Indonesia hold goal-shy Australia in World Cup qualifying

JAKARTA: Toothless Australia failed to score for the second World Cup qualifying match in succession as they were held 0-0 by a gutsy Indonesia in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The Socceroos dominated in front of almost 80,000 fans at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, but Indonesia remain above them in Group C as they seek to qualify for the World Cup for only the second time.

It was Indonesia´s second draw after a 1-1 in Saudi Arabia last week, but Australia were shocked 1-0 at home by Bahrain in their World Cup qualifying opener. The Socceroos head coach Graham Arnold made five changes to his line-up with highly rated Bayern Munich teenager Nestory Irankunda given a chance to shine from the start. Kusini Yengi was su pended after his red card against Bahrain while central defender Alessandro Circati was again employed as a makeshift rightback.

Australia were by far the better side, forcing a succession of corners with big centre-back Harry Souttar creating havoc in the Indonesia defence. The 18-year-old Irankunda was at the heart of all Australia´s best attacking play.

In the 34th minute he came within a whisker of putting his side ahead when his right-foot thunderbolt rattled the post from 25 yards before rebounding off the back of the diving goalkeeper and away to safety.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first, with Australia on top but failing to find any cutting edge in front of goal. “Extremely disappointed, because how many chances do we create? How many chances do we get?” said Arnold.

“The boys put in the effort, and they all admitted their performance wasn´t good enough in the first game. “There´s eight games to go. It´s not like it´s a disaster, but I´ve got to go home and do a lot of thinking.”

The Indonesian National Team initiated the match with aggressive pressure on the Australian defense. In the opening ten minutes, the Garuda Squad successfully contained the Socceroos, creating two golden opportunities through Sandy Walsh and Rafael Struick, but both attempts were foiled by Australian goalkeeper Mathew Ryan.