Ange Postecoglou said in the buildup to this match that the performance of his Socceroos, rather than any Hollywood notion of revenge, was what would determine his mood come the final reckoning on Tuesday night. Three goals in a one-sided first half and two after the break secured a 5-1 win over Harry Redknapp’s Jordan and ensured Postecoglou went home a happy man.
On a damp night in Sydney, in front of a 24,975 crowd, those who turned out at Allianz Stadium were rewarded with an utterly dominant performance from Australia, a first-half double from Tim Cahill, punctuated by an Aaron Mooy header, and second-half goals from Tom Rogic and the substitute Massimo Luongo doing the damage.
“It wasn’t just about the win,” Postecoglou said. “We were pretty confident we could win the game but we really wanted a strong performance. The signs are pretty good. Losses and wins don’t register for me. What registers is the performance. Did I expect that tonight? Absolutely, and more. And I still think we’ve got more in us.”
The last time these two sides met, in October last year when the north-east of England was a more likely destination for the out-of-work Redknapp than the Middle East, Australia were ambushed in Amman, a 2-0 defeat dislodging Postecoglou’s side from top spot in Group B and casting a shadow over the Asian champions’ bid to reach a fourth successive World Cup finals – and a fifth overall.
But having since returned to the summit, victory over Tajikistan in Adelaide last week ensured progression to the next stage, and this latest victory confirms their status as group winners, with only that one blot on an otherwise immaculate copy book.
Surely a far more testing series of matches awaits, with the likes of Bangladesh, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan making way for Asian heavyweights including Iran, Japan and South Korea. Australia will discover their the identity of their opponents in the upcoming 12-team, two-group round-robin tournament when the draw takes place on April 12th, but for now Postecoglou can be satisfied with the position his team is in.
“I said before this game that we were stronger than 12 months ago and the plan is to be stronger in 12 months time,” Postecoglou said. “If we’re disciplined in our approach I think we will be.”
The Socceroos needed to avoid defeat to claim top spot but sitting back and holding out for a draw was never an option – especially against a Jordan side with a defence as fallible as this one. Redknapp took the reins on a two-match deal, but despite an 8-0 win over Bangladesh last week, in reality there was little he could do in the timeframe available to him to solve any deep-rooted problems.
The returning Cahill – in the starting XI for last week’s debutant Apostolos Giannou – made hay in the first half, although both chances were laid on a plate for him, the first a close-range tap-in from Mooy’s cross and the second a trademark header just before the break. They were his 46th and 47th international goals.
Mooy, as is expected of him nowadays, pulled the string in the Socceroos midfield, his mastery of the ball on display both in open play and in his delivery from set pieces. His finishing could hardly be faulted either, and when he galloped through the barely-there Jordanian defence on 39 minutes, there was little surprise he calmly found the back of the net.
The Melbourne City midfielder departed to a rousing reception on 64 minutes with the Socceroos’ job already done, Rogic having burst through the remnants of an increasingly bedraggled Jordan defence to slot home on 53 minutes.
Luongo added a fifth with 20 minutes remaining with another close-range tap-in, a second ball thrown onto the pitch by a Jordan player contributing to a degree of confusion in the buildup, before Rogic twice went close in quick succession with a couple of examples of what is fast becoming his own trademark – the beautifully-struck drive from distance.
By then, something of a carnival atmosphere had permeated the stadium and the Celtic player was urged by the crowd to hit a third effort on the volley from outside the box. He declined, perhaps wisely, but Cahill nearly had the crowd jumping once again with three minutes remaining when he should have notched his 48th goal at this level. The outstretched leg of Amer Shafi denied him.
“Twelve months ago everyone was saying ‘who’s going to score apart from Timmy [CAHILL]’. Timmy’s still scoring but we’re getting multiple goalscorers from all over the place,’ said Postecoglou.
His opposite number, Redknapp, was on his feet in the area in front of the Jordanian bench for much of the match but he had little to shout about as his short-term contract came to an end with a heavy defeat.
Jordan could easily have ended the night with 10 men but Yousef Ahmad Mohammad’s appalling challenge on Robbie Kruse – starting his first match since the Asian Cup final – went unpunished but at least Abdallah Deeb’s excellent late effort from range gave the experienced English manager some consolation, however minor.
Redknapp later admitted Australia were by far the better side. “It was as difficult as I expected it to be,” he said. “There was a big gulf in class.” Jordan will now wait to see who leads them in their next game; Redknapp had previously said he was open to extending his contract if one were to be offered.
Australia progress to their second round of qualification – the Asian federation’s third of a long-winded route to Russia – along with the seven other group winners and the four best second-placed teams.
From here, two groups of six will be drawn to play a round-robin, home-and-away tournament starting in August this year and by its conclusion in September 2017, the Socceroos will know whether they will travel to Russia in 2018, with the two group winners and two runners-up rubber-stamping their places.
Even then, there is still a backdoor open to the two third-placed teams, who will meet home and away for the right to enter into a play-off against a representative from the Concacaf region for the final place.
(Guardian service)
