- Group B: Australia 2-0 India (Irvine 50, Bos 73)
- Goalkeeping error gifts Socceroos second-half breakthrough
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.
Continue reading…Group B: Australia 2-0 India (Irvine 50, Bos 73)Goalkeeping error gifts Socceroos second-half breakthroughFor 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. Continue reading…
