Australia grab dramatic draw to advance

Croatia 2
Australia 2

Australia reached the World Cup second round for the first time after holding Croatia to a 2-2 draw in their final Group F match last night.

Harry Kewell equalised in the 79th minute as Australia twice came back from a goal down to earn the point they needed to finish runners-up to Brazil. They face Italy in the last 16 on Monday.

Three players - Croatia's Dario Simic and Josip Simunic plus Australia's Brett Emerton - were sent off in a dramatic finale with Simunic appearing to be shown three yellow cards by English referee Graham Poll in the confusion.

Croatia captain Niko Kovac had put his team ahead for the second time 11 minutes after the break with a long-range shot that bobbled past Australia goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac.

Australia defender Craig Moore had scored a 38th minute penalty to cancel out a third minute goal by Srna but it was Kewell's late goal that saw Australia advance.

Srna caught the Socceroos napping early with a fine free-kick after Mark Viduka tripped Niko Kovac just outside the area. Srna curled the ball over the wall past Kalac to score his country's first goal of the tournament.

Australia regained their composure and looked to have strong grounds for a penalty when defender Simunic brought down Viduka but referee Poll ruled that there was no foul.

However, Poll had no hesitation in pointing to the spot seven minutes before the interval when Croatia's Stjepan Tomas reached up and handled the ball in the goalmouth and Moore coolly slotted the penalty past Stipe Pletikosa.

Croatia, who needed to win to stay alive after losing 1-0 to Brazil then drawing with Japan, looked to have sealed victory when Kovac scored but Kewell's instinctive reflexes from a goalmouth scramble saw them bow out.

The match finished in pandemonium after Poll showed Simunic a yellow card near the end of the match and the player, having already been booked, began to walk to the touchline.

However, the English referee seemed to forget about the earlier booking and Simunic stayed on the pitch until he was shown another yellow in stoppage time and was finally dismissed.

Aftermatch comments...

After the dramatic 2-2 draw with Croatia, Australia captain Mark Viduka said: "What a great game, you could not ask for more.

"We threw on all the forwards to try and get something and thank God, Harry was in the right place at the right time."

"It's very difficult when you cop a goal that early but we knew if we kept our composure we could do some damage," Viduka added.

"It was such an end-to-end game, we had a little bit of luck on our side but we earned it."

Zlatko Kranjcar, the Croatia coach, said: "I think my team played the best they can but we failed to get the result we needed. It was a dramatic and dynamic match and we missed our chances. I want to congratulate Australia."

"My players sat back on that early lead although I instructed them otherwise," Kranjcar added.

"I don't want to comment on the refereeing, Australia got the result they wanted and that's all there is to it."

Croatia: 1-Pletikosa; 7-Simic, 13-Tomas, 3-Simunic, 8-Babic; 2-Srna, 5-Tudor, 10-N. Kovac, 19-Kranjcar (16-Leko 65); 18-Olic (14-Modric 74), 9-Prso.

Australia: 18-Kalac; 7-Emerton, 2-Neill, 3-Moore, 14-Chipperfield (19-Kennedy 75); 13-Grella (15-Aloisi 63), 5-Culina, 4-Cahill, 21-Sterjovski (23-Bresciano 71), 10-Kewell; 9-Viduka.

Referee: Graham Poll (England).

Scorers: Srna 3; Moore 38 pen.; N. Kovac 56; Kewell 79.

Red cards: Simic 85; Emerton 87; Simunic 90+.

Half-time: 1-1. Attendance: 52,000.

FIFA man of the match: Kewell.