AL RAYYAN, Qatar (AP) — Australia is up and running at the Asian Cup after second-half goals from Jackson Irvine and Jordan Bos broke India’s resistance and secured a 2-0 win on Saturday.
The 2015 champions are out to reclaim the title in Qatar and were given an early test against a stubborn opponent and a raucous crowd at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.
“We can improve on everything and the boys know that,” Australia coach Graham Arnold said. “We have our standards and I have high expectations of the players and their performances and those expectations and standards need to be met.”
Australia dominated the Group B match, but struggled to find a way through India’s determined defense.
That was until goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu failed to claim a high cross from Martin Boyle five minutes after the break and Irvine pounced to fire home from close range.
Bos, a substitute, had only been on the field for a minute when he converted Riley McGree’s low cross at the far post to double the lead in the 73rd.
“Both goals came from our sloppy reactions,” India coach Igor Stimac said. “These goals didn’t come off Australia’s brilliant display of action, just because of our irresponsibility at certain times.”
While Australia dominated on the field, it was India’s fans who made the majority of the noise among the crowd of 36,253.
High-pitched cheers rang around the stadium to greet India’s increasing number of defensive clearances as the pressure mounted. And that was amplified for India’s rare attacks on goal, such as a flying header from Sunil Chhetri in the first half that went wide.
Sandhu could have been punished for a mis-kick in the first half but recovered to stop Connor Metcalfe’s effort on goal. Irvine made no mistake from the keeper’s error in the 50th, though, setting Australia on course for victory.
“I think there were still two players on the line. That’s the way India defended today,” Irvine said. “I had tried to squeeze it through that gap and fortunately it went in.”
The match was the first in the history of the Asian Cup to be officiated by a female referee, with Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita in charge.
UZBEKISTAN HELD
Australia is clear at the top of the group after Uzbekistan and Syria drew 0-0.
Uzbekistan would hope to be the main challenger to Australia and dominated the chances in both halves at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium without making that pressure count.
Syria looked to have taken the lead in the second half through Ibrahim Hesar, only for the goal to be ruled offside.
PROMISING DEBUT
Tajikistan, on debut at the tournament, is the 37th different nation to compete in the Asian Cup and kicked off with a 0-0 draw against China in Group A.
Alisher Dzhalilov came close to putting Tajikistan ahead in the first half when firing just wide and forced a save from China keeper Yan Junling before the break.
China came back in the second half. Liu Binbin had a shot cleared off the line and Zhu Chenjie saw a goal ruled out by VAR.
Host and defending champion Qatar leads Group A after a 3-0 win against Lebanon on Friday.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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