Live: Australia v China
March 26, 2008 AUSTRALIA have suffered yet another blow just hours before their clash against China in Kunming, with Harry Kewell set to miss the World Cup qualifier through injury.
The star midfielder has joined a host of European-based players to pull out of the match through injury, having struggled with a tight groin since Saturday's friendly against Singapore.
Reports from Kunming claim coach Pim Verbeek made the decision not to risk the out-of-favour Liverpool attacker this morning after he failed to complete last night's closed training session.
With Kewell, Josh Kennedy and Scott McDonald sidelined, and with Bruce Djite picking up a hamstring injury on Monday, Verbeek may opt for Sydney FC striker Mark Bridge as a lone striker, with Brett Holman and Mark Bresciano supporting from midfield.
Kick-off for the match is 5pm (AEDT) and will be shown live on Fox Sports 2.
If you can't get to the television, then, I hope, you can be informed and entertained right here. Send your comments through to Martin Gibbes
25: Best chance of the game goes to the Socceroos. Great play from Holman and Bresciano was stretching for it. His touch brought a great save. Should have scored. Will they rue that miss?
23: The Aussies look comfortable when they have the ball22: The atmosphere is electric,. Noisy, parochial crowd. There's about 32,000 there. 40,000 capacity
21: China look dangerous cutting in behind the Aussie defence. Jade North gets a vital touch and China have a corner. Desperate Aussie defending at the moment.
19: Seville Fox writes in: Just switched on the TV and logged on to the net. Atmosphere in Kunming sounds fantastic. If the altitude is to be a problem for Australia, what time in the game can we expect the effects to kick in? In other words, do Australia need to score earlyish?
Not necessarily. 20 minutes and they haven't really had a sniff. Altitude is having an effect on the game and maybe we can expect fatigue to kick in early in the second half.
16: Chinese free-kick 20 yards out after a Carney foul. Schwarzer parries clear and the Aussies scramble away.
15: China are looking for that incisive pass to catch the Aussie defence square. So far so good though for the Socceroos. Holman is doing a lot of running up front. It might come down to taking that one chance. I don't think we are going to get many.
12: The game is mired in the middle of the park at the moment. China lack a cutting edge and Aussies keen to play a holding game and then break.
10: China have picked a particularly defensive line-up and rumour has it they will be happy with a draw. The referee is Mohammed Omar Al Saeedi from UAE. The pitch looks a little soft.
8: Archie Thompson is in trouble. He was injured in that heavy challenge and has already gone off. Brett Holman is on. So much for keeping him for late.
7: China really should have scored but their striker misses an easy heading chance. Schwarzer saves comfortably. Marcelo Silva asks: The tactic is 4-5-1? Who´s the left-full back: Carney or Wilkshire? Its Carney
5: Australia holding the ball well in the midfield early. Just been told that Harry Kewell has already gone back to Sydney to have his injury treated. Chinese corner
3: First yellow card goes to Chinese defender Feng Xiaoting for a nasty tackle on Archie Thompson
1: Australia have the ball early and the effects of altitude are immediately shown with a long ball out over the goalline. Australia attacking early but both attempts are repelled
Beautiful day in Kunming. 14 degrees and perfect conditions. We are underway
Kurt McDonald says: I’ll be the first to put my head on the chopping block - I think we will surprise a lot to pundits by winning 3-1.
I hope you are right. I think it will be 1-1.
The Socceroos are playing with Thompson up front alone. Bresciano has an important attacking role.
Australian team news is:
Mark Schwarzer (gk); Jade North, Lucas Neill (C), Michael Beauchamp, Luke Wilkshire, David Carney, Vince Grella, Carl Valeri, Jason Culina, Mark Bresciano, Archie Thompson
Subs from: Patrick Kisnorbo, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Jacob Burns, Mile Jedinak, Brett Holman, Mark Bridge, Ante Covic (gk)
Con Prountzos asks: Is there any chance of Kewell - is it a ploy???
No chance. Harry is out
16:49: What do you think a good scoreline will be thuis afternoon? China have a habit of underperforming at home. Huge, parochial crowd - will they choke? Qatar host Iraq in the other group match in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
16:40: Welcome everybody. 20 minutes out. No teams as yet but they will be posted as soon as we get them. Harry Kewell is definitely out though. Judging by the amount of emails I've got in the lead up to the match, there is plenty of interest in this game.
