06/02/2012: Australia bottom of group after loss to Uzbekistan
09/02/2012: Now it's tough after UAE/Iraq result reversed
23/02/2012: Australia pay price for not taking Olympics seriously
15/03/2012: Forgettable and lamentable end to Olympics campaign
after 0-0 with Iraq
Four games into the campaign to qualify for the London Olympics, Australia is sitting bottom of the table with 3 draws, 1 loss and no goals scored. Last night saw their first loss of the campaign with a 2-0 defeat away to Uzbekistan in Tashkent. With Europe in the midst of a severe freeze, temperatures were -11, with snow covering the pitch. Australia had trained in Dubai in the lead-up, and while looking good in the early stages of the match, were unable to cope with the group leaders. Australia were also compromised by the restriction on their best players, with a 3-player restriction on each A-League club so as not to jeopardise their seasons.
It's not crisis mode yet as Australia is still well in contention with the table relatively compressed thanks to the many draws. If they beat UAE next and Iraq do no better than a draw to Uzbekistan, Australia are in second and with the home match to Iraq to come. Win that and it's two wins and three draws from the 6 games and potentially winning the group. Again, let's not get fixated with the early games in a group. There's no bonus points on offer for winning the early games. As long as a team get the points from any of the group games, that's enough. Because Australia could procure so many draws, that means all teams are within striking distance, with second spot well in Australia's control. Also, losing away to Uzbekistan in the snow, let's be realistic, that's not even close to an outrageous result. Are we in Asia because we want tough matches and to be tested? Yes. Welcome to Asia.
Ideally Australia want to win the group because that's direct qualification. Finishing second will see the second-placed teams of each of the three groups enter a play-off phase in neutral Vietnam starting March 25, where the winner will play Africa's fourth-placed team, Senegal, in London on April 23. For the remaining qualifying games, can we have one of self-proclaimed football channels of Fox Sports or, especially, SBS televise the game? Neither televised the game. For SBS, the real prima donnas of this set, it's especially galling. Televising this game as it were at 9.30 on a Sunday evening would do far greater wonders for the sport than an "analyst" trying to mention the word "technical" as often as possible in 5 minutes of tiresome commentary on a chat show.
Uzbekistan 2 (Kenja Turaev 27, Oleg Zoteev 86)
Australia 0
Team P W D L F A GD Pts UZBEKISTAN 4 2 2 0 4 0 4 8 UAE 4 1 2 1 1 2 -1 5 IRAQ 4 1 1 2 2 3 -1 4 AUSTRALIA 4 0 3 1 0 2 -2 3
Australia's hopes of the qualifying for the 2012 London Olympic Games hang in the balance after losing 0-2 to Uzbekistan in their AFC Asian Qualifier for the 2012 London Games match played at the JAR Stadium in Tashkent today. Due to extreme low temperatures the kick-off time for the match was moved from 8pm to 3pm, but with the mercury around -12 C it was of little comfort to the players.
The Australians started strong with Mate Dugandzic and captain Oliver Bozanic each having shots on target in the opening ten minutes. With a snow covered, frozen pitch making passing and touches difficult, it would never be a free flowing, technical game of football.
Uzbekistan took the lead in the 27th minute when Oybek Kilichev set up Kenja Turaev who hit a long range shot giving Australia goalkeeper Mat Ryan no chance of saving. Soon afterwards Jason Hoffman looked to have an equaliser for the Australia but was adjudged to have scored from an offside position.
The second half saw both teams create opportunities at both ends, with the quality of the build-up play and finishing was severely hampered by the pitch conditions. Just after the hour mark Mitch Nichols would have netted an equaliser if his attempt was denied after the referee blew for an infringement in the box in the lead up to the goal. Oleg Zoteev then sealed the result for the Uzbeks in the 86th minute with a sublime volley from outside the box which hit the underside of the crossbar and went into the net.
Later in the day UAE managed to hold on for a 1-0 win over Iraq, which kept Australia's slim hopes of qualifying for the 2012 London Games alive.
The Olyroos now return to Dubai to prepare for their next AFC Asian Qualifier for the 2012 London Games match against the UAE on the 22 February. As part of their preparations for that match they will play an international friendly against the Philippines at the Al Nasr Stadium on Thursday 16 February (Kick-Off 8pm local, 3am AET).
