Brett Emerton slammed a double and fellow European stars Tim Cahill and Josh Kennedy also got on the scoresheet as Australia outclassed Qatar 4-0 in their Asian World Cup qualifier yesterday.
The Australians followed up their 3-0 and 3-1 wins over the Gulf side for their third comprehensive victory in eight months of this year’s World Cup qualifying.
The Socceroos leapfrogged Qatar to the top of Group A with their second victory of the final qualifying phase, setting themselves up nicely for their next assignment away to Bahrain on Sunday.
PHOTO: AP
Australia, looking for back-to-back trips to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa after reaching the knockout round in Germany two years ago, were good value for their victory and had the game wrapped up on the hour.
The result never looked in doubt after Cahill continued his amazing near one-in-two scoring rate for his country with a rapier finish in the ninth minute.
A long ball from Luke Wilkshire was helped on by David Carney and Kennedy to leave the Everton poacher unmarked on the left-hand side of the box to drill home for his 14th goal in 29 internationals.
Cahill was in the action again eight minutes later when he was impeded by Abdulla Koni as he attempted a mid-air volley and was awarded a penalty with Koni yellow carded.
Blackburn Rovers’ Emerton converted from the spot to give the confident Australians a two-goal buffer.
The Socceroos came close to increasing their margin in the 20th minute when an error from goalkeeper Abdulla Abdulaziz almost allowed Kennedy in to score and from the rebound the ever-present Cahill fired just wide of the right post.
The home side took their foot off the pedal late in the opening half enabling the Qataris to come more into the game and Brazilian import Fabio Montesin was astray with two long-range efforts.
Magid Hassan gave the Australians their only anxious moment of the half when he fired across the goalmouth but no Qatari player was there to connect.
The Australians wrapped it up with Emerton’s second goal of the night, finishing off lead-up play from strikers Scott McDonald and Kennedy to ram the ball home in the 59th minute for a 3-0 advantage.
It was Emerton’s fourth goal in Australia’s last two games against Qatar.
Karlsruhe beanpole striker Kennedy capped a fine match when he headed home Wilkshire’s deep cross for Australia’s fourth goal with 14 minutes left.
Coach Pim Verbeek brought off Emerton minutes from the end to the acclaim of the 34,000 home crowd.
The kick-off was delayed for 30 minutes after a fierce electrical storm deluged the ground.
The Qataris must now regroup under their new French coach Bruno Metsu for their third home match of the series against Japan next month.
■ JAPAN 1, UZBEKISTAN 1
AFP, SAITAMA, JAPAN
Forward Keiji Tamada scored a crucial equalizer as a disappointing Japan struggled to a 1-1 with Uzbekistan in Asian World Cup qualifying yesterday.
After a prolonged bout of Uzbek pressure, Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura lofted the ball into the box where striker Yoshito Okubo got a touch before Tamada stabbed it in from close range in the 40th minute.
Uzbekistan were the better side early on and deservedly took the lead when midfielder Dildar Magdeev passed to Timur Kapadze who produced a cross that Maksim Shatskikh latched onto for the opener in the 28th minute.
“It was our first game at home, so we really wanted to win. I was very disappointed,” Tamada said. “Yoshito did very well to catch Shunsuke’s pass. I just needed to flick in.”
Japan had better chances in the second period, but were unable to convert, leaving them level on four points in Group A with Qatar and behind Australia on six points.
Japan next play Qatar on Nov. 19, while Uzbekistan take on Bahrain at home on Feb. 11.
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