We Own You Qatar

Well what a night it was.  In scenes strangely reminiscent of the semi-final against Sydney last season Australia won a rain delayed match against Qatar.  A torrential downpour prior to the match set kick off back about half an hour but thanks to the stellar work of the ground staff the match kicked off on a largely superb surface.  With this being a top of the table clash I was expecting this to be a tight tussle with Qatar most likely playing for a draw.  Whatever Bruno Metsu's plans for the night were, Australia shattered them within ten minutes of the kick off.  Tim Cahill, on his return to the national team following injury, lashed home a left footed shot in the ninth minute to put Australia in front.  A Luke Wilkshire pass was flicked on by David Carney and Joshua Kennedy in quick succession before falling to an unmarked Cahill who proved yet again how lethal he is in front of goal.  Just eight minutes later and it was Cahill again who was largely responsible for doubling Australia's lead.  As he jumped to volley a loose defensive header he received a push in the back from Abdulla Koni and the referee delighted the fans by pointing to the spot.  Brett Emerton stepped up to the mark for the penalty and slammed the ball to the right of the keeper who picked the right direction but could not stop Emerton's penalty.  With an early two goal lead in place, Australia was more than happy to maintain possession and control the flow of the game.  They did this comfortably and limited the chances that Qatar had on offer.  The best chance for the Qataris came late in the half when a break down the left saw a Magid cross whipped across the face of goal but remain tantalisingly out of reach of any Qatari player.

Having taken a 2:0 lead to the break, Verbeek would surely have been happy with his side.  But no doubt there would have been plenty of words of caution to ensure that we did not allow Qatar back into the game.  Verbeek made one change for the second half with Scott Chipperfield, who had a very quiet first half, replaced by Mile Sterjovski allowing David Carney to drop back into the left fullback spot vacated by Chipperfield.  Australia got off to another good start and immediately slipped back into the groove of running the show against Qatar.  A slike passing move just shy of the hour mark saw Australia score their third goal with a beautiful finish from Emerton.  McDonald picked up a loose ball on the left and Australia broke quickly with McDonald flicking a neat little pass to Kennedy who laid on a perfect pass for the charging Emerton who fired home his second of the night.  Kennedy then grabbed a goal of his own a quarter of an hour later when a Luke Wilkshire cross picked him out in the box and the Jesus lookalike headed home past the keeper.  To finish off a disastrous night Qatar's star striker, Sebastian Quintana, then butchered a certain goal when he fired over the goal with only Craig Moore to beat.

So at the final whistle Australia had wrapped up a 4:0 win with an impressive performance that sends us to the top of our group.  Of the two sides Australia handled the conditions the best and our finishing on the night was superb.  For Qatar it was a crushing loss, and one that comes on the back of 3:0 and 3:1 losses in the earlier stage of qualification.  

Verbeek once more impressed putting out a side that not only got the job done but really didn't look like losing this game.  The return of Craig Moore to the back four was a seamless one with the veteran looking as though he had never been out of international football.  Wilkshire also is growing into his new role at right back and he is becoming a regular provider of goals with his crosses into the strikers.  The only negative at the back was the first half performance of Chipperfield who was incredibly quiet.  I'm not sure what happened there, perhaps it was illness or injury, but it was not a normal performance from him.  Subsequently it was no surprise that he got the hook at half time.  The midfield was superb with Culina doing a great job in the holding role and Emerton and Carney/Sterjovski putting in good shifts out wide.  The return of Emerton to a more advanced role has been a master stroke from Verbeek and one that is returning goals.  Tim Cahill was superb once more of course and it was no surprise that he bobbed up and grabbed the opening goal.  Well it was a surprise to me at least, as apparently I'd consumed enough Tooheys New that I thought it was McDonald who scored.  Doh!  Which brings on to McDonald who didn't have a bad game but again fell short of expectation.  You can just see he needs one goal and then that's it he'll start scoring freely but he just can't seem to crack it at the moment.  Kennedy though is revelling in his role up front and is proving to be lethal in the air.  

In other matches overnight, Japan drew 1:1 with Uzbekistan in a result that does us a few favours.  Korea Republic thrashed UAE 4:1 while Iran beat DPR Korea 2:1.

Verbeek's attention now turns to November 19 when we take on Bahrain in Manama.  This match does not fall on a FIFA sanctioned date which could mean he will have issues getting his star European players released from their clubs.  Some players, such as David Carney, Mile Sterjovski and Chris Coyne might be fine as they are not seeing much football at the moment.  But it might be a different story for some of the others.  Verbeek may have to choose some of his less high profile European based players or even draft in A-League players.  Personally I think that is the real reason why Moore played last night.  Verbeek may well believe that he won't have Neil for the Bahrain game and he needs the experience of the Roar captain.  For Verbeek this match may well represent a hunt for a point with an understrength side.  Bahrain currently sits in fourth place in the group with just one point from two games.  How we approach this game may well hinge on who we get from Europe.

Finally on the home front the Roar are preparing for Friday's clash with Adelaide at Suncorp Stadium.  Much of the focus will be on Moore and how well he pulls up after the Wednesday night international.  Fit again defensive pair Josh McCloughan and Luke Devere are believed to be locked in a battle for the starting spot alongside Moore.  Charlie Miller will start despite being diagnosed with a hernia during the week.  The Roar will attempt to manage the Scot's injury for the remainder of the season before putting him under the knife in the off-season.  Sergio Van Dijk will miss the match having failed to recover from a calf injury.  Frank Farina's squad sees Devere, Tahj Minniecon, Tim Smits, McCloughan, and Ben Griffin all called up while David Dodd has been dropped and Robbie Kruse has been left out having picked up a hamstring strain in training.  This is a crucial match for the Roar who must turn around their home form having picked up four good points in the two away games preceding this.

The club also announced today that they would be playing David Beckham's LA Galaxy on December 11.