Ah! Sweet nostalgia!
Australia: Milosevic, Baser, Foxe, Sinozic, Zelic, Burns, Bresciano, Susa, Wehrman, Curcija, Gonzalez
Nastevski came on for Zelic, Culina came on for Susa, and Vargas came on for Wehrman in the second half.
Note that Emerton and Salapasidis sat out the whole match. (Saving Kosta's energy for his hat-trick on Sunday.)
What started looking so good for the Olyroos was turned very sour by lax and silly stupid things. Mr Foxe may have been a hero with two goals, but he is scary to watch sometimes. He was not alone in not seeming to take the game very seriously. At least, I hope that is not the way he plays seriously.
In stark contrast to the other night, we started with more shots than China. We had a chance in the first few minutes, then China on a loose ball, spoiled by Milosevic, before the ball was up the other end again with Susa (I think) heading onto the crossbar and another shot bouncing clear off a Chinese shirt.
Sinozic looked cool and impressive but seldom had need to shine because Foxe was so dominant. Wanting the ball and usually using it well. I don't think his long balls were as effective tonight as they were on Wednesday.
Burns was trying to do Emerton's job down the right flank. Susa and Curcija were looking like scoring any minute. Gonzalez (leastways that's what I'm calling the guy in the #9 shirt) hardly seemed to get a touch in the first half (though was involved a bit more in the second half). Curcija's goal on 15 minutes came with three Australian players frenzying to get an angle on the target in the goal box.
It wasn't one way traffic, though. China still were dangerous on the counter attack. Milosevic was soon called on to save a soft shot. Then we had China's keeper struggling with a couple of Aussie corners before Susa was blocked running at goal and Foxe scored with a very damned pretty free kick.
Just when we sat back to enjoy what looked like an Aussie goal blitz (or at least a comfortable revenge win) Foxe stuffs a back pass our little Christopher would be keelhauled for (in a very loving and encouraging way, of course) and sets up Li Yi for an easy goal.
This Foxe fella has mighty big tickets on himself or he severely underestimates his opposition, or he just doesn't give a toss. Yes, he's handy on the ball. Yes, he's big and strong. Yes, he picks out players very well with long balls. But he dwells too long on it, putting himself (and the rest of the team) under unnecessary pressure. At one point in the second half (and sure, this was entertaining, but ...) he was chest to nose with a Chinese player and chipped the ball up so he could head it on. Yes. Confident. Not wise.
China's next goal was from a penalty. Milosevic just caught the guy's feet as he tried to run past. But I thought Milosevic should have gathered the ball in the first place. But even if the Chinese guy hadn't gone down so easily ... if he'd stayed on his feet he could have finished it.
Wehrman was busy but not as effective as on Monday. Bresciano wasn't as involved as on Wednesday, though did get more of the ball as the others ran down.
China could have had their third near half time when their #10 missed an opportunity when the ball fell to his feet in the Olyroo penalty area.
In the second half Susa hit a wonderful ball to an offside Wehrman (?) who hit the post anyway. Culina came on and showed us some of his magic turns and once tried to lob the keeper but it went just wide. Other times he was shaking his fists in frustration ... at his team mates, not surprisingly.
Foxe's second came thanks to some Chinese goalmouth errors. And their third came from goalmouth tentativeness on our part (this was Baser's fault apparently, he had a very innocuous game; I was just hoping it wasn't Sebastian's fault, distracted by Alex trying to get a half-eated Fizzer out of her hair) after Vargas hit a deplorable crossfield pass, backwards and out, from which throw they hit the ball into the area and we didn't win after all.
Culina had a last minute shot that forced their keeper to the ground. But, generally, disappointing. Pathetic even.
The good thing was we could get access to the _real_ bar tonight. So I could buy Penny a glass of nasty cask riesling so she could celebrate winning a quality improvement competition at the hospital today. Now that might not sound soccer related. But it is, you see. And it's even relevant to tonight's match. She called her project "Keeping a Clean Sheet". And her final illustration was a shot of Joe Didulica making a great diving save. The same Joe Didulica who was sitting on the bench in front of us tonight. If only Coach Raul had known of Penny's wonderful omen ... maybe .. just maybe ...