midfielder Mark Milligan narrowly cleared the crossbar and had another effort excellently saved by the Greece custodian.
Australia thought the time had come when Ioannis Maniatis recklessly brought down Robbie Kruse just inside the area, but calls for a penalty went unheeded.
Postecoglou shuffled the decks with half an hour to go, substituting Robbie Kruse and Aaron Mooy with Mathew Legic and Tom Rogic before bringing off Giannou and Burns for Tim Cahill and Chris Ikonomidis.
The spark was lit and the Socceroos attacked in waves, with Cahill heading just wide, Rogic following suit with his boot and Trent Sainsbury hitting the post.
Cahill’s celebrations were cut short by the referee, but were ignited once more once Leckie had his moment.
In the end it was a wonderful game of football, despite there being just the one goal on the stroke of full time.
A valiant effort from Greece who continued to fight and muscle their way into the contest. Australia had the run of play for the majority and deserved the win in the end.
Final score
Australia 1
Greece 0
With AAP.
Paul
Guest
In a word no. Don't even know where the studio is.
Punter
Guest
Ange is employed by the FFA & in charge of a certain (important) section of the FFA, but he is not their spokesman. If anything Ange's complaint is aimed at the FFA as well as the stadiums of this country. If you are paid to do a job & there are obvious hindrance in your job, especially a high profile role, you should complain. Especially with football fans around the country voicing the same complaint. We as football fans watch a lot of football around the world, we see a country like England where wet weather is one of the first things that come to mind, we see perfect pitches. Is that so in your eyes not expected, the Rugby league have also complained about the state of the pitches.
Punter
Guest
That is the operative word 'Collaboration', it did not exist. The FFA made the mistake & asked for collaboration for their biggest day of the season, there was none. We have seen this collaboration with the AFL in Sydney, where unlike Melbourne, where you are king & all bows before them, in Sydney you are not king & they come across as a bully.
Punter
Guest
Thanks Nick.
Ahmed
Guest
I understand your point. I agree with it to an extent. But Ange is is an employee of the FFA and is acting on behalf of them whilst performing coaching duties. People get sacked if they don't toe company line on issues, even when they aren't at work. Let alone speaking to the international media.
Ahmed
Guest
The AFL scheduled their matches, organised catering, accomodation, booked flights, transport etc. The FFA did no booking of standby stadiums for the eventuality of a grand final. The FFA then expected the AFL to drop all of their commitments (many financial). That is not collaboration.
Punter
Guest
Being an AFL fan Ahmed, I know you don't understand the difference, but it was the Australian coach who was complaining not the FFA!!!! Facts, not really that important when you have an agenda.
Punter
Guest
No, we all know you are a Juve fan from way back in the 70s & spent the whole weekend watching videos of past glories.
Punter
Guest
Yes, we saw that with teh GF last year!!!!
Ahmed
Guest
This is what the AFL does I believe. The FFA should employ someone to assess this, and liaise with the stadiums rather than complaining to the media about everything. Not attempting to ignite a code war. But it is also very interesting that SOME fans wreck stadium seating and the FFA does not make a big deal out of it. But when the stadium is not left in a suitable condition for them they do. A bit like people not wiping the toilet seat.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Ahmed asked: "Do you honestly think that Gil McLachlan has some staff working on how to prevent soccer from growing?" Apparently I am employed directly by Gil to put up nasty posts about soccer on the soccer tabs. But I think I have managed to hoodwink the roar mods, shhhh, don't tell the tin foil hat brigade that they have been right all along.
Ahmed
Guest
If the FFA payed for it they could do with it what they want. The AFL will own Docklands stadium outright very soon (2018?) and I can guarantee you that they will look to accommodate soccer/rugby league/rugby union, and music festivals as it will be in their best interest.
Ed
Guest
Perhaps instead of a lay period, the ffa could insist on an independent pitch assessment before each Socceroos match. If the quality of the pitch was contractually tied to both stadium rental fees and future game allocations then I'm sure stadium administrators would ensure a very high standard of pitch every game.
Paul
Guest
Such a stadium would be run in the interest of football only. Stuff the NRL, Rugby and AFL
Ahmed
Guest
Too late. The NSW government, NRL, and FFA have all signed off on the stadium package. I'm not sure the government would be willing to help develop any new precinct even if both Sydney sides and the Socceroos relocated there. Basic business sense says no. But if the FFA came up with the cash, then I'm sure the government wouldn't say no to free infrastructure.
Ahmed
Guest
Yes they need to work together towards mutual agreement. But the AFL is not going to gift anything to the FFA without receiving something in return. Do you honestly think that Gil McLachlan has some staff working on how to prevent soccer from growing? They definitely have staff working to grow Australian football. If that is at the expense of soccer, then they wouldn't care. But they are not actively working against it.
Paul
Guest
What we need in Sydney is a rectangular stadium owned by a football entity like FFA or Football NSW A rectangular stadium (plus training fields) near public transport as well as major roads is what is required.
Paul
Guest
But you said that the AFL anf FFA need to work together. This will never happen as the AFL will stop at nothing to stop the growth of football (association football that is) By the way, I am no fan of the FFA and their ridiculous decision making.
TheVolley
Guest
Agree. Ange is building a squad that can play the same aggressive in a WC competition where there aren't much time to fully recover in between matches. I am expecting Ange to rotate key players at the WC (if that we qualify).
Ahmed
Guest
The FFA has you really wrapped up in the story they are spinning. The AFL has the job to grow and promote Australian Football. As a business they are not in the position to help out soccer. But not helping is different from working actively against. The AFL and current and previous state bodies have been steadily working on growing the sport the last 150 years. It is not an over night success.