Australia 0 - Ireland 4

Pretty much ended any realistic hope Australia has of getting through to the 2nd round. Mathematically possible, but not likely.

For the 1st half Ireland started well and brought a couple of good saves out of Turnbull, but after that he had a fairly quiet half, although Ireland had the better of it, and seemed to control possession. Their goal came on 20 mins with a cross from the left to find an unmarked player on the 6 yard line. Australia did a few good things toward the end of the half, had an appeal for a penalty turned down (rightly, I thought) and a goal disallowed for offside (again rightly I thought, although we didn't see a good camera angle).

2nd half Australia dominated from the word go. They controlled the midfield, and the ball rarely passed into Australia's half. Still, for all their dominance, the Irish keeper only made a couple of saves, as the Irish defended well, always staying goalside of their men. This lasted for nearly 30 mins before the Irish scored on the break, again poor defence by the Aussies, as the Irish player (Duff?) beat three on the dribble before beating Turnbull on the near post. Australia continued to press forward and Sterjovski came close a couple of times, once denied by a good reaction save from the keeper, and once having the ball cleared off the line.

The third Irish goal (again on the break) effectively killed the game. Again a complete lack of marking by the Australians, and by the 4th goal the Aussies really had given up and were just waiting for the final whistle.

This really was a match we should have won. Reports had indicated that Ireland wasn't impressive against the Saudis, and they weren't likely to deal with the heat well. However, what was shown in this match, particularly defensively, bodes ill for the Olympic Games. Horrifying though it may be, I find myself agreeing with Johnny Warren's post game comments about lack of preparation, although that's almost a given for our national teams.

I think this also raises further questions about Australia's coaching staff - surely the time for a change is now upon us.


written by tc@zip.com.au