Late three-goal burst delights Australia
Australia 3Japan 1\nTim Cahill made history in dramatic style, scoring Australia's first goals in a World Cup finals with two strikes in the last six minutes pushing his team to a 3-1 win over Japan in their Group F opener yesterday. A disputed goal...
Australia 3
Japan 1
\nTim Cahill made history in dramatic style, scoring Australia's first goals in a World Cup finals with two strikes in the last six minutes pushing his team to a 3-1 win over Japan in their Group F opener yesterday.
A disputed goal from Shunsuke Nakamura had given Japan a 26th-minute advantage, his cross floating over keeper Mark Schwarzer who seemed to have been impeded by Atsushi Yanagisawa as he came to punch clear.
Egyptian referee Esam Abd El Fatah waved away furious protests from Australia. But Cahill levelled in the 84th minute when a long throw was missed by keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi and he drilled the ball in from eight metres.
Substitute Cahill made it 2-1 five minutes later with a long-range drive going in off the post.
To complete Japan's misery, substitute John Aloisi added a third goal after skipping through Japan's exhausted defence in injury time.
The Socceroos, playing in the finals for the first time since 1974, had hustled and bustled against a side content to pack the midfield.
Kawaguchi made fine saves from Mark Viduka and Marco Bresciano but with Harry Kewell not fully fit they lacked a killer instinct.
Japan FA president Saburo Kawabuchi had stirred up controversy before the game, suggesting the Socceroos may play rough, a theory Bresciano did little to disprove when he felled Hidetoshi Nakata on the edge of his own box after 28 seconds.
Luke Wilkshire also gave Alex an early close-up of the pitch but the Aussies soon settled, Viduka forcing a fine double-save from Kawaguchi.
Japan, who reached the last 16 as co-hosts in 2002, were forced to rely on the counter-attack.
From one such break Takashi Fukunishi fired over, then a nice turn from Naohiro Takahara was let down with an inaccurate finish.
Bresciano tested Kawaguchi again and, after Nakamura's goal, the ineffective Kewell blazed narrowly over.
Hiddink threw on attacking midfielder Cahill and strikers Aloisi and Joshua Kennedy in a bold move after the break and it reaped a stunning dividend.
After the match, Schwarzer said the referee had apologised for allowing Nakamura's goal to stand.
"At the end of the day the ref made a mistake but everybody makes mistakes and I think it was big of him to admit it," Schwarzer said.
"He said after the game that God was on his side because the result went our way at the final whistle... in the sense that it didn't affect the result in the end."
Australia: 1-Schwarzer; 3-Moore (19-Kennedy 61), 2-Neill, 14-Chipperfield; 20-Wilkshire (15-Aloisi 75), 7-Emerton, 13-Grella, 5-Culina, 23-Bresciano (4-Cahill 53); 9-Viduka, 10-Kewell.
Japan: 23-Kawaguchi; 19-Tsuboi (2-Moniwa 56, 16-Oguro 90), 5-Miyamoto, 22-Nakazawa; 3-Komano, 10-Nakamura, 7-H. Nakata, 15-Fukunishi, 14-Alex; 9-Takahara, 13-Yanagisawa (18-Ono 79).
Referee: Esam Abd El Fatah (Egypt).
Scorers: Nakamura (26); Cahill (84, 89), Aloisi (90).
Half-time: 0-1. Attendance: 46,000.