Key events
Match report
That’s all for today’s coverage, but we’ll have a match report on the site shortly. Thanks for your company – see you on Friday for the quarter-final.
Jackson Irvine’s reaction
We knew Indonesia had nothing to lose and that they would right and fun. In the first half they caused us some problems with their energy and intensity, but I think our experience and professionalism shone thorough in the second half. We just had too much for them on the day. That’s the kind of team we want to be: experienced, see the game out and get the goals at the end to seal a good performance.
I’m really pleased with the second-half performance. They play with a lot of emotion. They got a little bit nasty, a little bit naughty, towards the end and we had to stay calm. We did that well enough.
Full time: Australia 4-0 Indonesia
Australia are through to the quarter-finals after a comfortable victory over a game but limited Indonesia. The scoreline flatters the Socceroos, who only had three shots on target, but they never looked in danger of losing from the moment Elkan Baggott’s own goal put them ahead in the 12th minute.
On paper Australia’s progress through the tournament looks serene: 1-0, 1-0, 1-1 when they’d already qualified and now 4-0. But they will need to play a fair bit better, particularly in attack, when they meet Saudi Arabia or South Korea on Friday.
90+4 min Atkinson fouls Struick, who shoves him over in retaliation. He’s booked.
GOAL! Australia 4-0 Indonesia (Souttar 90+1)
Harry Souttar gets his 11th goal for the Socceroos! Goodwin on the right curled a lovely free-kick towards the near post, where Souttar steered an accomplished header past Ari.
90 min Amat is booked for manhandling Boyle.
GOAL! Australia 3-0 Indonesia (Goodwin 89)
Now that’s an impact substitution. Atkinson’s excellent cross was met by Irvine, whose powerful header was pushed away by the diving Ari. The ball dropped towards Goodwin, who cut across a left-foot volley that beat Ari at the near post. Good finish.
88 min Shane Warne once said that Monty Panesar hadn’t played 33 Test matches, he’s played the same Test 33 times. Australia’s Asian Cup campaign to date feels the same – bar the odd fluctuation in scoreline, all four matches have been very similar, and not in a good way.
86 min: Double substitution for Australia Aiden O’Neill and Craig Goodwin replace Jordy Bos and Keane Baccus.
84 min Atkinson cracks a long-range shot wide of the near post. Ari had it covered.
82 min Irvine is penalised for a tackle on Jenner, then throws the ball away in a huff. He’s lucky not to be booked for that.
81 min: Chance for Duke! Something happened and I can’t deal with it. Boyle, in his own half, curled a marvellous long pass around the defence to put Duke through on goal. He tried to flip a first-time shot over the outrushing Ari but got it all wrong. Goalkick to Indonesia.
79 min A corner from the left is punched away by Ryan. He’s had only one save to make, a long-range shot from Justin Hubner in the first half.
78 min I don’t know what to tell you, because nothing is happening. The entire second half has been soundtracked by Brian Eno.
75 min: Indonesia substitution Rizky Ridho comes on for Yakob Sayuri. The second half, sorry to say, has been a non-event.
74 min “Hmmmm,” says Chris Paraskevas. “Ange’s work with Brisbane Roar really did away with the cagey, cautious approach favoured by A-League managers until that time. It was arguably a throwback to the more adventurous, attacking years of the old National Soccer League (where he previously had success with South Melbourne as manager).
“He sort of provided a bridge between two worlds: what some would call ‘Old Football’ and ‘New Soccer’, both with his personality and the playing style of his teams (shades of late 70s/early 80s).
“Other than the Asian Cup success, I’m not sure his uncompromising style (tactical and man-management) really translated as well with the Socceroos: people forget how close they were to failing to qualify for the World Cup, before his relationship with Football Australia soured.
Tactically, though, largely unrivalled at domestic level – and showed a lot of other aspiring local coaches that there is a pathway to success overseas.”
And all that just by copying Pep, mate.
72 min How’s this for a weird stat. In the last three matches Australia have had a total of three shots on target. They’ve scored four goals.
69 min: Australia substitution Nathaniel Atkinson replaces Gethin Jones, who was going to leave the field one way or another. It looks like an injury precaution.
68 min Bos collects a loose pass and goes straight at the heart of the defence. Walsh trips him cynically and is booked.
67 min “Nice to see the sun shining in Doha,” says Joe Pearson ,”proving to this sceptical Hoosier that it does indeed exist, having not seen evidence of it in many, many gloomy winter days. The football is not as interesting.”
64 min Jones is booked for a retaliatory kick at Struick, which prompted a melee near the touchline. At first I thought he’d be sent off but replays show it was more of a trip than a full-blown kick. It was still a strange and needless action.
62 min Rowles wins a header and follows through into the head of Sulaeman, who goes down. A few of the Indonesia players aren’t happy but the referee decides it was a fair challenge. Sulaeman is okay.
60 min: Double change for Australia Connor Metcalfe and Mitch Duke replace Riley McGree and Bruno Fornaroli. Both had very quiet games.
58 min: Indonesia substitution Witan Sulaeman comes on for the captain Asnawi Mangkualam.
56 min “To respond to Burt at half-time, there’s Ajdin Hrustic,” says Matthew Stephens, “if he can find a club that will actually play him.”
55 min Indonesia are still full of optimism and intent when they go forward. They are limited, certainly, but their attitude is admirable.
53 min “Looking at the bench, most of the creativity comes from the wide players in Arnie’s set up (Goodwin, Tilio),” says Chris Paraskevas. “He’ll always favour an attritional battle in the middle of the park, where the ‘battler’ ethos is drilled into his Club Subway Socceroo set-up: work hard, graft, grind… just give it all, mate.
“Even the strikers in this squad are functional/one-dimensional, none of them really reflecting the more modern version of a striker. It all points to a consistent problem Australian football has had in developing, nurturing and valuing the playmaker or ‘No10’ for lack of a better term – ditto world-class goalscorers.
“That’s not to say that this team doesn’t contain interesting players: there is guile to go with the graft, in. But the current generation are also largely born out of the A-League and the philosophy of its clubs, where coaches value systems and functionality over creativity…”
Interesting. Is there any reason why Postecoglou’s success inspired people to play more adventurously?
51 min Nothing much to report. According to the official statistics, Indonesia have had five shots at goal to Australia’s one; they trail 2-0.
48 min Ryan comes a long out way out of his area to beat Struick to a ball forward.
46 min Peep peep! Australia begin the second half. Neither manager has made any changes.
Half-time reading
“Is there no player available for Australia who can hold the ball in midfield and then pass it with some guile the way Aaron Mooy did?” says Burt Bosma. “Apparently not. Even with everyone running around fast, the play seems so slow. It sounds counter intuitive, but we need someone who can slow the pace of the game, hold the ball and then pass it with creativity to speed up the attacks.”
Can’t Riley McGree do that, at least in theory? They’ve just seemed really flat all tournament. Maybe they’re just pacing themselves, because it gets a whole lot tougher from here.
Half time: Australia 2-0 Indonesia
Australia are heading towards a quarter-final against Saudi Arabia or South Korea. Jackson Irvine’s cross was deflected into his own net by Elkan Baggott early on, and then Martin Boyle scored a nice goal on the stroke of half-time.
That was a rare moment of quality in a poor first half. Indonesia played the perkier, faster football without really troubling Maty Ryan. Australia are becoming specialists in winning ugly; I guess it beats the alternative.
45 min Three minutes of added time.