Australia have ‘great belief’ of winning Asian Cup despite scrappy win over Syria
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Australia midfielder Jackson Irvine celebrates after scoring in the Asian Cup match against Syria.
PHOTO: AFP
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DOHA – Australia followed hosts and holders Qatar into the last 16 of the Asian Cup on Jan 18 and have “great belief” they can win it, despite an unconvincing 1-0 victory over Syria.
Jackson Irvine scored the winner just before the hour mark with his second goal of the tournament, swivelling in the box before poking the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Ahmad Madanieh.
“It’s about winning football matches. That’s tournament mode – clean sheets, scoring goals, winning goals, getting through to the next round,” said the match winner.
“It was a hard-fought win. The boys had to dig in against a team that threw everything at us at the end of the game. We’re pleased with the win.”
Graham Arnold’s side are into the knockout rounds with a game to spare in Group B, but will have to play better if they are to lift the Asian Cup for a second time.
Syria nearly went ahead inside five minutes when Pablo Sabbag pinged the ball off the foot of Australia’s post.
The Colombia-born striker was then left bloodied in the face midway through the half after a stray forearm by Aiden O’Neill, and the midfielder was booked.
But Australia, who reached the last 16 of the 2022 Qatar World Cup before a 2-1 defeat by eventual champions Argentina, were by then in control.
Arnold criticised his side for failing to make more of their set pieces in their 2-0 opening win over India, and 10 minutes before the break, Australia nearly went ahead from a corner.
Defender Gethin Jones won the ball with a looping header and midfielder Irvine – who scored against India – just failed to reach the ball on the stretch at the far post.
Ranked 91st in the world to Australia’s 25th, Syria were hardly in it as an attacking force at the compact Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, despite the best efforts of their fans.
But, by the 57th minute when it was still 0-0, Arnold had seen enough and made a triple change, throwing on attacking midfielders Riley McGree and Samuel Silvera, plus midfielder Keanu Baccus.
It did the trick. Three minutes later, Australia took the lead through Germany-based midfielder Irvine.
“We’ve got good quality in the final third... if you get yourself in there enough times, something will drop for you,” the scorer added.
“In games like these, the first goal is so important. We probably should have put it to bed but that’s something we can work on. A clean sheet’s the most important thing.”
The Socceroos were mostly comfortable after that, but there was nearly embarrassment for goalkeeper Mat Ryan when he spilled a tame effort from distance in the 67th minute, scrambling back to claw the ball off his goal line.
“We’ve got great belief that we can win the tournament. Obviously there’s a process involved in doing that and we ticked another box today,” said Ryan.
“Syria are tenacious, they’re relentless and they leave it all out there. We expected a physical battle and for them to be quite direct. Thankfully, we managed to deal with all that and get the win.”
Uzbekistan, who drew 0-0 with Syria on Jan 13, put themselves in a strong position to qualify for the round of 16 with a 3-0 win over India later on Jan 18.
The final round of matches in Group B is on Jan 23, when Australia play Uzbekistan and India face Syria. AFP
