Australia’s slow start to the third round of World Cup qualifying faced another setback on Tuesday with a 0-0 draw against Indonesia in Jakarta.
This result comes after a 1-0 loss at home to Bahrain last week, leaving the Socceroos still scoreless in Group C as they aim for their sixth consecutive World Cup.
Despite having 20 shots, Australia couldn’t manage to score and couldn’t quiet the 78,000 fans at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
“Vastly improved performance and the boys showed that,” said Australia coach Graham Arnold. “But very disappointed. How many chances do we create? How many chances do we get? It has been a common theme for over a year.”
Japan is leading the group after a 5-0 win over Bahrain, following a 7-0 victory against China last week. Ayase Ueda and Hidemasa Morita both scored twice, with Koki Ogawa adding a late fifth goal.
China is at the bottom of the group after a last-minute 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in Dalian, despite taking an early lead and playing most of the match against 10 men.
Saudi Arabia’s Ali Lajami scored an own goal in the 14th minute, and Mohamed Kanno was sent off five minutes later for kicking out at Jiang Shenglong.
China’s troubles continued after a tough week that included a 7-0 defeat to Japan and a lifetime ban for 43 people by the Football Association due to match-fixing and corruption allegations.
Saudi Arabia’s Hassan Kadesh turned the game around by scoring an equalizer with a header from a corner just before halftime and then adding a second goal in the 90th minute. This gave Roberto Mancini’s team an important win and put them on track for a seventh World Cup appearance with four points from their first two games.
