Australia made some changes (5 in all). Most important/effective was Halpin in the centre-midfield and Bilokapic to centre-bench. Everything that Australia threw at the South Koreans in the first half was somehow initiated from Troy Halpin. The kid was on fire. In fact, from Halpin, Saad was given Australia's best chance of the game, only to shoot low and into the keeper.
Sth Korea looked most dangerous (as they did in their WC qualifiers) with low drives/daisy-cutters from just outside the box. Petkovic had both left post and a weak follow-up header to thank for keeping Sth Korea goaless. Later, Petkovic produced a top quality save from a freekick to match.
But a hustling and bustling De Amicis burst through a couple of tackles to put an (offside??? - just like Chiles goal on Saturday) Trajanovski open, but lay off to Ernie Tapei for an open goal. 1-0.
Emerton had a terrible first half. Struggling to get the ball, struggling to run his wing that other OZ players were using, struggling to use the ball efficiently. It appeared as though this was going to continue in the second half, until Emerton finally broke free. Directly in front of the OZ bench, Emerton sold the dummy, and sprinted up the line, cut in the box and gave Saad another great chance, but Saad smashed way over the bar. Just as Emerton had come to life, Halpin fell asleep.
Saad really should have had 2 goals. He won many freekicks with a duel with the Korean captain that threatened to boil over. Some nice touches, but must he won't be getting chances like those again at international level again in a hurry. Mendez came on for a satisfactory Trajanovski, and Markovski for a most disappointing Trimboli. I am getting the feeling with Trimboli, that his time for Australia is fast coming to an end.
The last 15 minutes was OLE football from Australia. Forgive me for spilling the Man United in me, but watching Markovski and Emerton in those last 10 minutes, brought back the many happy memories of Cantona and Kanchelskis for Man United. I think I am going to cry... ;)