Iraq had their win in the UAE reversed after it was discovered they fielded a suspended player. The 2-0 win becomes a 3-0 loss, catapulting UAE to equal top of the group. It means for Australia that even winning their final two games will not guarantee them second, and to win the group they must win both games and hope Iraq beat Uzbekistan, there's a draw when Uzbekistan hosts UAE, and Australia can catch up the sizeable goal difference to be placed best of a trio of teams that will be on 9 points.
Iraq hosts Uzbekistan on 21 Feb while UAE hosts Australia the following day. If Australia fail to qualify for the Olympics, it will be the first time since 1984 that they'll be missing.
The revised points table...
Team P W D L F A GD Pts UZBEKISTAN 4 2 2 0 4 0 4 8 UAE 4 2 2 0 4 0 4 8 AUSTRALIA 4 0 3 1 0 2 -2 3 IRAQ 4 0 1 3 0 6 -6 1
Australia won't be at the Olympic Games for the first time since 1984, after a 1-0 loss away to the United Arab Emirates overnight. That's now all 5 games of this qualification phase that Australia has failed to score, and with one remaining game left - hosting Iraq in Gosford on March 14 - failure to score and win there will see them end the phase at the bottom of the table. In the group's other game, Iraq's 2-1 at home over Uzbekistan has seen UAE in prime position to qualify direct for London. The second placed team will enter a place-off phase with the two other second-placed teams, before a final game against Senegal, Africa's fourth placed team.
Given the apathy of team selection and abysmal effort, it would have been a disgrace had Australia qualified. Australia could never get the overseas players, and the FFA put restrictions on number of players taken from an A-League club. Ask yourself, what are the priorities? Clearly the Olympics were not. Or if they were, it was a total disrespect on our Asian friends that we believed we could roll our way through with a bits and pieces team. This isn't Oceania anymore.
Australia joined Asia for competition and to be tested. It's a good wake-up call, and it's almost a certain benefit to Asia itself. There were lingering concerns that all Australia's role in Asia is to take a spot and offer little in return. Now that's shown otherwise, that Asia can compete and lift their standard, and Australia must take these challenges more seriously.
For future Olympic campaigns, the AFC has now moved to an U22 tournament to decide qualifiers, much as they have for the youth World Cups. It's a far more practical approach both in organising a team and minimising cost. All that's needed is FIFA to sanction these tournaments so clubs must release players. Their indifference to the Olympics is a bigger disgrace - largely corrupting the integrity of the competition.
From the other two groups, Korea has already qualified from Group A, with Oman and Qatar fighting for the play-offs. Japan is almost certainly through from Group C, with Syria and Bahrain in equal second. UAE just need to avoid a loss greater than a goal to win Australia's group; Uzbekistan are already entrenched in second.
While missing the Olympics is disappointing, it's not a major crisis given the general indifference and often disregard many nations, the sport's authorities and even the public have to it. For a country like Australia, who have many gold medal chances elsewhere, only in the medal rounds of football that national interest ever ramps up and only the gold medal match bringing full live coverage to Australian homes on the main Olympic network. Football is just one of the crowd, with interest heavily diluted elsewhere and those athletes peppering the nation with pride on almost a daily basis. Winning Olympic football will just see the team as one of the pack of swimmers and cyclists and rowers. In that sense, it's almost an insult to their effort, that surely football victory should mean more than any other. It does in another venue, the World Cup. Hence the understanding here of low priority and care to qualify.
Will the FFA bother to undertake a full investigation for the abject failure of the campaign? It should, it won't, and few would care anyway. Not least the Australian Olympic Committee, who'd much prefer funds directed away from football and into sports that allow for repeat and quick glory. When Michael Phelps alone could place top 10 in the medal table if he were regarded as a nation himself, Australia yet to win any medal in football, and with the World Cup light years ahead of Olympic football for prestige and significance, it's almost a moral imperative that Olympic football in this country does take the backseat. The entire football community - from FFA, to media, to TV, to fans, to A-League clubs, and maybe even the players - all have spoken on this one. The bad result that it is, if you don't dream, this can't be a nightmare.
UAE 1 (Omar Abdulrahman 23')
Australia 0
Team P W D L F A GD Pts UAE 5 3 2 0 5 0 5 11 UZBEKISTAN 5 2 2 1 5 2 3 8 IRAQ 5 1 1 3 2 7 -5 4 AUSTRALIA 5 0 3 2 0 3 -3 3
Australia will miss the Olympic football tournament for the first time since 1984 after its blunt attack flopped again in a 1-0 loss to United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi. The Olyroos needed a win to at least stay in the hunt for the play-offs involving the three second-placed teams in the Asian qualifying groups. Once again, Australia was toothless in attack and has the ignominious distinction of failing to score a goal after five group games.
