Chapter 83 - Australia(5)

After that he gave a cross into the middle of the penalty box, Tim Cahill lunged after the ball and then headed it backward. Bresciano came in from the second line to escape the Japanese guard and sent a powerful shot. Kawashima failed to catch this shot well, so Australia managed to score and reduce Japan's advantage.

"Goaaaalll! Bresciano! The changes that Zola brought to the Australia national team was so unreal. The rhythm of the game began to be held by Australia since Zola and Milligan's entry. Finally, Australia scored a goal through Bresciano's hard shot."

"Apart from this goal, Australia is indeed a troublesome opponent. The reason why Australia continued to hold the rhythm after the substitution was because attacks and passes between Japanese players were disrupted. In this case, Milligan played a big role in cutting Japan's attack."

The Australian national team supporters who came to the stadium felt excited. Finally, after being left behind 2-0 by Japan, Australia managed to chase Japan's score. Cheers were sent by the Australian fans who attended this match to the Australian players who were playing on the pitch.

The match resumed. After conceding one goal, Japan began to play cautiously, although they still had the ball, but the possession was mostly played in their own defense. Every progressive pass forward is often to get distracted by the Australians.

In the 67th minute, Australia got another chance. Inoha's short pass to Yoshida was cut by Tommy Oar. Tommy, who had just cut the ball, immediately provided a breakthrough pass forward. Tim Cahill tried to catch the pass, but Konno managed to clear the ball off the field. The Australian national team got the corner kick.

The Australian players gathered in the penalty box of the Japanese national team. They were adjusting the best position to receive the ball. The referee blew the whistle and signaled to Zola take the corner kick. Zola ran slowly, then kicked the ball. The ball drifted slowly towards the near post. McKay dueled in the air against Yoshida. McKay managed to head the ball, but unfortunately, the ball headed out of the field.

Although the attack failed, the Australian players were increasingly eager to attack. The dominance of the Australian national team in the last 10 minutes made the Australian players more daring in attacking the Japanese national team. In fact, they also began to take over possession of the ball from Japan's player feet.

In the 73rd minute, Okazaki made a speculative shot from distance. The Australian goalkeeper performed well, he caught the shot made by Okazaki. In the next second, Mathew Ryan immediately threw the ball he caught to Jason Davidson, Australia's left-back. Kagawa rioted Davidson, he was trying to take the ball from the feet of the Australian player.

Fortunately, Davidson managed to force himself past Kagawa after he used his body to restrain Kagawa. After that, he immediately gave the pass forward. Milligan received the pass, but Hasebe immediately viciously tried to steal the ball from Milligan's feet. Australia's defensive midfielder was forced to provide a back-pass. Wilkinson went up and dribbled. Okazaki did a body charge on Wilkinson, so Wilkinson's body wobbled a little and the ball flew to the left side.

Kazuki adjusted his position to receive the ball that was aiming at him. However, Ryan McGowan jumped and crashed Kazuki's body causing him to fall. The referee did not blow the whistle, so Ryan immediately dribbled the ball forward. Kazuki who had just fallen immediately got up and chased Ryan McGowan.

McGowan's action earlier should have been a foul, Kazuki didn't know if the referee didn't see it or pretended not to see it, but he wouldn't let his mistake lead to a goal. Inoha blocked McGowan, so McGowan slowed down his run. At that time Kazuki immediately chased McGowan then crashed his body towards McGowan after that he took the ball from McGowan's feet. However, just as Kazuki was about to bring the ball forward, the referee's whistle sounded.

The referee from Saudi Arabia suddenly gave Kazuki a yellow card. Kazuki protested, as did Arragon who was on the sidelines. However, the referee ignored Kazuki's protest. Finally, Kazuki could only raise his hand helplessly.

Australia got a free-kick, but fortunately, the distance between the kick point and the goal was far enough so that this free-kick was quite safe. Zola executed this free-kick, and as expected the Japanese players managed to block Zola's kick. The Japanese players tried to counterattack, but Milligan made a clean tackle and brought down Inoha, he also threw the ball off the field so that the momentum of the Japanese counterattack was lost.

Entering the 80th minute, Arragon immediately made a change of players. He pulled Keisuke Honda who was playing quite bad and then entered Okubo. Besides that, he also pulled Kagawa who was tired, and put Misaki Taro in. The entry of new players at least made Japan more able to withstand Australia's ferocity, which was getting worse and worse.

In the 82nd minute, Konno managed to cut Zola's pass to Tim Cahill, he then provided a short pass to the right. Uchida received the ball from Konno, at the same time, Tommy Oar stepped forward and was about to grab the ball from Uchida. Uchida kicked the ball with his left foot, when Tommy Oar moved, he suddenly pulled the ball back and pushed the ball straight past, Tommy. After that, he chased the ball and passed Tommy.

Bresciano moved sideways to help McKay on the counterattack, but Inoha blocked Bresciano with his body. McKay moved to the side and blocked Uchida's running path. Uchida sent a diagonal pass into the middle. Okazaki, who came down to receive the ball in the empty area left by McKay. Milligan and Wilkinson stepped up and pinned Okazaki from both directions.

Misaki Taro deflected his run into the middle of the penalty box, he broke through the gap left by Wilkinson, Okazaki immediately gave a high pass towards Misaki Taro. Spiranovic moved to close Misaki's shooting space, but Misaki gave Kazuki a pass. Kazuki kicked the ball strongly towards the left. Mathew Ryan jumped and caught the ball, but the ball went in a few seconds before Ryan's catch. The ball had crossed the goal line and Kazuki clearly scored.

Kazuki was about to celebrate the goal, but the referee blew the whistle, the Japanese national team players immediately surrounded the referee. Misaki and Kazuki were the clearest about the goal, they were trying to convince the referee that the goal had happened.

However, the Referee remained firm in his stance. He stated that no goal was scored. The Japanese national team must accept this unfair decision. The match resumed. Entering the end of the second half, Australia started fiercely to dominate the match, but in the end, they failed to equalize.. Japan managed to achieve a narrow 2-1 victory with two goals from Kazuki, while Australia managed to get one goal through Bresciano's kick.