Australia 2 - 1 Iraq (AET)
Australia secured a place in the semi-finals of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup thanks to an extra time winner from Harry Kewell in a hard-fought encounter against Iraq. The Soceroos will now face Uzbekistan on Tuesday 25 January; the other semi-final is between Japan and Korea Republic.
Australia and Iraq effectively cancelled each other out in the first half of the quarter final; neither side were able to get any sort of foothold on the game and play centred around the midfield area, with very little goalmouth action.
There was a rare first half chance for Australia though; a lacklustre back pass via Samal Saeed saw Matt McKay sneak in in goal but he was denied by the bravery of Iraq goalkeeper Mohammed Gassid. McKay was involved in goalmouth action soon after; he latched on to a superb through ball from Mile Jedinak but he could only fire straight at Gassid from just outside the penalty area. Harry Kewell then had a great opportunity to break the deadlock but he fired just over from outside the box.
The second half started the same as the first; the two sides seemed anxious in their play and goalscoring opportunities were few and far between.
It was Iraq who had the best opening of the second half; Emad Mohammed timed his run to perfection but was unable to find the target and he steered his shot wide of Mark Schwarzer’s right-hand post.
The Socceroos then squandered a great opportunity to take the lead just after the hour mark but Sasa Ognenovski headed straight at Gassid from a promising area. As full-time approached, Iraq came close to grabbing the elusive first goal of the game; substitute Mustafa Karim sneaked in at the near post and flashed a teasing cross from the left but was denied by the excellent Mark Schwarzer who got down to gather the ball.
With no separating the sides over 90 minutes, the game entered extra-time.
Australia came close to scoring in the first period of extra-time as Ognenovski’s acrobatic effort was flicked on by Jedinak but the ball went marginally over the top of the crossbar.
Both teams were pressing for a goal throughout extra-time – a penalty shoot-out was the last thing each team wanted and the game became end-to-end with numerous half-chances for each side.
Australia, with three minutes remaining in extra-time, put the tie beyond doubt and out of the reach of Iraq. Harry Kewell broke Iraqi hearts as he headed in McKay’s dinked cross from the left into Gassid’s bottom left hand corner to send the Australian camp into rapturous celebrations.