Socceroos captain Mat Ryan has denied Jordan with a superb late save to help Australia secure a 1-0 win in their 2022 World Cup qualifier.
It’s the first away win for the Socceroos over Jordan and Adam Taggart’s 13th-minute chipped finish at the King Abdullah II Stadium on Thursday night allowed Australia to stay top of Group B with 12 points.
“It is important to end the year on a high and it’s a tough place to come and history has shown how difficult it is for any country to come here,” Taggart said.
“So we’re all really happy with the result and I think we’ve still go a lot to go, and there’s still a lot to build on.”
Manager Graham Arnold is proud his side resisted an attempted second-half comeback to record Australia’s first win over Jordan in the Middle East.
“We showed that we have a lot of fight in this team,” Arnold said.
“They boys worked extremely hard and closed out the game well.
“Our structure was very good, our work rate was fantastic and look, this isn’t an easy place to come and it shows in the past history.
“The Socceroos have never won here and we’re the first to do it.”
Ryan’s late efforts were crucial after Jordan started the clash aggressively pressing the visitors, particularly down the left where playmaker Jackson Irvine was deployed to make way for the returning Tom Rogic in the middle.
But Australia were the first to strike with Irvine setting up Taggart with a delicious through ball.
The Hull City man threaded a perfectly-weighted pass between the opposing centre backs and the Suwon Bluewings forward neatly finished past goalkeeper Amer Shafi.
Irvine fluffed a glorious chance to double the lead off Aaron Mooy’s corner in the 29th minute when the ball rebounded into his feet just outside the six-yard box only for him to smash it over.
After the break Jordan coach Vital Borkelmans brought on dangerous forward Mousa Mohammed Suleiman for midfielder Ahmed Sameer Saleh.
And the change nearly worked five minutes later when he rifled a shot over the top left corner of goal from just inside the top corner of the box.
Tariq Khattab then missed a golden opportunity to level when the unmarked defender headed wide from less than five yards out.
But the hosts again went close with 10 minutes remaining when Hamza Aldaradreh rose to meet Mousa’s free-kick, but Ryan made a terrific low dive to deny his header.
The hosts continued to push, going close twice as the clock ticked down, and they could have snatched a point in extra time.
Aldaradreh rose to meet Yaseen Al-Bakhit’s cross with only Ryan to beat, but he sent his header over and his teammates slumping to the ground..
Jordan manager Vital Borkelmans was disappointed his side were unable to capitalise.
“We put everything in our hands, we made pressure, we played nice football, we had a lot of chances, but the luck was not there,” he told AAP.
“I’m a happy coach about my players in the second half, but we lost and everyone is disappointed.”
Beach
Roar Rookie
This is a poor Roos side, but Arnold's coaching is poor. He seems to be unable to organise their team or to lift them when they are under pressure. This looks to me very much the Arnold mk1 who fell flat in his run as NT coach.
fabian gulino
Roar Rookie
well played socceroos
Midfielder
Roar Guru
Winning Wink those tight games is a good sign. Also we are scoring without Timmy.. that's good.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Arnold bringing an underdone Rogic straight in was crazy, not because Rogic was the worst, he had more good moments than some of the other players. It basically makes Australia easy beats with Mooy already in the midfield. Ironically Mathew Leckie did more to boss the opposition in the midfield in previous games with his physical presence and tracked back heaps . Then to compound this mistake Arnold was slow with his subs letting Jordan dominate the second half. Brad Smith even though he was defensively as good as a traffic cone, at least he was there and Degenek was hiding behind him to pickpocket instead of Degenek being the last line. Sainsbury used to have a great burst of speed and defensive agility which is now gone, at least his distribution was good and touch better than the other options. Irivne being wide was not his best position, but his perfect though ball won the match for Australia. No touch Taggart didn't have to control it, so Taggarts finishing ability his only quality camer to the fore, he lost out on every other ball and his work rate was poor, the Jordanaian goal keeper had no hesitation in dribbling past him, knowing he was too lazy to stop him. Mabil was probably the worst, did nothing of any use, and has no physical presence and cant defend. How he was left on there was beyond me. You have Taggart,Rogic,Mooy,Mabil physically weak, poor work rate, inability to defend , thats an overload of ineffectuality. On the positive side Boyle looked the goods when he came on, Duke worked hard, won a few headers and threw himself about which we haven't seen from the other striking options. The starting line up is not a competive football line up, more an opportuntiy for top teams to score four or five goals.
AGO74
Guest
You are right. They will likely get through - but I guess the point is that there are less and less nations team rolling through this section compared to past years. More and more competitive.
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
Roar Rookie
Our shape at the back really looks very poor and Jordon can feel unlucky not to have at least forced a draw at the end. Basic schoolboy errors of not picking up attackers at the back nearly cost us the win. Against better opposition we could have paid dearly for those basic school boy ball watching errors. :angry:
Mark
Guest
Don’t get too excited just yet. Iran and UAE are on the same schedule as us. They have played 3 away games so far, and have the bye coming up so the gaps could get a bit bigger. However, they come home with 3 home games, and an away game to the weakest side in the group. Both should still get through, even if in the best 2nd place team spots.
AGO74
Guest
Really interesting results and tables in other groups at half way. Whilst Australia and japan are cruising saudis and South Korea are stumbling to only be just leading their groups. Saudi’s needed two goals in last 5 minutes to overcome Uzbeks otherwise the Saudi’s would be a distant third. South Korea scrap a goalless draw in Beirut. With 3 of last 4 games at home those two teams should still make it comfortably. But Iran are in a big hole after last minute loss to Iraq leaving them in 3rd. China despite all the $$$ are 5 points behind Syria and level with Philippines. And UAE are third to Vietnam and Thailand. Football in Asia is definitely becoming more level playing field between the historical haves and have nots.
AGO74
Guest
Three points from our toughest match of this round. Not perfect but it’s tough to expect perfection in an environment as difficult as Jordan. We did well to get early goal. So important to allow us to then dictate terms of match away from home in a difficult environment. Jordan would always fight back and it may have been scrappy at times in 2nd half but that’s what you have to do in any comp be it World Cup qualifying, A-league or EPL. A real opportunity- once qualifying for next stage is assured - for Arnie to test out some fringe players in competitive matches not friendlies with a view to using Copa America as a full dress rehearsal for final round of qualifying. Looking good so far.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
That is the toughest game in this round done and dusted. Not exactly convincing but three points none-the-less and we can more or less pencil ourselves in for the next round. At least we have the Copa America next year to show us what needs to be work upon for the Third Round.