0-0 Draw A Bonus For Socceroos
The Age
Thursday March 27, 2008
IT'S all positive for Australia after a gutsy draw against China in Kunming last night, the priceless result laying a strong foundation for a successful World Cup campaign.
Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Socceroos before the match - a debilitating run of injuries that ripped the heart out of the goal-scoring options, virtually no time to adjust to the altitude, a gastric bug sweeping through the coaching staff and an early injury to Archie Thompson, which forced coach Pim Verbeek to go to his bench much earlier than he had planned.But amid the adversity emerged a steely spirit, and with a plethora of established players expected to return before the next qualifier against Iraq, competition for places is going to be intense. Those who stepped into the breach last night - notably Jade North and Brett Holman - have done their cause no harm.For now, the players and coaching staff deserve to enjoy one of Australia's more courageous efforts in recent times, although China's passive approach certainly played into their hands. Apart from a flurry of chances early in the second half, and a late penalty that Mark Schwarzer comfortably saved, the home team displayed the lack of self-belief that has so often been its undoing. Verbeek, not surprisingly, was delighted China showed his team too much respect.Australia might even have stolen a win, but David Carney lacked conviction in trying to force home a cross from Mark Bresciano deep into injury time. Bresciano himself had come close to giving Australia an early lead but, after getting a good connection to a cross from Holman, he was denied by a smart reflex save by goalkeeper Zong Lei.They were Australia's best two chances of the game but, with injury ruling out so many strikers, opportunities were always going to be at a premium. The surprise was that China failed to exploit such a vulnerable opponent.In the end, the Socceroos can thank Schwarzer for securing the draw, his 88th-minute penalty save deflating Chinese hopes of a victory. Schwarzer had conceded the penalty - hesitating as he came off his line to clear a hopeful strike from Sun Xiang and by the time he went in to challenge striker Qu Bo, his timing was out. Down went the substitute, and referee Mohamed Al Saeedi pointed to the spot.Around the ground, and on the pitch, the celebrations had already begun, but substitute Shao Jiayi still had the task of converting from the spot. An unconvincing effort went straight to Schwarzer, who gratefully collected it."I personally didn't think it was a penalty . . . it would have been a travesty for us to lose at that stage of the game," Schwarzer said."Any penalty save is an important save but obviously a World Cup qualifier, away from home, where you didn't deserve to lose the match, it's special."I was told before the game the No. 5 (Lie Weifeng) takes their penalties and goes to the right. In the end, it was No. 6 (Jiayi), so I thought, 'OK, all I can do is stand up as long as possible'. I just reverted to what I normally do, and I was lucky enough I went the right way and the ball ricocheted off my legs and ended up in my hands."It was certainly a point gained by Australia, which fielded four players - Vince Grella, Holman, North and Michael Beauchamp - who weren't part of last month's qualifier against Qatar. Verbeek later expressed his delight that he now had more options at his disposal.Skipper Lucas Neill was also full of praise for his new defensive partners Beauchamp and North, and clearly savoured a result that was more about character than finesse.Asked whether the performance was heroic, Neill paused before replying: "I thought it was extremely spirited."We showed great character. The discipline was great, the shape was superb. All the obstacles we had to overcome - we should be really, really, proud of the performance."
© 2008 The Age