2 min China let Australia build, then Li flattens Miller and the visitors recommence, some nice one-touch stuff allowing the switch to Irvine, who’s crowded out.
1 min And away we go! With commentary!
We have coverage!
Email! “The Plan to defeat China,” begins Chris Paraskevas, presumably not trying to reignite the Cold War.
“P̶l̶a̶n̶ ̶A̶:̶ ̶G̶o̶ ̶L̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶M̶i̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶D̶u̶k̶e̶
P̶l̶a̶n̶ ̶B̶:̶ ̶H̶a̶r̶r̶y̶ ̶S̶o̶u̶t̶t̶a̶r̶ ̶o̶f̶f̶ ̶s̶e̶t̶ ̶p̶i̶e̶c̶e̶s̶
P̶l̶a̶n̶ ̶C̶:̶ ̶N̶e̶s̶t̶o̶r̶ ̶I̶r̶a̶n̶k̶u̶n̶d̶a̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶o̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶u̶p̶e̶r̶s̶t̶a̶r̶ ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶n̶i̶g̶h̶t̶
Plan D: Hope the vibe of Jackson Irvine’s vinyl collection gets us over the line.”
That sounds a decent way of settling anything.
Er, my promised stream has yet to materailise. But worry not: if the worst comes to the worst, we can brings you this game without the aid of commentary, which sounds absolutely ideal.
I’m going to write those down, but in the meantime and after 12 minutes, it’s Japan 0-0 Saudi.
Teams!
China (4-4-2 diamond): Wang; Han, Li, Yang, Jiang; Huang , Xu, Xie, Cao; Zhang, Wei. Subs: Yan, Wu, Wei, Seginho, Wang Yudong, Liu, Hu, Jin, Wang Zhen’ao,, Wang Haijian, Wang Ziming, Abduweli.
Australia (3-4-2-1): Ryan; Degenek, Geria, Burgess; Miller, Teague, Irvine, Behich; Velupillay, Boyle; Borrello. Subs: Rowles, Caceres, Trewin, Arzani, Izzo, O’Neill, Davidson, Duke, Glover, Karacic, Grant, Goodwin.
Preamble
Daniel Harris
This was supposed to be easy. Asian qualifying Group C hardly boasts the greatest teams in the world, but a home defeat to Bahrain and a draw with Saudi, added to away draws with Japan, Indonesia and pesky Bahrain again, leaves the Socceroos under pressure.
The Land of the Rising Sun have fittingly become the first to qualify for World Cup 2026, but behind them in the scuffle for the second automatic spot, Australia lead Saudi by just a point and goal difference, with matches with Japan, then one in Riyadh, their two to come after tonight’s contest.
As such, the Socceroos really must win here and, in China, face the bottom team in the group. The are, though, struggling to score goals – the days of Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell are long gone – which makes every match a potential struggle.
Kick-off: 7pm local, 10pm AEDT, 11am GMT