The loss left Australia bottom of its four-team group, trailing second-placed Uzbekistan by five points with one game to play against Iraq in Gosford on 14 March. A win would lift it off the bottom and into third above Iraq, which upset previously unbeaten Uzbekistan 2-1 in the other penultimate round game.
The Olyroos created some decent chances, especially in the first half before UAE scored the only goal of the game. Mate Dugandzic clipped the crossbar and Aaron Mooy and captain Oliver Bozanic each had a shot saved.
The only goal came midway through the first half, when goalkeeper Matthew Ryan was beaten at his near post by Omar Abdulrahman's speculative shot from near the goal line after a short corner routine. Moments earlier Ryan had pulled off two good saves from a free kick and follow-up effort.
Unbeaten UAE, which now leads the group by three points, went close a couple of times just before the hour mark. The home team was content to protect its lead in the final quarter and just launch the occasional attack.
Australia had a decent share of possession in the second half, wasting much of it with consistently poor delivery into the area from both set pieces and open play.. Mooy blazed high and wide with just over 10 minutes to go, as the Olyroos' painful goal drought continued.
After zero goals and zero wins in five games so far, it was only fitting that all Australia could earn last night in Gosford was a 0-0 draw with Iraq. Both teams are out of the Olympics. In the group's other game, UAE, who only needed a draw, scored in injury time to beat Uzbekistan 3-2 in Tashkent to progress to London with glory. Uzbekistan will join Oman and Syria in a three-way play-off in neutral Vietnam before the winner faces Senegal, Africa's fourth best team, in a play-off in London.
It's amazing that an Australian team can go six games at any level without scoring a single goal. So forgettable and lamentable this entire campaign has been that no TV would broadcast it. Fox Sports, who showed Uzbekistan live when they were in Australia, preferred replays of darts and golf rather show the match it was filming for its webstream. Even if it had commentary, put it on an active channel at least.
Since the AFC is moving to a single tournament for future qualifying, it's probably premature to be advising about priorities. Suffice to say, the question is whether we value Olympic football enough. Judging by the actions of FFA, and interest from TV, media, fans and maybe even players themselves, no. If we don't value it and don't commit to playing the strongest teams possible, stop wasting everyone's time and, more importantly, stop disrespecting Asia that we believe we can just turn up with bits and pieces teams and preparation and hope to qualify.
With a new TV deal in the works and with Fox Sports more inclined to secure premium product like Socceroos and A-League, it's time SBS start walking their talk with their often histrionic views on football development and make themselves the home of youth football and commit to all U17, U20 & U23 qualifying matches on any one of their available four digital channels. Then maybe the priorities of everyone else will change as well.
Team P W D L F A GD Pts UAE 6 4 2 0 8 2 6 14 UZBEKISTAN 6 2 2 2 7 5 2 8 IRAQ 6 1 2 3 2 7 -5 5 AUSTRALIA 6 0 4 2 0 3 -3 4
Australia and Iraq bowed out of their London Olympic campaigns with a scoreless draw in their under-23 qualifying match in Gosford on Wednesday. A largely new-look squad was unable to prevent Australia from finishing bottom of Group B with just four points from its six matches. With six new faces in the starting side determined to prove they belonged in a national shirt, there was a sense of urgency by the Olyroos.
Iraq's Amjed Kalaf Mansoor couldn't capitalise on an early half-chance, and from there Australia had the better chances. The match then quickly descended into an end-to-end affair as both sides fought to assert their authority in midfield.
Australian pair Chris Harold and Kofi Danning were the beneficiaries of some accurate passes from Mustafa Amini, but were unable to break down a committed Iraqi defence. Danning had the best chance of the half to give Australia a decisive lead after 22 minutes, but the marksman elected to push a pass when pulling the trigger himself appeared the better option. Dimitri Petratos was proving a handful for the Iraqi defenders with some bustling runs, while captain Ben Kantarovski strengthened the midfield with a composed performance. Australian goalkeeper Mark Birighitti made an important late save to ensure scores would remain level at half-time.
Australia lifted the intensity noticeably after the break, but it was Iraq's Ammar Abdulhussein Ahmed who went within inches of opening the scoring in the 67th minute when he dragged his shot just wide. A slick passing movement released striker Chris Harold shortly in the 87th minute but Iraqi goalkeeper Saqr Ajail Salih narrowed the angle and the shot went wide. Harold had one final chance to break the deadlock deep in stoppage time but his powerful header was deflected out for a corner.