Cahill strikes twice as Australia start campaign with easy win

DOHA: An impressive Australia crushed India 4-0 to get their Asian Cup campaign off to a decisive start yesterday with red-hot Everton star Tim Cahill collecting two goals.

Played at an Al-Sadd Stadium packed with noisy expatriate Indians, a convincing win was needed by the Socceroos to demonstrate their tournament credentials against a team ranked 142nd in the world.

They comfortably delivered with the dangerous Cahill, playing up front as the lone striker, a constant threat.

He got the opener in the 11th minute before former Liverpool man Harry Kewell made it 2-0 14 minutes later.

Brett Holman added a third on the stroke of half-time before Cahill completed the demolition in the second period.

Their start was in stark contrast to four years ago at their maiden Asian Cup, where they stumbled to a draw with Oman before losing to eventual winners Iraq.

The Australians squeezed through to the knock-out stages back then by thrashing Thailand 4-0, but went out on penalties to Japan in the quarters.

In breezy conditions, both sides began slowly with Australia getting the first sniff of goal on nine minutes when Holman looped the ball in to Blackburn’s Brett Emerton, who fired straight at the goalkeeper.

But with a side packed by experienced Europe-based players, it was only a matter of time before the Socceroos got the breakthrough.

Emerton looked suspiciously offside when he was put through on the right but the flag stayed down and he sent a low cross into the six-yard box, where Cahill was lurking to bury the ball in the back of the net.

Rank outsiders India, in the tournament for the first time in 27 years, were out of their depth but got a look at goal when captain Climax Lawrence’s shot from 25m drifted well wide of the post soon after.

Australia went 2-0 up when Luke Wilkshire found Kewell in space just outside the penalty area and the Galatasaray midfielder clinically drilled the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.

The third goal was inevitable and it came just before half-time when Holman got his head on the end of an Emerton cross after some good build-up work.

Australia began the second-half in total control and Cahill got his second in the 65th minute when he outjumped four defenders to meet a Wilkshire cross and angle his header past the goalkeeper.

Coach Holger Osieck was happy with their performance.

“It was very important to get a good start, to find our rhythm, to get a performance together,” said the German.

“From my point of view, it was a good game. We played technically very well in the first half.

“We scored four goals, which is very positive and encouraging. It should give us confidence for the next games to come.”

India now have their work cut out with Group C clashes against mighty South Korea and a very capable Bahrain still awaiting them.

Australia face the South Koreans on Friday in a match that could determine who finishes top of the group.