[ad_1]
Key events
78 mins: Now Baccus is booked for legging Haidar. The opening goalscorer will now be suspended for Tuesday’s clash. This match is no longer a thing of beauty.
76 mins: Good effort for a school night.
74 mins: Gorgeous outside-of-the-left-boot flick from Hrustic into the right channel, but Duke is offside in pursuit of it. There is a touch of class in the playmaker that nobody else in Australia is currently capable of. If the Socceroos are to progress against better opponents Arnold is going to need to figure out a formation that allows Hrustic to flourish.
73 mins: Ryan finds Atkinson with an early throw but the fullback eschews the angled run of Duke in favour of a long hopeful whack to the isolated Metcalfe. Lebanon clear.
71 mins: News from ptichiside is that Jordy Bos’s knee injury doesn’t appear too serious, which is excellent to hear. Meanwhile the scrappiness continues out on the field.
69 mins: Australia have lost those patterns of play that served them so well in the first half. The game is becoming increasingly fractured and reliant on individual moments.
67 mins: It’s subs o’clock in Parramatta with both sides making changes. The Socceroos elect to replace their forward line with Duke and Iredale coming on for Yengi and Taggart. While for Lebanon Hassan Maatouk is replaced by Daniel Lajud.
65 mins: Australia finally find some timing and isolate Metcalfe one-on-one on the left. He goes outside his marker but then overhits his cross.
64 mins: It’s all got a bit scrappy again with neither side able to assert any control in midfield.
61 mins: Well, Martin, it very nearly did! From a very narrow angle Ryan is forced into his first acrobatic save of the night, forcing the ball clear at full stretch from a fierce Tneich drive.
Nathaniel Atkinson is then booked for making slight contact in midfield. Lebanon’s propensity to go to ground is not endearing them to me.
60 mins: Cometh the hour, cometh the man. That man is Martin Turnbull: “Not a bad game to date. Shame about Bos. Lebanon are an extremely limited side. Hope that doesn’t come back to bite me!”
58 mins: As if scripted, another example materialises when Hrustic conjures an impudent flick on the edge of the box to unpick the Lebanon defence, but Taggart is not alert to the moment and his touch evades him yet again.
56 mins: Lebanon will have to come out of their shell now and allow Australia more room to play. Hrustic anticipates just that and picks out the running Taggart (onside this time) but the striker’s layoff to Atkinson misses its target. Taggart has got through a power of work tonight but his touch has been found wanting often.
GOAL! Australia 2-0 Lebanon (Rowles, 54)
And from the resulting corner Australia go 2-0 up! The corner to the near post comes off a bundle of bodies and drops to the feet of Kye Rowles. He swings a left boot at the ball like a novice golfer might a driver, and he makes solid enough connection to slice the ball awkwardly in off the near post.
53 mins: Haidar wins a free-kick on halfway on the left but instead of turning it into an attack the ball is played all the way back to the goalkeeper. The Socceroos pounce, force the turnover and Irvine has a snapshot deflected into the side-netting.
51 mins: Australia have dominated possession since the break, calmly keeping the ball out of Lebanon’s reach. For the time being the Cedars are happy to sit in and hold their shape.
49 mins: … once more for luck! Hrustic to Taggart through on the goal but there’s no end product because the forward didn’t bend his run enough before accepting possession. Three near identical incidents in a matter of seconds.
49 mins: … and again! Hrustic to Taggart, the crowd anticipates a shot but the flag is up for offside.
49 mins: Hrustic again, switching from touchline to touchline to open the play and find Metcalfe, then slipping Taggart through with a delightful pass only for the Perth Glory striker to be caught offside.
47 mins: Hrustic is quickly into the game, drifting in from the right and lofting a cross that almost reaches the poised Yengi.
46 mins: A change for Lebanon at the break with attacking midfielder Mohamad Haidar coming on for the more defensively minded Hasan Srour.
The teams are back out in Parramatta ready for the second half.
Half-time: Australia 1-0 Lebanon
The Socceroos take a slender lead into the break. Their performance has been bright and energetic but they have created very little in front of goal for all their endeavour. The first-half headline may yet prove to be the injuries to McGree and Bos that forced both left-sided attackers off the field.
45+4 mins: Both sides fail to find their intended targets with crucial passes as the game suddenly opens up. It’s all become fractured towards the end of the half.
45+2 mins: Australia break swiftly and free Metcalfe on the left but he dwells on his cross and a red shirt flies across to deflect the ball behind. The corner leads to nothing.
45 mins: Sabra’s down again. He doesn’t need to be.
43 mins: Hrustic has actually entered on the right side of midfield with Metcalfe switching to the left.
42 mins: Australia call on their third left-sided attacker of the night with Ajdin Hrustic replacing Jordy Bos. Fingers crossed neither Bos nor McGree are badly injured.
40 mins: Chaaban goes down theatrically in the box, but there’s nothing doing. Then the follow-up shot needs saving low to his left by Ryan. Lebanon’s first look at goal for the night.
Meanwhile, Bos is back down on the turf shaking his head. That knee injury looks to be forcing him off.
38 mins: … not just into the fray but whipping in a gorgeous left-footed cross from the touchline that is begging to be thumped home by either striker, only for it to evade both Taggart and Yengi.
36 mins: But Arnie will not be happy to see another left-sided attacker down injured. Bos landed heavily in a shoulder-to-shoulder clash in the left corner and at first it looked like he could have done himself a serious mischief, but he’s eventually back to his feet and into the fray.
click above image
