For 50 minutes of Australia’s opening Asian Cup fixture against India, a contest that ultimately ended in a 2-0 win, they crashed against the Blue Tigers’ defence like green and gold waves against a cliff.
With a sense of maddening monotony, Graham Arnold’s side felt trapped in an awful, endless loop. Get the ball forward, blunt themselves against a deep-lying low defensive block, see their latest foray forward repulsed, and try again. Every concern around Australia’s ability to break down a stubborn underdog was being made manifest.
In such circumstances, a circuit breaker is needed; a moment of individual brilliance or a team bursting into life with a move straight off the training track. Frequently for the Socceroos, it’s a set-piece move swung on to the head of one of their towering aerial presences. Something, anything, that can turn the tide and rescue a team from their Groundhog-like existence. But cruelly for India, given that they had so resolutely defended to that point, Saturday’s breakthrough was born from none of these, but an error from one of their most celebrated veterans in goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
Coming out to try and claim a ball lofted into the penalty area by Martin Boyle, the veteran custodian knocked it straight to Jackson Irvine, who chested it down and swung his left boot through it, placing it between two defenders rooted on the goalline. The Socceroos stalwart hadn’t had much luck in helping his side break through a packed defence to that point but here he was at his best: getting into the box, seizing a second ball, and capitalising.
It felt like there was a collective exhale as Irvine wheeled away, pointing to the sky. Nerves were more comprehensively soothed 23 minutes later when three of Arnold’s substitutes combined to put the result to bed: Riley McGree driving into the box from the right, Bruno Fornaroli making a darting near-post run to draw in the defence, and Jordy Bos finishing into an open net after being picked out by McGree.
Tajikistan, on debut at the tournament, are the 37th different nation to compete in the Asian Cup and kicked off with a 0-0 draw against China in Group A.
Alisher Dzhalilov came close to putting Tajikistan ahead in the first half, firing just wide before forcing a save from Yan Junling, the China keeper, before the break.
China came back in the second half. Liu Binbin had a shot cleared off the line and Zhu Chenjie saw a goal ruled out by VAR.
Qatar, the hosts and defending champions, lead Group A after a 3-0 win against Lebanon on Friday.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan and Syria also drew 0-0. Uzbekistan would hope to be the main challenger to Australia in Group B and dominated the chances in both halves at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium without making the pressure count.
Syria looked to have taken the lead in the second half through Ibrahim Hesar, only for the goal to be ruled offside. AP
And yet some semblance of concern will inevitably remain moving forward. Because to the point of Irvine’s goal, Australia weren’t good.
Domination existed on the stat sheet when referee Yoshimi Yamashita blew her whistle to signal half time at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium – the Japanese official the first woman to ever take charge of a game at a men’s Asian Cup – but not on the pitch. They were enjoying – albeit enjoying feels like too strong a word – 72% of possession, had 14 shots and 12 corners. But only two of those shots had been put on target and not a single one of the corners had led to much in the way of anything, despite their reputation as fearsome set-piece specialists.
Given the standing of the two sides coming in, a 0-0 scoreline felt like a win for the desperately defending Indians, and a loss for the favoured Australians. Sandesh Jhingan was defending like, for lack of a better word, a tiger, desperation that was reflected by the rest of Igor Štimac’s team. They’d even been unlucky to not take the lead with their only real foray forward in the 16th minute, when a cross fell between Harry Souttar and Gethin Jones and on to the head of Sunil Chhetri, only for the legend to put his header wide.
But ultimately, the Indian’s dam wall broke. Australia finally got their goals and took the three points. An argument can be made that the talent of the Australians won out and the play of McGree, Bos, and Fornaroli has given Arnold something to think about before his side’s next game against Syria. After they rebounded from an opening 4-1 defeat by France at the World Cup, he’ll be confident of their ability to grow into the tournament, no doubt taking some solace that, in his third attempt, he has also finally won his opening game of an Asian Cup campaign.
