The Socceroos have taken a giant step towards automatic World Cup qualification by hammering Indonesia 5-1 in the most dominant victory of the Tony Popovic era.
After surviving a chaotic opening quarter of an hour, Popovic’s side got up fighting at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium on Thursday and dished out some punishment to an Indonesia outfit coached by Dutch legend Patrick Kluivert.
It also came after Socceroos legend Tim Cahill had warned Australia to take teams in their qualifying group seriously, following their bumpy start to their qualifying campaign.
‘There’s no easy ones now in Asia, everyone’s started to stand beside each other. It’s not just Australia and Japan,’ Cahill said. Australia listened.
A Martin Boyle penalty got things rolling for the Socceroos in the 18th minute, before Nishan Velupillay and Jackson Irvine helped secured a 3-0 halftime lead.
Lewis Miller grabbed Australia’s fourth, before Irvine claimed his second with an added-time header.
Ole Romeny scored Indonesia’s only goal in the 78th minute.
The victory solidifies Australia’s grip on the second of two automatic qualification berths in Group C, the other being occupied by runaway leaders Japan.
Australia survived an early penalty scare to seal a clinical 5-1 victory against Indonesia
Nishan Velupillay (pictured), Martin Boyle, Jackson Irvine and Lewis Miller all scored for the hosts
Tony Popovic’s side sit second in the group as it stands, with Japan and Bahrain currently drawing 0-0 in their qualifying clash
As well as opening up a gap with the four teams below them in their group, the Socceroos’ sizeable win has also significantly improved their goal difference.
But for the first 15 minutes the Aussies were on the ropes in front of a 35,241-strong crowd boasting a near majority of raucous Indonesian fans.
Australia captain Mat Ryan did fantastically well to paw a Jay Idzes header over his bar from a dipping free-kick in the fourth minute.
And as the Indonesians continued to probe against a makeshift Socceroos back three, they struck gold when Rafael Struick was played in behind and was brought down by Kye Rowles.
Jordanian referee Adham Makhadmeh pointed to the spot, but Kevin Diks fired his eighth-minute effort against the post to let Australia off the hook.
The home side began to play with more control and received a corner in the 18th minute, but no Australian jersey got near the delivery.
VAR replays showed Nathan Tjoe-A-On had rugby-tackled Socceroos wing-back Miller in the box, and in-form Hibernian forward Boyle lashed in the opener from the penalty spot.
The pressure eased, the Indonesian fans quietened and their cheers turned to near silence in the 20th minute when Australia added their second.
Starting deep in the Socceroos’ half, Jason Geria got the ball upfield to Boyle, who flicked on towards Adam Taggart around the centre circle.
Indonesian midfielder Thom Haye came across to deal with the ball but inadvertently cleared it into the path of an on-rushing Velupillay.
Australia appeared to heed the warning from Socceroos great Tim Cahill who warned the hosts to guard against complacency against teams in their group
The Melbourne Victory ace calmly buried the ball past goalkeeper Maarten Paes from the edge of the box, sending the usually stoic Popovic into an impassioned roar in his technical area.
More magic was to come from Velupillay, and his creative play was the spark for Australia’s third goal, which came courtesy of the tireless Irvine.
After laying off a pass to Miller, the ball ricocheted back in Irvine’s direction and he lashed a shot at Paes.
The rebound went straight back towards Irvine and the St Pauli midfielder’s second attempt found the back of the net to give Australia a 3-0 lead.
Miller made it four soon after the hour-mark when he headed in a corner from Craig Goodwin, before Romeny popped up with a late goal.
Irvine, though, was able to restore Australia’s four-goal buffer when the midfielder rose tall to bury a 90th-minute corner into the Indonesian net.
