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Debutant Australia continues their battles in the World Cup - the representatives of the small continent, coached by Guus Hiddink, fell behind twice in the final F group match against Croatia, but managed to bounce back and after a tense and nerve-wracking game, they held on to the second position and secured a ticket to the round of 16, where they will face the Italian national team.
Gottlieb Daimler Stadium in Stuttgart, 52,000 spectators
Referee - Graham Poll (England)
Croatia 2 - 2 Australia
2' [1 - 0] Darijo Srna
38' [1 - 1] Craig Moore (11m.)
56' [2 - 1] Niko Kovac
79' [2 - 2] Harry Kewell
85' Dario Simic (Croatia), 87' Brett Emerton (Australia), 90' Josip Simunic (Croatia) sent off
Croatia: Pletikosa; Simic, Tudor, Tomas (84' Klasnic), Simunic; Srna, N.Kovac, Babic, Kranjcar (65' J.Leko); Prso, Olic (73' Modric).
Australia: Kalac; Neill, Moore, Chipperfield (75' Kennedy), Emerton; Grella (63' Aloisi), Culina, Cahill, Sterjovski (71' Bresciano); Kewell, Viduka.
The game started more actively for the Croatian national team, and this activity quickly paid off: after just a couple of minutes of play, the Croats were awarded a penalty. Darijo Srna hit the target perfectly, making it 1-0 in Croatia's favor. In this episode, Zeljko Kalac, who replaced Mark Schwarzer in goal, could not save his team.
Midway through the first half, the game evened out, with both teams alternating attacks, but neither creating anything more dangerous than the other.
Just before the end of the first half, Australian captain Mark Viduka headed for goal, but the Croatian goalkeeper was secure. The score at halftime was level at 1-1.
The second half started more actively for the Australians, but they often lacked precision in finishing their attacks.
However, in the second half, it was the Croats who were the first to score: Niko Kovac shot from long range, the ball bounced off the ground just before the goalkeeper and flew into the net defended by Z. Kalac. This was not the first or the last episode where the experienced Australian goalkeeper played unsteadily.
After playing about 30 minutes, Harry Kewell had a great opportunity to score, but he shot straight at the goalkeeper from 10 meters away.
A few minutes later, Stjepan Tomas handled the ball in his penalty area again, but this time the referee did not notice this episode and did not award a penalty kick.
Despite that, in the 79th minute, after a great header from Mark Bresciano, Harry Kewell, who had been very active in the game, leveled the score.
After this goal, red cards were shown: Dario Simic and Josip Simunic from Croatia and Brett Emerton from Australia were sent off. By the way, J. Simunic receiving a second yellow card initially did not leave the field, as the referee forgot that the Croat had to be removed, but this mistake was corrected after the match ended.
Despite all of Croatia's efforts to snatch the victory, the score remained unchanged, and the game ended in a 2-2 draw, allowing Australia to take second place in the group.
