Socceroos Clinch Surprise Win

The Australian Socceroos have claimed a surprise 2-1 victory against Holland overnight. A Harry Kewell penalty and header from Josh Kennedy was enough to overcome Klaas Jan Huntelaar’s goal in the 5th minute for Australia ahead of their World Cup Qualifying match against Uzbekistan midweek.
Australia were missing two notable absentees in midfield; EPL new boy Vince Grella and Bresciano who were replaced by Brett Holman and Carl Valeri respectively.

The match started horribly wrong for the visiting side when Huntelaar latched onto a ball from Liverpool striker Ryan Babel to easily beat Australian keeper Mark Schwarzer, however, that could’nt stop the Socceroos who kept attacking with Culina and Holman missing easy opportunities. The reward finally came for the Socceroos in the 44th minute when a terrible pass back left left Stekelenburg trapped and his only option to bring down Josh Kennedy. The tackle resulted in a red card and a penalty that Harry Kewell easily converted.

At the half time break Pim Verbeek made two changes with Bresciano and Mile Sterjovski replacing Kewell and Emerton, resting them for Wednesday’s game. For the home side Gunner Van Persie was replaced by fellow Premier League player Dirk Kuyt.

There wasn’t a lot of ergency for either team after the break with Australia opting for the long ball. They were finally rewarded in the 76th minute when lanky striker Joshua Kennedy got his head onto Luke Wilkshire ball, to beat the Dutch reserve keeper.

The Socceroos held onto the win, with Holland’s best chance in injury time,however, Schwarzer made the crucial save.

Verbeek wasn’t getting carried away with the result, with it only being a friendly. Verbeek, born in Holland, said the match against Uzbekistan would be completely different, much because of the different climate conditions and the game that Uzbekistan play.