Despite having had to battle harder than expected, Australia has qualified for the Asian Cup in 2011 to be held in Qatar.
It took the entire set of qualification matches to seal the Socceroos fate, with a draw in their final match against Indonesia considered enough to allow them to qualify. Sitting at the bottom of the group in the early stages, coach Pim Verbeek was forced to field his full strengh squad mid-round, but chose to go with a predominantly A-League line up for the final crucial match against Indonesia.
Australia started the match with an evident lack of energy and enthusiasm, playing what appeared to be a training-session style of football. It took a well-timed run into the box from Milligan to intercept the ball from a Wilkshire free kick. Milligan was then able to play the ball into the back of the net after an awkward bounce off the crossbar.
With several chances throughout the match, Josh Kennedy was unable to head the ball on target despite having a clear height advantage over his Indonesian opponents. The most substantial discovery of the match was young Australian Tommy Oar on debut for the Socceroos. In jersey number 121, he came up with a man-of-the-match performance, showing the potential to reach the possible heights of veteran Socceroo Harry Kewell.
With 22 shots on goal from the Socceroos compared to 3 from their opponents, the Socceroos ended the match 1-0 in a dull performance with an adequate result. Verbeek will now be looking towards the World Cup as Australia search for a new coach to take them to Asian Cup 2011.
