Australia bounces back in Muslim tourney November 01, 2008
The Australia soccer team bounced back on Day Two to upset defending FANCA World Cup champion New Zealand 2-0 in Sydney.
Australia which lost its opening match to Fiji 0-2 looked a completely different outfit against the Kiwis and displayed constructive football for its first win.
Former Navua rep Esala Ali played an instrumental role in the victory scoring the opener 10 minutes into the game before setting up Ahmed Ali for the second goal in the 25th minute of the first spell.
Serbian born goalkeeper Ali Cem Akbal, who featured for the victorious Lautoka side at the recent Courts/Homecentres IDC in Ba, was the Man of the Match because of his daring saves against the tough Kiwis.
Australia team manager Mohammed Khan was elated with the win.
“We have found the right tune now and we will not take Canada lightly in our next match,” he added.
“The tournament is on a round robin basis and we have to win all our remaining matches to make the final,” he said.
In another interesting clash, Canada hammered America 3-0 to remain in contention for the final.
Yesterday’s results: New Zealand 1-1 Fiji (U21), Australia 6-0 America (Veterans), Australia 1-1 Canada (U21), Fiji 0-1 New Zealand (Veterans), Canada 3-0 America, Australia 2-0 New Zealand.
Today’s fixtures: Fiji vs Canada (U21), 9.50am- Australia vs New Zealand (Veterans), 11.00am- Australia vs New Zealand (U21), 12.20pm- New Zealand vs Canada, 1.40pm- Fiji vs America, New Zealand vs Canada (G2), 3pm- Australia vs Fiji (U21), Australia vs Fiji (Veterans)(G2), 4.20pm- New Zealand vs Canada (U21), Canada vs America (Veterans) (G2), 5.40pm- New Zealand vs Fiji, 7.00pm- Australia vs Canada.
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