It was an evening in which Craig Goodwin reaffirmed his status as one of the Socceroos’ most important attacking outlets, with two goals and two “in spirit” assists in his side’s 5-0 win over Lebanon. A performance that, again, left one wondering how his pinpoint delivery or ability to pile-up goals and assists hadn’t seen him establish himself in this Socceroos outfit before he was the wrong side of 30, or how he was never to establish a sustained European career.
It was a night in which Kusini Yengi and John Iredale celebrated first international goals for their country. In just his second international game, Iredale couldn’t hold the tears back as he was enveloped in a bearhug by Jackson Irvine after turning in a cross from Patrick Yazbek at the back post, just minutes after the 21-year-old provider had stepped on to the park to become Socceroo No 641.
Importantly, it was a win that meant the Socceroos officially booked their place in the next phase of Asian World Cup qualification with two games to spare. Four wins from four secured without a goal conceded across the 360 minutes of football, in front of a record-breaking crowd of 25,023 – the most ever for a football match in the nation’s capital.
But there was also a cloud. There always is. As Goodwin was putting on a show after missing last week’s 2-0 win with illness, another creative force in Ajdin Hrusitc was being carried from the field, unable to support his weight on his left leg after being scythed down by Ali Tneich in the 51st minute, just moments after he had scooped a pass perfectly into the path of Goodwin for his first goal of the evening. Whereas Iredale’s tears in the 68th minute were of joy, Hrustic’s in that moment were of pain and injustice – the playmaker having only just made his return to the national setup after 10 months of injuries and frustration at club level. Graham Arnold, calling it a horrific challenge, said Hrustic was hobbling around the dressing room post-game.
With the Socceroos not in action again until June, the hope will be that, even if the injury to the 27-year-old does require an extended stint on the sidelines, he will have recovered by the time Graham Arnold’s side faces off with Bangladesh and Palestine in their final games of the group. It’s an extended break in which the coach will also be tasked with figuring out how to maintain his side’s goal-scoring momentum, the offensive explosion in Canberra following a rather blunt performance in Sydney last week.
With a blood-red moon still rising, things started perfectly for Arnold when Goodwin was played into space down the left by Connor Metcalfe less than 120 seconds gone before delivering an inch-perfect ball into the run of Yengi at the top of the six-yard box to fire, on his second attempt, into the back of the net.
That, however, didn’t augur an offensive explosion. Not yet. For much of the remainder of the opening stanza, the contest felt like something of a continuation of last Thursday. Harry Souttar would head a Goodwin cross into the post late in the half but the only other real chance of note came when a Cameron Burgess ball bounced off the head of Tniech and into his path – with his resulting wide-open effort sent straight at keeper Mostafa Matar. Penetration was lacking.
“We should have been up three or four nil at half-time,” Arnold said. “This is stuff that I’ve been driving with the boys, raising our standards. It’s about taking those opportunities to kill teams off, not letting them stay in the game.”
But the Socceroos found another breakthrough. And then another. And then some more. Lebanon coach Miodrag Radulović reflected post-game that two games in five days against a side with the quality of Australia was a bridge too far for his side. Bassel Jradi inadvertently turned the ball into his net in the 47th minute after Souttar had a headed effort from a Goodwin free kick saved, before Hrustic set up the man-of-the-moment a minute later. Yazbek would tee up Iredale 20 minutes on before Goodwin, it had to be him, sealed the contest after latching on to Irelade’s cross that Walid Shour failed to clear in the 81st.
