We Are There… nearly

Australia have all but secured a spot for their second consecutive World Cup Finals appearance with a somewhat fortunate 2-0 win over a fighting Uzbekistan tonight at Stadium Australia.

57,000 fans braved the atrocious conditions to witness the Socceroos’ stirring second half performance after a cagey and disappointing first half. Two goals midway through the second period, one by giant striker Josh Kennedy, and the other a spot kick by Harry Kewell, settled any home side nerves , and now it will take a collapse of drastic proportions for the Socceroos not to qualify for South Africa. Of course, we may need to look no further than three hours into the future, because if Bahrain and Qatar draw in their match early tomorrow morning then qualification is guaranteed.

Pim Verbeek opted for width with a 4-5-1 formation, with Scott McDonald as the lone striker. The Celtic man was supported by Kewell, Mark Bresciano, Richard Garcia, while Carl Valeri overcame his injury scare to start with Jason Culina as the holding midfielders. Michael Beauchamp was also deemed fit enough to play, and he started alongside skipper Lucas Neill, with Luke Wilkshire and Scott Chipperfield as the wingbacks. Mark Schwarzer, who was barely called on for much of the game, predictably started in goals.

McDonald, who earlier this week revealed his frustration with his duck at international level, attempted to rectify the problem early on with the match’s first meaningful effort on goal. However it was a tame effort which the Uzbek keeper Nesterov had no problems catching.

Credit to the Uzbeks, as they came to Sydney with an attacking mentality which nearly paid dividends barely ten minutes in when their hat trick hero from the recent Qatar match, Farhod Tadjiyev, broke the offside trap only to blow his one on one wide of Schwarzer’s right post.

Bresciano, who had a great game, had the Socceroos’ best chance in the first half, when fifteen minutes in he found himself with space inside the box, only to see his tame effort hit straight at Nesterov again.

The Uzbek keeper would deny the Aussies once more, when midway through the second half Culina let rip with a stinging effort from 30 meters out which Nesterov did brilliantly to tip away.

Josh Kennedy came on for McDonald on the hour mark, and showed why he is such a good impact player when he rose with a bullet header to open the scoring five minutes later. A wonderful turn by Bresciano to escape his marker gave him time and space to whip in a perfect cross from the right, and Kennedy soared to meet the header uncontested, leaving the luckless Nesterov with no chance.

The match was wrapped up five minutes later when Garcia was judged to be brought down in the box by Hayrulla Karimov, and Kewell duly stepped up and slotted home the spot kick. To be fair it was a harsh penalty, as Garcia’s initial touch was heavy and took him well away from goal, only for the Uzbek defender to catch him on the follow through.

The two goal lead allowed the Socceroos to wind down the clock, but not before a scare just prior to the final whistle, when the Uzbeks found the net after a Schwarzer fumble, only to be called for offside.

The win propels the Socceroos to the outright lead in the group with 13 points from five games, and all eyes will be on the Bahrain Qatar game early tomorrow.

I’m hoping for a very sporting 0-0 draw. ..