Socceroos consigned to playoffs as Japan secure World Cup berth with win

24-Mar-2022 11:47:53 | The Guardian

Australia lose 2-0 in Sydney as Saudi Arabia also qualify
Japan sub Kaoru Mitoma strikes twice late to dash home hopes

Stadium Australia has been the site for many of the Socceroos’ most celebrated moments. Be it Josh Kennedy’s towering header to defeat Iraq and secure progression to the 2014 World Cup or Mile Jedinak’s captain’s hat-trick against Honduras in the 2018 World Cup qualification playoffs. Or, of course, John Aloisi’s famous penalty that dispatched Uruguay and ended the nation’s long, 32-year absence from football’s grandest stage. Stadium Australia has so often proved to be Australian football’s field of dreams.

In other words, one could not have picked a better venue for a Socceroos fixture which carried all the hallmarks of a cliched Hollywood epic; an outmanned and outgunned host nation with their backs to the wall fighting to defy the odds in a manner nobody expected them to. Arnold had leaned into the narrative by declaring his side needed to “fight” against their foes, and assistant coach Rene Meulensteen, filling in on pre-match media duties as Arnold completed (another) Covid isolation period, joined in on the bromides when he declared that, more than anything, “courage will win us the game”. It was all very stirring.