Australia marched into the last eight of the Asian Cup with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia. Despite the emphatic scoreline it was far from one way traffic, with two late goals flattering the Socceroos.
The Socceroos led 2-0 at halftime having taken just one shot and being outplayed for long stretches by the lowest ranked third placed team to advance to the round of 16.
But Graham Arnold’s team was in cruise control in the second half before adding considerable gloss with two late goals. The fourth will be the most pleasing, with Harry Souttar scoring his 11th for the Socceroos and first of the tournament.
Harry Souttar of Australia celebrates after scoring his team’s fourth goal during the AFC Asian Cup Round of 16 match between Australia and Indonesia. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
The Australians’ set piece has been inadequate throughout the tournament – and they mucked up five corners before Souttar received the perfect service from a Craig Goodwin freekick wide on the right in the 90th minute.
Goodwin was a late substitute and had a big impact, scoring the third after Jackson Irvine’s powerful header was well saved into Goodwin’s path.
“If you have a player who can come off the bench and impact like that,” said Arnold when asked if Goodwin had played his way back into a starting role.
“There’s plenty of people back home saying I didn’t bring an impact player. Goody is getting to that age now where that role might suit him even more – because I thought Jordie Bos was excellent. One of them can give me 60-70 minutes and that type off impact off the bench is fantastic.”
Irvine helped Australia open the scoring on 13 minutes when he sent a cross from the right that took a wicked deflection and went in for an own goal off Elkan Baggott.
That came against the run of play and Indonesia threatened several times, having five shots before Australia registered their first on target. That took 45 minutes but resulted in a goal to Martin Boyle, who was excellent throughout.
Right back Gethin Jones – one of two fresh faces from the 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan along with Bruno Fornaroli – got the assist with a wonderfully teasing cross from the right.
After the break Indonesia tired and the game was broken up with several clumsy challenges. Jones reacted badly to being fouled, kicking out at his opponent and risking a red card. Arnold brought him off soon after and his replacement Nathaniel Atkinson was full of verve.
On the other flank Bos continued to build his reputation with some incisive running that gave Asnawi Mangkualam a torrid time.
The Socceroos have won three and drawn one scoring eight goals and conceding just one. For all their issues with attacking fluidity – and boy would they love to see Bos gel better with those more advanced – their defence is rising to the occasion.
Arnold said he hadn’t spent time working on the defence – the strongest part of this campaign.
“That win will build confidence and belief,” said Arnold. “The boys have been working hard and I haven’t practised once defensively since England – it’s all been about attacking patterns, penetrating the lines and getting men in the box and when you get the boys to start beliving it, it starts working.”
They will play the winner of the round of 16 clash between South Korea and Saudi Arabia, who play on Tuesday (3am Wednesday AEDT), with the quarter-final scheduled for Friday (2.30am Saturday AEDT).
coolncold
Roar Rookie
I have to change my prediction as Iraq has been eliminated this morning. The semi finals should: Jordan vs Australia Japan vs Qatar ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The finale should be: Japan vs Australia
Grem
Roar Rookie
Get him back to Australia. He’d be a good marquee.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Putting Jones and Bos in the same sentence is a wee bit hard to swallow. Bos is a 21 yr old that shows an ability to take on international opponents and win. A bit raw but lots of room for improvement. Jones is a 28 yr old who I hadn't heard of but Arnie thinks has what it takes to be an international player. So far mixed views on Arnie's assessment.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
Sorry, I meant we're not asking for too much, you know what I meant.
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
That's not unreasonable. I don't think we're not asking for too much, lol.
Grem
Roar Rookie
A couple of red cards and niggles would be helpful too!
The Ball Bobbled
Roar Rookie
There was enough in it to inspire hope but, with a few exceptions, not much to inspire confidence. Been a bit concerned about Ryan as he seemed to have been a bit shaky last few games with his ball handling and getting caught out way off line. Didnt have enough to do last night to gauge his performance. As for Souttar's perfect header he can be both good and bad in defence. Both players have had some lucky escapes which you wont get against the big charging Saudis et al.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Yeah, I do not like 48 teams too.
Garry
Roar Rookie
Tilio is not really a midfielder but it might be worth a shot!
chris1
Roar Rookie
Cam I'm glad UAE are out. The less middle eastern teams in the competition the better. They bring a certain level of cynicism to the game that would make Uruguay proud. They che at, time waste, harangue the referees. The quicker they get eliminated the better. Everyone does a little bit of play acting to get something from the refs, but teams like UAE, Saudi, Oman, Qatar etc are at industrial strength levels.
coolncold
Roar Rookie
Yeah, may be! But I think the Japanese coach is cunning enough. Also, Iran's group stage results are not very convincing. Anyway, we are speculating. Thank!
NickA
Roar Rookie
Combination of a bad injury, out of favour/no future at his club and I've heard there's some pay disputes too. I'm sure he'll pop up somewhere again soon. Let's hope
Football Fan
Roar Rookie
Let's hope the Korea-Saudi match goes into extra time and penalties.
AGO74
Roar Rookie
agree - some similarities though tends to play on left than in the middle. also agree on Hrustic - wow, what has happened there with him? a real pity for him and the national team.
NickA
Roar Rookie
Yeah, I've just looked at fixture times now. Very strange & quite ridiculous actually. I'd feel very hard done by, imagine the rotation that will have to happen, especially if it goes the full 120
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Unless the fixtures were staggered to account for the date of every team's final group games, whoever made it into that round of 16 clash that SA and SK qualified for would have had the same reduced turnaround compared to Australia.
NickA
Roar Rookie
to be fair Chris I don't think he knows what he's doing - none have scored and have made a brilliant account of themselves. They've all shown brief flashes. It's the same old story - we really don't know how to play with a striker no matter who it is
NickA
Roar Rookie
I think Iran will beat Japan.
NickA
Roar Rookie
Fair play to a lot of these smaller nations! They are closing the gap and fast. Their domestic leagues will pass ours soon (if they haven't already) - then it will be interesting to see how we go in future Asian Cups, and Asian Champions Leagues (where we are already showing big signs of trouble). It would be nice to see more Tilio. Behich will undoubtedly play so for me Bos will be dropped - which adds another attacking threat off the bench. Silvera is still there too. Don't think Bruno will start, and if he doesn't, he will be a pain to play against with 30 to go - as would Duke for different reasons. A win is a win. Whatever people's ongoing anger with Arnie, he's squeezing out results - he's been burnt before at Asian Cups so perhaps is trying to keep it tight. He's always created an us vs them mentality/Mourinho-esque distracting media comments so I'm amazed how many people continue to be reeled in by what he says.
NickA
Roar Rookie
That's fair - could potentially say that SK should have finished first and avoided that. As for Saudi... I feel very little sympathy for any country in the Middle East that might complain about short turnarounds. Seems like every tournament is played in their backyard anyway these days :silly: of course not a fair argument to make