Nation unites on Judi Online pitch at least
Iraqi players celebrate their momentous 3-1 victory over Australia
"We won tonight, so our fans will be shooting in the air,
and that is better than shooting at each other."
Such was Iraq coach Jorvan Viera's frank assessment after his
team shocked Australia 3-1 at Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok.
The wily Brazilian veteran has only been in the job for six
weeks, and he was quick to deflect attention on to his players following Iraq's
stunning win.
It came on the back of an inspired performance from playmaker
Nashat Akram - who has been heavily linked with a move to English Premier
League club Sunderland, and who opened the scoring with a free-kick after
twenty-three minutes.
Australia hit back through a Mark Viduka header just after the
break, but when man-of-the match Nashat played a superb reverse pass into the
path of Hawar Mullah Mohammed on the hour mark, the midfielder made no mistake
after being allowed a clear run through on goal.
Iraqi fans poured into the streets of the war-torn nation when
Karrar Jassim Mohammed added a third late on, as a team comprised of Sunni and
Shia Muslims, Kurds and Christians conjured a temporary peace in the fractured
nation.
The match was played against a political backdrop, with more than
600 Australian Judi Online troops
still deployed in Iraq as part of a peace-keeping force in that country.
The Australians must be sick of the sight of Iraq on the football
pitch, however, with the Iraqi's having knocked Australia out of the 2004
Athens Olympics en route to the semi-finals.
Australia coach Graham Arnold is now under intense pressure after
his team turned in one of their worst performances in recent years.
Bereft of ideas and guilty of committing inexplicable errors, one
might have assumed that it was Australia who fielded a mixture of semi-amateur
and professional players, rather than Iraq.
As it was a team comprised mainly of players plying their trade
in the English Premier League turned in an embarrassing performance.
Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, substitute Tim Cahill of
Everton and West Ham defender Lucas Neill all had games to forget - with Neill
red-carded at the death as Australia's frustrations boiled over.
When asked to comment on the dismal performance, Australia coach
Graham Arnold claimed that "maybe some players don't want to be
here."
His assessment appeared to anger Australia captain Mark Viduka,
with the much-vaunted Australians' Asian Cup dreams seemingly crumbingly down
around them
Saudis Spoil The Party
Saudi players celebrate dramatic win
It is easy with hindsight to say that it was coming but it was.
Even the combined wills of 90,000 partisan Indonesian fans couldn’t stop Saad Al Harthi’s header
crashing high into Pitoy’s net three minutes into injury time.
The free-kick was taken right in front of the press box – one
which seemed to have more supporters than reporters – and the location was an
inviting one with several tall Saudis waiting in the middle just one good cross
away.
So, instead of 1-1 it was 2-1 to the three-time champions.
Instead of a draw against South Korea next Wednesday, Indonesia will almost
certainly need to put the Taeguk Warriors to the sword and relieve the visitors
of all three points, though in an Asian Cup full of surprises, such a thing is
not beyond the realms of possibility.
Indonesian players belt out their anthem
Earlier the same evening, Gelora Bung Karno wasn’t a stadium
stunned into silence by Haarthi’s header - it had been rocking. Buoyed by the
team’s thrilling 2-1 win over Bahrain four days previously, the locals had
responded by snapping up all tickets more than 24 hours before kick-off.
Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur may be resistant to the delights of the
Asian Cup but Jakarta has been coming down with a full-blown fever and it was
contagious.
To say the atmosphere was deafening would be an understatement.
Even 45 minutes before kick-off, it was special. In such surroundings it is
easy to get carried away and believe that anything is possible – the fans
certainly did.
Gelaro Bung Karno Stadium almost an hour before kick-off
They had been told to come early as President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono had decided to pay his first ever visit to the national arena to see
the team. Security was tight and the khaki of the uniformed security guards was
a sharp contrast to the strangely attractive green and white shirts that the
liaison officers sported.
It was Saturday night with the Saudis. Unlike the fans, most of
whom were sporting ‘unofficial’ national team shirts, the local scribes were
not confident of keeping out the visitors. “You saw our defence against
Bahrain, it is not good,” said one.
That may be but the hosts have buckets of pride and passion and
while the three-time continental champs had more of the possession in a lively
opening period, it was Indonesia who had the chances.
Elie Aiboy missed a sitter from three yards after ten minutes and
will still shaking his head when Saudi striker Yasser Al-Qahtani was sticking
his on a great cross from Ahmed Al Bahri to put his team ahead.
The crowd barely missed a beat and continued to roar on the reds
and they were rewarded five minutes later as Aiboy made up for his earlier miss
by rounding the goalkeeper and coolly slotting the ball home.
Indonesia finished the half with a couple of good chances and
hopes were high at half-time. There was still a sneaking suspicion that another
goal was necessary to secure the point that would have satisfied every
spectator –from the legions of security guards who never took their eyes from
the action to the president himself.
Guards glued to game
As the second period progressed, the Saudis took control and
started to make chances. The crowd were quieter than they had been all night;
they were nervous, the local scribes were nervous and I was nervous.
The referee may have been over-fussy during the game but was
correct to award a free-kick just outside the right side of the Indonesian
penalty area. As the Saudis lined up the kick, and crowded the six yard box
with their tallest players, it was not difficult to predict what was going to
happen.
That cross found the head of Saad Al Harthi. Haarthi missed a
sitter during injury time against Korea and had been vilified by the Saudi
press. Redemption was his as he headed the ball firmly into the net - the
Saudis’ second aerial goal of the game.
While the goal was probably deserved, it was cruel as all
last-minute winners are. You didn’t need to be an expert in the local language
to understand the general sentiments that were being expressed by those in the
press box and outside.
The Saudi scribes were on their feet though. One of them seemed
to be hit by a missile. I had been warned that Indonesians fans don’t take
defeat very well and are prone to fighting after losing. Outside the stadium,
that didn't seem to be the case - the atmosphere outside was calm and slightly
sad.
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