World Cup qualification football has returned to the shores of Australia with Australia playing host to Indonesia in their Group C clash at the Sydney Football Stadium on a pleasant yet coolish March evening. It was the first time that I have had the pleasure of watching football at the Sydney Football stadium as the last time I was watching a sport here was back in 2012 when I watched Super Rugby action between the Warratahs and the always strong New Zealand teams. I have genuinely forgotten which team they played, I think it was the Highlanders. However, I do not recall so I will not lock in which team they were playing.
The point is that I haven't watched a football match here and not an event since the stadium was demolished and rebuilt. The stadium looks very nice and feels very nice too. The old stadium looked a bit bare and the facilities were not the greatest. But with a slight increase with capacity and better configuration with seats, the stadium has a more intimate feel and the atmosphere is definitely an improved one.
Indonesia were hoping to cause a huge upset and Australia's campaign has not been the greatest with Japan having to simply win their match also tonight to punch their ticket for Canada, USA and Mexico of 2026. The battle is more to lock in that second automatic position for qualification. Australia must win this game and the following game against China, in China, a few days from now. With these two wins, it makes the job to get to North America for next year a less stressful one but the job is not done yet; though the job should be done.
The stadium was a full house and I realised why it was difficult to buy a ticket for this match and my friend. The ratio for home and away support was about two thirds supporting Indonesia and one third supporting Australia. We really live in a society where Australia is just an empty vessel for people to come here and use. Then move on to other things back home. A shame but that is how Australia has structured itself these days and over the past decades. But enough of this, we are talking about sport and whatnot.
Australia were on the back foot for the first fifteen minutes of the match. It was all Indonesia and the hosts were constantly having to be pushed back and try and clear their lines with the utmost of frenetic pace and frantically done. It was looking ominous and threatening that Indonesia were looking at scoring and potentially blowing Australia away with their aggressive style and wanting to barnstorm their way for a crucial three points and potentially qualify for their first world cup since 1938.
There was a penalty that was awarded to Indonesia and this was the result of this tenacious pressure that they were mounting on the Australians. The crowd was stunned but most of the crowd were highly excited in eager anticipation for what might be following next. The ball was placed upon the spot and both combatants took to the stage to play out what would unfold. The ball was struck and Matthew Ryan had saved it. It certainly looked like the Indonesian player wanted to strike the ball hard and into a corner or simply power the shot straight into the goal. However, as he ran in he checked his shot and the power in the shot was considerably lighter. I think that this had given the Australians the advantage here and had cost Indonesia dearly.
This is what the Australians had needed as they were starting to regroup and begin to mount challenges through counter attacks and by soaking up the pressure. Their experience was starting to show and the experience with Popovic leading the team was also evident. The Australians were beginning to string passes together, creating vital areas to thread balls through to and causing a nuisance to the defensive lines of the visitors when it came to crossing to try and strike.
This culminated in the opening of the scoring by the Australians and it wasn't long until Velupillay pounced on a well guided pass to double the score after Boyle's successful conversion of a penalty. Irvine had pushed the score out to three goals to the good and at half time it was looking very comfortable for the hosts, It was looking like the job was in the bag for this match with only one more half to play and the job would be done.
Miller scored and it was then 4-0 and looking like the Australians were going to take the game away and start scoring for fun. However, it was a hard fought first period of the second half with the Indonesians pressing and causing all kinds of problems for the defense. It looked like Australia might be coughing up a two goal cushion with their pressure being put to the test. However, Australia weathered the storm and managed to wrestle control of possession out of Indonesia's hands by leading four goals to the good.
It was not until the 78th minute when Indonesia finally scored and it did show there might be a glimmer of hope for them to steal a second. However, it wasn't until late in the second half the Australians had scored a fifth and had put the game to bed. Though it did look threatening that the Australians were looking at potentially scoring a sixth.
As for food and drink, because of our late arrival into the stadium due to so many away supporters and the slow nature of allowing people to get in. All we had was some water and that was six dollars a pop. I could imagine that food and drink would have been on par with the prices served in Perth as that can be very expensive. These outings are alright for yourself, or with a friend, partner or another person. But if you have children and you have a small family there it can be quite the expensive outing and cost you a small fortune.
All-in-all the experience was nice, if you ignore the usual issues with expensive food and drinks which I think was just a natural reaction to do when I came into the ground. But to get to and from the Sydney Football Stadium was not challenging and to get back to Central station and the city was a breeze. A shame that Sydney just isnt so easy to get around in a prompt manner as it is a nice city besides this issue. But until next time looking forward to returning back to Sydney as it is always fun.
