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Turkey takes cup, 1-0 over Australia
Turkey has taken out the inaugural Freedom and Friendship cup between the world number 7 and hosts Australia after taking the second game out 1-0 at Telstra Dome in Melbourne tonight.
The match started with Australia having to make wholesale changes to their squad due to injury. Regular keeper Mark Schwarzer was out through injury bringing in Zeljko Kalac to cover the area between the sticks. But he was hardly called upon in the first half.
The opening half an hour was dominated by the Socceroos. An outstanding performance by a more attacking Australian outfit almost bringing the Turks undone numerous times. The best chance fell to Marco Bresciano when his 25 metre set piece shot flicked the tip of Rustu Recber's fingers and onto the crossbar. Replays showed it would have dipped under the bar had Recber not touched it.
But the Turks picked up the pace and managed a few raids on the Aussie goal. None of which came to anything until a set piece on the corner of the 18 yard box ended up in the back of the Aussie goal. Nihat Kahveci sent a bullet that not even six foot four Kalac could stop. The devestating blow coming in the 44th minute.
The second half was a myriad of missed opportunities. Australia had their best opportunity cleared from the line from a header by Bulent Kormaz. A goal mouth scramble saw Brett Emerton's shot saved followed by Steve Laybutt's header towards goal cleared away.
Turkey also had their chacnes to seal the win. Nihat had another set piece shot, this time scraping the top layer of the crossbar's paint as it sailed over.
Turkey held on however and won the two game series 4-2. But despite the loss it was a result the Aussies can take heart from. Their defence was hardly at full capacity and attack saw many new options open up, namely Max Vieri who proved to be an influential player, linking up well with Bresciano to create the midflieder numerous chances.
Australia go on this Saturday to play New Zealand in the opening match of the second stage for OFC's World Cup qualifiers.
Australia schedule for the six nation tornament is as follows:
New Zealand - May 29
Tahiti - May 31
Fiji - June 2
Vanuatu - June 4
Solomon Islands - June 6
New Zealand schedule for the six nation tornament is as follows:
Australia - May 29
Solomon Islands - June 31
Vanuatu - June 2
Tahiti - June 4
Fiji - June 6
24 May, 2004 |
