Turkey Gobble Up Late Chance

Sun Herald

Sunday September 18, 2005

By TOM FINDLAY

TURKEY 1 AUSTRALIA 0

COACH Ange Postecoglou lamented his Australian team's lack of firepower up front after a late goal gave reigning European champions Turkey a 1-0 win in their opening world championship match.

An 84th-minute shot from German giant Borussia Dortmund's Nuri Sahin put an end to a spirited performance from the Joeys, in which they created a number of chances and were unlucky not to get a result against their illustrious opponents.

"Despite the result we showed today that we are capable of some good play against elite opposition," Postecoglou said. "I thought we played well overall, in the first half especially, but perhaps lacked a cutting edge up front.

"All the players are extremely disappointed at the moment given that we were so close to getting something from the match, but they will be primed and ready for the next match against Mexico."

Australia settled well and created some half chances early with a header from Matthew Spiranovic forcing the Turkey goalkeeper to scramble the ball away for a corner.

But Turkey soon came into the match with Kose creating problems on a number of occasions in the first half for the Australian defence.

The Joeys fielded two debutants in Scott Jamieson and Nathan Burns and it was the latter that helped to create their best chance of the half, which fell to Robbie Kruse, who found himself in space but his shot from 20 metres was held by the keeper.

In the other match, Mexico scored second-half goals to beat Uruguay 2-0 to take an early lead in the group.

The Joeys' performances will be keenly monitored by Socceroos assistant Graham Arnold, who is under no illusions about the enormity of the challenge facing the Socceroos if they are to qualify for next year's World Cup in Germany.

"It is a very difficult task and in the past people have expected it to be a lot easier [than it is]," Arnold said.

Despite the Socceroos' sketchy 2-1 win over the Solomon Islands in Honiara two weeks ago, Arnold says confidence in the squad remains high and was given a boost by the draw for the two-legged clash with the fifth-placed South American team, which will be the final hurdle for the Socceroos. They will play the second leg at home.

"Whoever we play [in South America] will be match-hardened and very hard to beat," he said. "[Socceroos head coach] Guus Hiddink said it will be tough no matter what. In other campaigns there has been an expectation that the final qualifying series will be easy. Not this time. But I firmly believe we are better prepared and more right for the games than we were four years ago."

Arnold said the Socceroos' favourable draw playing the return leg at Telstra Stadium would give them a significant psychological advantage.

© 2005 Sun Herald

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