Australian midfielder Marco Bresciano’s first-half goal gave the Socceroos a 1-0 victory over Bafana Bafana in their international friendly at Loftus Road in London on Tuesday night.
Bresciano’s sharp strike after being cleverly set up by Leeds United striker Mark Viduka in the 18th minute put some spark into a match that had threatened to become a mundane affair.
However, Australia boss Frank Farina put his team’s performance into context afterwards by saying: ”I don’t think it was one of the better games we’ve played.
”I thought in the second half we were trying a bit too hard to get the second goal and we got caught out a few times on the counter.”
But for Australia midfielder Tim Cahill nothing could take the shine off his long-awaited Socceroos debut.
Cahill, a 74th minute substitute, was only recently cleared to play for Australia after appearing for Western Samoa as a 14-year-old in an Under-20 event nearly a decade ago.
”I don’t think there’s any words that can describe the way I feel at the moment,” 24-year-old midfielder Cahill said.
”I received the cap in the dressing room and it was very emotional,” added Cahill, who plays his club football in London for English First Division side Millwall.
It was Bafana Bafana’s final match before former England under-19 coach Stuart Baxter takes charge.
The South Africans dominated early on in the match. Just two minutes in, Sibusiso Zuma drilled a long shot narrowly wide, setting the tone for a night of inaccurate shooting by South Africa.
The Bafana Bafana kept the ball in Australian territory and looked dangerous when Siyabonga Nomvete powered forward in the 11th minute only to shoot well wide.
They threatened again when Bradley Carnell’s clean pass found Bernard Mnguni just 10 yards out, directly in front of goal. But he too was off-target.
Having survived these scares, Australia came alive and punished the Bafana Bafana’s wastefulness with a well-worked goal.
Viduka took the ball from a throw in on his chest just inside the area and kicked around his body to find Bresciano lurking 15 yards out in front of goal.
Bresciano, who plays his club football for Italian Serie A side Parma, made no mistake, thumping the ball home from 15 yards.
Australia nearly doubled their lead two minutes later when Carnell was forced to produce a desperate sliding block to turn away a close-range attempt on goal by Scott Chipperfield.
But the South African section of the 16 108-strong crowd at the shared home of Queens Park Rangers and Premier League Fulham then saw their side go agonisingly close.
Charlton striker Shaun Bartlett powered a header goalwards only to see Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer stretch high overhead to make a one-handed save.
And Schwarzer, who also plays his club football in the English Premiership with Middlesbrough, then did enough to deny the forward again.
Bartlett made a brilliant run down the left wing but he hesitated as Schwarzer came out to meet him and the distracted striker was way-off target.
Australia’s Brett Emerton went close early in the second half but his drilled right-foot shot was well saved by Bafana Bafana keeper Hans Vonk.
Schwarzer was called into the action again in the 61st minute, his courageous save preventing Nomvete equalising from 15 yards out.
Australia fielded a strong contingent of its overseas players including Viduka and Liverpool striker Kewell, who both missed Australia’s 1-1 friendly draw in Venezuela on Feb. 18.
Viduka claimed he was injured, but Australian soccer officials didn’t agree and invoked a Fifa rule preventing him from playing for Leeds for five days.
Swiss-based Scott Chipperfield was similarly punished after missing his flight to Caracas, but he also started Tuesday. Officials had accepted Kewell’s ankle injury.
Australia had 26-year-old Massimiliano Vieri on the bench. The younger brother of Italy and Inter Milan star Christian was born in Australia but moved to Italy as a youngster with the remainder of his family.
He obtained his Australian passport two weeks ago and plays as a striker for Napoli in Italy’s Serie B.
South Africa failed to make the quarterfinals of the African Cup of Nations in Tunisia in February, finishing third in its group behind Morocco and Nigeria.
South Africa beat Australia 2-0 when the teams last met in 1996 in Johannesburg.
Australia: Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Craig Moore, Tony Popovic, Stan Lazaridis, Brett Emerton (Mile Sterjovski, 74), Marco Bresciano (Tim Cahill, 74), Josip Skoko, Scott Chipperfield, Mark Viduka (David Zdrilic, 63), Harry Kewell (John Aloisi, 63).
South Africa: Hans Vonk, Bradley Carnell (Nasief Morris, 32), Aaron Mokoena, Mbulelo Mabizela, Bennet Mguni (Lance Davids, 58), Shaun Bartlett, Stephen Pienaar (Benedict Vilakazi, 73), Siyabonga Nomvete, Sbusiso Zuma, Delron Buckley, Emile Baron.
– Sapa-AFP, AP