Perth: Australia defeated Iraq 2-0 in the opening encounter of Group B in the third round of their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier at Perth Rectangular Stadium on Thursday.
The Socceroos had most of the ball, but took almost an hour to break down a resolute Iraq defence as Massimo Luongo gave them the lead.
Tomi Juric then put the Australians two goals to the good in the 65th minute after converting from close range.
"I was pleased with both our performance and the result," said Australia coach Ange Postecoglou. "I knew they would make it difficult for us.
"We got off to a really great start. We probably should have had a goal in the first 20 seconds. I thought we controlled the tempo of the game.
"In the second half we scored two, we hit the post, Tomi [Juric] had a very good chance, their keeper pulled off a couple of great saves. All in all against a difficult opponent I thought it was a good start."
Australia had some early chances, with both Luongo and Brad Smith off target in the opening 20 minutes but the visitors soon worked their way into the match.
Ali Husni made a fine run to break the Australian offside trap in the 25th minute, but was denied by a great covering tackle from Mark Milligan.
Two minutes later, Mathew Leckie’s looping header came off the goal post with goalkeeper Mohammed Hameed well beaten.
Luongo then showed great skill just after the half hour mark with a slaloming run through the Iraq defence and into the box but his shot was blocked.
The scores stayed locked at 0-0 as the second half began, with attacking moves from both sides breaking down in the final third.
The game sprung into life in the 56th minute though as a flurry of chances left the crowd on the edge of their seats.
Australia had the lions’ share of possession up to this point but were once again denied by the woodwork as Aaron Mooy’s shot cracked off the crossbar.
Up the other end, Ali Abbas drew a fine save from Mat Ryan before the ensuing fast break saw Tomi Juric miss a tap-in after the Iraq defence had failed to deal with a cross across the face of goal.
The striker made amends almost immediately though, knocking the ball on during the very next attack for Luongo to slide home at the far post and open the scoring for Australia.
Seven minutes later, the Australians had their second goal as Juric poked home from close range before coming off to a standing ovation and a deserved rest.
Iraq tried to respond in kind but Abbas could only find the roof of the net with his free kick in the 69th minute as Hameed kept the score respectable with a string of fine saves.
The win puts Australia in the driving seat in Group A, with three well deserved points in the bag.
"The first half of the match we produced a quality performance but in the second half, even our substitutes couldn't perform the way we wanted them to," said Iraq coach Radhi Shenaishil. "We could see there was a problem with players joining the team only two or three days before a match.
"Also, this was a big performance from the Australian team who could very well be one of the best teams in Asia.
"Our players performed well, they tried their best. Both goals came from the left hand side, we tried to substitute before the second goal but it was too late."
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