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Aussie Olympic dream ends
Australia's olympic footballers have fallen at the quarter final stage despite strong showings against their opposition. The Matildas downed 1-2 against Sweden on Friday evening while the Olyroos, Australia's U/23 mens side, were knocked out by the fairytale story of the 2004 games, Iraq. The loss was a mere 0-1 deficit thanks to an acrobatic effort by Emad Mohammed.
The Matildas should be proud of their efforts however as the group stage provided three firsts for Australian womens football. Their first match saw them beaten 0-1 by a dominant Brazil thanks to a goal by Marta on 36 minutes. However it didn't seem to phase the squad as they went into the match against the host nation, Greece. Needing a victory to give themselves a chance, the Matildas got off to an early start, scoring through Heather Garriock in the 27th minute. Despite consistently trying to extend their lead the Matildas couldn't add to their tally. Luckily neither could greece and Australias womens football side scored their first ever win at a major international tornament.
This left the might of the US to face in their final group match. It all started horribly wrong for the Matildas when Kristine Lilly scored in the 19th minute for the USA. The early goal not what they wanted. However as the match continued the Matildas improved and were duely rewarded on 82 minutes when Joanne Peters hit a looping header towards goal from about 14 yards out. The US keeper believed it to be going over but the dip on the ball proved her wrong. The tied result was another first for Australia who, in 16 previous matches against the former world champions, had never achieved a result. The third "first" for the Matildas was actually reaching a quarter final stage at a major international event.
This gave the Matildas confidence going into the match against the second placed team at the recent Womens World Cup. Unfortunatly a poor start lead to a 25th minute goal from Hanna Ljungberg and a 30th minute headed goal from Sara Larsson to give the Swedish side an early two goal lead. The second half saw the Matildas pick up the pace and threatened for a while. However their cause looked a little lost until Lisa De Vanna latched onto a break away ball, bumped off a defender and slotted past the keeper on 79 minutes. Despite a last gasp effort the Matildas couldn't capitalise and Sweden knocked out Australia.
The Olyroos started their campaign a little more positively against Tunisia. A first half goal from John Aloisi on 45 minutes gave Australia the lead. However an equiliser came in the second half through Ali Zitouni when he knocked in on the 69 minute. A 1-1 draw is what Frank Farina's men had to be content with. Their fortunes would soon rise however going into the match against Serbia and Montenegro. The Serbians had lost heavily to the Argentinians in the first match 6-0. This trend continued as the Aussies notched up five goals. Tim Cahill started the beating, heading in from a corner on 11 minutes. The match was dominated by Australia as Aloisi added a second just before half time. The display didn't end there as Aloisi scored his second for the match soon after. Ahmad Elrich got in on the act with two for himself in the 60th and 86th minutes. Serbia managed a consolation goal when Srdan Radonjic tapped home in the 72nd minute.
The final group match saw Australia face Argentina, a world heavyweight and favourite for the gold medal. And the South Americans got the perfect start. An 9th minute strike after some average defence gave Andres D'Alessandro the honours. An improved second half performance from Australia didn't put a score on the board however as Argentina took out the group. Australia still managed second place however, beating Tunisia on goal difference after they could only manage a single goal victory over Serbia and Montenegro.
This set Australia up against sentimental favourites Iraq. With the conflict that's been occuring in Iraq for the past year and a half, they weren't expected to do anything but make up the numbers. However a 4-2 shock win over the second placed Euro 2004 team, Portugal, Iraq made headline news around the world for all the right reasons. This was followed by a 2-0 victory over CONCACAF heavyweights from Costa Rica. Iraq were guaranteed a quarter final spot here and dropped the ball slightly when going down 1-2 to Morroco. The quarter final started well for Australia who dominated the match. However the absence of captain Craig Moore, Cahill and Elrich through suspension meant valuable experience was missing. And it showed when Emad hit a sweet bicycle kick into the corner to give the Iraqi's the lead early in the second half. Australia picked up for about ten minutes but died off, their chances diminishing with every stray pass made. The final ten minutes saw the Olyroos go all out in attack but nothing went their way. Iraq's fairytale continues while Australia's football teams are left to wonder what might have been.
22 August, 2004 |
