Goodwin brace edges Australia nearer to World Cup

Craig Goodwin scored a brace on his return from sickness as Australia booked their place within the third spherical of Asian World Cup qualifying with a 5-0 rout of Lebanon at Canberra Stadium on Tuesday.

Forward Goodwin, who sat out final week’s 2-0 win over the Lebanese whereas battling a virus, rocketed in a long-range strike after half-time and steered within the closing objective within the 81st minute to the delight of a document crowd of 25,023 on the venue.

The 32-year-old additionally arrange former Adelaide workforce mate Kusini Yengi’s first worldwide objective within the second minute and had a hand in a Lebanon personal objective a minute earlier than his first strike.

“Maybe I’ll have to be sick more often,” the Saudi-based winger joked.

“It turned out properly, I had a very good relaxation.

“I’d only had a couple of training sessions before the game but I spoke with the boss and felt good, so he chucked me in.”

With their fourth straight win within the present section, Graham Arnold’s Australia cemented high spot in Asia’s Group I, which additionally contains Palestine and Bangladesh.

The match was Lebanon’s “home” qualifier, after the Asian Football Confederation requested the tie be moved from the nation because of the struggle in Gaza.

Australia received few plaudits after their scrappy win over One hundred and fifteenth-ranked Lebanon in Sydney however Arnold was thrilled with the response in Canberra the place Patrick Yazbek, of Lebanese descent, loved a fruitful debut off the bench.

Norway-based midfielder Yazbek changed injured playmaker Ajdin Hrustic earlier than the hour-mark and arrange John Iredale’s first worldwide objective in his second Socceroos match with a neat cross from the left within the 68th minute.

“I was very happy and proud of the young ones. They took ownership when they went on the park and the future is bright,” Arnold stated.

After a gutsy effort in Sydney, Lebanon had a tricky night time in Canberra and have been fortunate solely to be a objective down on the break after Australia squandered a slew of early possibilities.

The floodgates opened straight after the restart, nevertheless, with Goodwin discovering Harry Souttar’s head with a free kick.

Lebanon keeper Mostafa Matar parried the ball off the road nevertheless it pinged off workforce mate Bassel Jradi’s shins into the online.

A minute later, Hrustic scooped a ball over to Goodwin on the inside left channel the place he chested it down and volleyed into the proper nook from distance.

Lebanon all however pared one again minutes later when Nader Matar fired an extended shot into the cross-bar.

However, Lebanon’s momentum was misplaced seconds later when midfielder Ali Tneich dedicated a studs-up problem on Hrustic.

It drew a yellow card and had the injured Socceroo limp off the bottom with trainers after an extended break in play.