Socceroos lose 2-1 to South Korea in extra time of Asian Cup ...
The Socceroos have crashed out of the Asian Cup in heartbreaking fashion, suffering a dramatic 2-1 extra-time loss to South Korea after throwing away a 1-0 lead in Qatar.
Craig Goodwin gave Australia the lead when he volleyed home in the 42nd minute in front of 39,632 fans at the Al Janoub Stadium.
Australia then spurned multiple chances to double their lead before a nightmare stint off the bench from right-back Lewis Miller, and two big moments from Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min turned the game in South Korea's favour.
With Graham Arnold's charges up 1-0 deep into stoppage time, Miller needlessly dived in late on South Korea's superstar captain Son, giving away a penalty.
Hwang Hee-chan coolly slammed the spot-kick into the top corner in the seventh minute of injury time to take the game to extra-time.
In the 104th minute, Miller then brought down Hwang on the edge of the area, only for Spurs' Son to lift a wonderful free kick into the top corner to put South Korea in front.
Australia's hopes of a comeback were then made all but impossible minutes after the goal when they were reduced to 10 men.
Aiden O'Neill lunged in to attempt to win the ball and caught Hwang with his studs, with his initial yellow card upgraded to a straight red after a VAR referral.
South Korea comfortably saw out the game from there to send Australia packing and tee up a semi-final against Jordan, who beat Tajikistan 1-0 earlier on Friday local time.
For the Koreans, the result partly avenged their 2-1 extra-time loss to the Socceroos in the 2015 Asian Cup final in Sydney.
Check out how the match unfolded in our live blog below.
Key Event
Final thoughtsThanks Sam. A disappointing, but not unexpected result. The Socceroos gave all that they had. Will you be blogging the Tillies v Uzbekistan Olympic qualifier?
- Mark
Football can be a cruel game, and this is one of the cruellest Socceroos games I can remember.
They were literally a minute away from a heroic 1-0 win over South Korea, only for Lewis Miller's panicked slide tackle in the box handing their opponents a comeback on a platter.
Hwang Hee-Chan's penalty took the wind out of Australia's sails, as did the straight red card to Aiden O'Neill after a dangerous tackle on Hee-Chan in the first stanza of extra-time, taking the Socceroos down to ten.
From there, the team faded and faded. Overall, South Korea were good for this win, but Australia will know that this is an enormous opportunity missed, and will linger in the heads and their hearts for a while.
South Korea now progress to the Asian Cup semi-final against Jordan, while the Socceroos will debrief and then go back to their clubs.
There will be plenty of conversation in the coming days about this game and this tournament, but all I'll say for now is that I am really proud of how the Socceroos played tonight: they did what they do best, showing us the grit and the fight that captured the whole country in 2022.
Like then, it was a joy to bring you their journey here. I'll be back on the ABC Sport liveblog later this month to cover the Matildas' Olympic qualifying games against Uzbekistan, which I hope you'll join me for.
Until then!
Thanks for the great commentary and chat people. Next time
- Mr Bootle
Thanks Sam - was almost a very different outcome but for Miller's one clumsy tackle ...
- Mike
Loved the commentary but its a big drop to be playing book ball.
- Gee Gee
Key Event
Full time: Australia 1 - 2 South Korea119' Chance Korea!Son Heung-min picks up the ball on half-way and just... jogs forward towards Australia's defence, with no yellow shirts flooding back with urgency.
He has so much time to choose what to do here as three team-mates flood around. He opts left, sending a perfectly-weighted pass angled left into the box, and his team-mate rockets a shot towards the far post... only for Mat Ryan to throw two big hands at it and palm it away.
The ball rolls out to the other Korean winger, who tries to fire it over Ryan who's still splayed out in the grass, but somehow it spins out for a goal kick.
Incredible keeping.
Both teams are just pinging the ball over the top of each other's defences now, hoping one of their fresh-legged forwards can speed in behind the slowing centre-backs and nick a goal.
It's pretty rudimentary stuff, though. A ball floats in, and is headed away by a centreback. It's hoofed up-field, only for the opposing centre-back to head it away. It's been like this for a few minutes as both teams try to figure out what on earth else they can do.
A lovely cross-field pass out to the left for the charging Aziz Behich sees the full-back bring it down beautifully before turning and aiming for a through-ball, but the referee whistles the game dead and points for a free kick to... Korea.
What? The referee gestures for a handball on Behich, but the replay shows the ball was nowhere near either of his arms.
That was such a shame: the Socceroos could've carved a rare opening with that run down the wing, but the ref has decided otherwise.
I know coaches have their reasons for their subs and we’ll probably never really understand them but this is tough to take!
- M
Our man Harry...maybe?
- Gee Gee
The Socceroos captain is still on his toes, even if most of his team-mates aren't anymore.
Australia's players are making more and more mistakes as they fatigue and lose concentration, but lucky for them Ryan is still wide-awake.
He snapped a shot out of the air a minute ago, and just came sprinting out of his box to calmly collect a through-ball with his foot before passing neatly to a team-mate.
Son Heung-min found too much space a moment later, opening up his body as a sliding Behich came across, but he hooked his shot just wide as Ryan was ready for it to come at him.
So at least we've got that.
He's run a marathon in this game, has Aziz.
Somehow he's found himself up near Korea's box, throwing himself around, trying anything to get a foot on the ball and send a cross in.
He tries to work with Bruno Fornaroli, but the ball just doesn't settle. It's hoofed into his stomach, and he tries his best to loft the deflection over the Korean defenders and towards the six-yard box, but it floats harmlessly into the goalkeeper's hands.
Behich then leans down into the grass and clutches at his stomach. Winded, maybe? He gets up and jogs gingerly away a moment later after the Koreans had lumped the ball out so he could receive attention.
He looks cooked.
Discipline has been a problem for us this game and now it looks like South Korea are going to prevail both in player numbers and on the scoresheet.
- Adam
Harry Souttar is a centre-forward now.
If you were wondering what Graham Arnold's "break glass in case of emergency" plan was.
Well you bring on subs to make an impact… ???? Sadly the wrong kind for us
- Mr Bootle
Key Event
Second half of extra time kick off!105' South Korea substitutionsPark Yong-Woo is replaced by Park Jin-seop.
Hwang Hee-Chan, who's been epic in this match, comes off for Oh Hyeon-gyu.
Boy this support thing can be soooo draining. Gonna have to dig real deep to get out this pickle.
- Gee Gee
Sometime's teams play better with 10 men…
- Mr Bootle
Who is showing leadership on the field to calm people down? Hard for Ryan to in goal to do that. Shame. Mountain now…
- Mr Bootle
