In what can only be described as “edge-of-your-seat sports playing,” The Socceroos were last night denied a World Cup qualifying win against Japan when Matt McKay handballed in the penalty region.
The penalty then occurred two minutes out of the game’s close, levelling the score at 1-1 and revealing the sore fate.
It had been a rather different story ten minutes prior, with the Aussies
opening the scoring and temporarily wavering the hopes of their away
crowd.
The match as whole, something of a grapple with opposing tactics, saw the diminutive Japanese being calculatedly defended by The Australians. The Blue Samurai becomes the first team to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, with only one other team to qualify automatically.
In order to secure their own place in Brazil, the Aussies must dominate as hosts in the final two group games against Jordan (Melbourne, June 11) and Iraq (Sydney, June 18) where both contenders are chance to qualify.
Title image by Kaz Photography via Getty
Via SMH