March 26, 2008 AUSTRALIA have suffered yet another blow just hours before their clash against China in Kunming, with Harry Kewell set to miss the World Cup qualifier through injury.
The star midfielder has joined a host of European-based players to pull out of the match through injury, having struggled with a tight groin since Saturday's friendly against Singapore.
Reports from Kunming claim coach Pim Verbeek made the decision not to risk the out-of-favour Liverpool attacker this morning after he failed to complete last night's closed training session.
With Kewell, Josh Kennedy and Scott McDonald sidelined, and with Bruce Djite picking up a hamstring injury on Monday, Verbeek may opt for Sydney FC striker Mark Bridge as a lone striker, with Brett Holman and Mark Bresciano supporting from midfield.
Kick-off for the match is 5pm (AEDT) and will be shown live on Fox Sports 2.
If you can't get to the television, then, I hope, you can be informed and entertained right here. Send your comments through to Martin Gibbes
25: Best chance of the game goes to the Socceroos. Great play from Holman and Bresciano was stretching for it. His touch brought a great save. Should have scored. Will they rue that miss?
23: The Aussies look comfortable when they have the ball22: The atmosphere is electric,. Noisy, parochial crowd. There's about 32,000 there. 40,000 capacity
21: China look dangerous cutting in behind the Aussie defence. Jade North gets a vital touch and China have a corner. Desperate Aussie defending at the moment.
19: Seville Fox writes in: Just switched on the TV and logged on to the net. Atmosphere in Kunming sounds fantastic. If the altitude is to be a problem for Australia, what time in the game can we expect the effects to kick in? In other words, do Australia need to score earlyish?
Not necessarily. 20 minutes and they haven't really had a sniff. Altitude is having an effect on the game and maybe we can expect fatigue to kick in early in the second half.
16: Chinese free-kick 20 yards out after a Carney foul. Schwarzer parries clear and the Aussies scramble away.
15: China are looking for that incisive pass to catch the Aussie defence square. So far so good though for the Socceroos. Holman is doing a lot of running up front. It might come down to taking that one chance. I don't think we are going to get many.
12: The game is mired in the middle of the park at the moment. China lack a cutting edge and Aussies keen to play a holding game and then break.
10: China have picked a particularly defensive line-up and rumour has it they will be happy with a draw. The referee is Mohammed Omar Al Saeedi from UAE. The pitch looks a little soft.
8: Archie Thompson is in trouble. He was injured in that heavy challenge and has already gone off. Brett Holman is on. So much for keeping him for late.
7: China really should have scored but their striker misses an easy heading chance. Schwarzer saves comfortably. Marcelo Silva asks: The tactic is 4-5-1? Who´s the left-full back: Carney or Wilkshire? Its Carney
5: Australia holding the ball well in the midfield early. Just been told that Harry Kewell has already gone back to Sydney to have his injury treated. Chinese corner
3: First yellow card goes to Chinese defender Feng Xiaoting for a nasty tackle on Archie Thompson
1: Australia have the ball early and the effects of altitude are immediately shown with a long ball out over the goalline. Australia attacking early but both attempts are repelled
Beautiful day in Kunming. 14 degrees and perfect conditions. We are underway
Kurt McDonald says: I’ll be the first to put my head on the chopping block - I think we will surprise a lot to pundits by winning 3-1.
I hope you are right. I think it will be 1-1.
The Socceroos are playing with Thompson up front alone. Bresciano has an important attacking role.
Australian team news is:
Mark Schwarzer (gk); Jade North, Lucas Neill (C), Michael Beauchamp, Luke Wilkshire, David Carney, Vince Grella, Carl Valeri, Jason Culina, Mark Bresciano, Archie Thompson
Subs from: Patrick Kisnorbo, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Jacob Burns, Mile Jedinak, Brett Holman, Mark Bridge, Ante Covic (gk)
Con Prountzos asks: Is there any chance of Kewell - is it a ploy???
No chance. Harry is out
16:49: What do you think a good scoreline will be thuis afternoon? China have a habit of underperforming at home. Huge, parochial crowd - will they choke? Qatar host Iraq in the other group match in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
16:40: Welcome everybody. 20 minutes out. No teams as yet but they will be posted as soon as we get them. Harry Kewell is definitely out though. Judging by the amount of emails I've got in the lead up to the match, there is plenty of interest in this game.
Agree with all of that. Not sure Harry's head is going to listen though. Got to admire his determination to keep coming back, or at least trying to.
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