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AFC Asian Cup: Australia overcome early jitters against Kuwait

Saturday, 10 January 2015



AFC Asian Cup: Australia overcome early jitters against Kuwait

January 9, 2015

The 2015 AFC Asian Cup exploded into life in a sea of green and gold on Friday as the host nation Australia opened proceedings with a 4-1 victory over Kuwait in Melbourne.
The match marked the start of the 16th edition of the Asian Cup, a 16-team tournament that will decide the leading footballing nation in the region. The night began with a colorful opening ceremony, complete with local musicians, acrobats and a traditional Aboriginal dance.


Attention then turned to the match itself, which Australia had been heavy favorites to win. But coach Ange Postecoglou said beforehand he expected a tough test from Kuwait.

“We would be silly to underestimate them,” he said.
“It’s the first game of a major tournament and we’ve often seen teams make it really tough in that first game.”

His words proved prophetic as the Kuwaitis scored the opening goal. From a corner, defender Ali Hussain Fadhel’s diving header found the back of the net in just the eighth minute.
The goal rattled the Australians and they were playing well below their best before Socceroos great and New York Red Bull midfielder Tim Cahill stepped up.

A neat run from Massimo Luongo ended with a cross to Cahill and the leading scorer in the history of the Australian national team slammed it home to level the scores at 1-1. Ten minutes later, the Socceroos were in front: Luongo was involved again, getting on the end of a neat Ivan Franjic cross to power home a header that gave the home side a 2-1 half-time lead.

If the first half was entertaining, the second half was something to behold, with a 62nd-minute penalty to Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak and a 92nd-minute strike from James Troisi establishing the final 4-1 scoreline. Fahed Al Ebrahim had a brilliant effort saved onto the crossbar as the Kuwaitis kept pushing without luck, but they will have earned plenty of admirers for their performance.

“We went a goal down, but we showed our Aussie spirit coming back,” man of the match Luongo said afterwards. The action continues on Saturday with Korea Republic facing Oman in Canberra, before two matches in Group B, Uzbekistan v DPR Korea and Saudi Arabia v China.

Following the AFC Asian Cup? Follow James Dampney for daily coverage, and post your responses to your miniblog with #AFC!


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