Australia 2 Serbia 1: match report

Nemanja Vidic led the Serbian cries of injustice after Tim Cahill came between them and the last 16 of the World Cup in more ways than one. Cahill roused Australia in the second half with a courageous headed goal to put them in front then kept Serbia out with his hand in the last meaningful action of the game.
Vidic and all of Serbia cried foul when the Uruguayan referee ruled the contact under pressure from the Manchester United defender in the Australian box unintentional and waved the protests away. A converted penalty would have been enough to send Serbia and not Ghana into the last-16 on goals scored.

At the final whistle the Serbian players surrounded Jorge Lorrionda making plain their frustration over a number of decisions they believed he had got wrong. They might have been better served taking to task their big centre forward Nikola Zigic for his profligacy, but that is not the way of it with beaten teams.
“You could see by my reaction what I thought of the penalty decision. I have to say I was very disappointed with some of the decisions. Our target was to go into the second round. We had big expectations coming into the tournament. We have not made it. We go home disappointed,” Vidic said.
He was joined in protest by Serbian coach Radomir Antic, who felt two legitimate goals were ruled out unfairly for offside. “We didn’t have fair treatment. We deserved much more. The first offside wasn’t an offside. We have shown we have a rightful place here [in last 16]."
A win for Serbia would have ended all the arguments and for an hour looked the more likely outcome until Cahill headed home a cross by Brett Emerton. Four minutes later Australia were two to the good after Brett Holman holed out from 25 yards. At that point Australia needed a two goal swing to go through at the expense of Ghana, who were losing 1-0 to Germany in Johannesburg.
Marko Pantelic shifted the dynamic back in Serbia’s favour slotting home with six minutes to go and setting up a right royal finale. Joshua Kennedy was unlucky to see his shot slip by a post and Pantelic spooned a straightforward chance. Cahill dismissed the penalty claims saying contact was unintentional and claimed Australia’s victory was the greater talking point.
“We answered lots of questions today not just to the media but to ourselves. We are a great bunch of lads that really cares for each other. We have just beaten Serbia 2-1 a fantastic result,” Cahill said.
“I said in the week that if we win this game and get knocked out we are very proud Australians. We beat a great team. It was up in the air today. We have won a big match. That’s a big thing for me.”
Had it not been for Mark Schwarzer, who made a number of astonishing saves, Australia would not have survived the first half battering. No wonder Arsene Wenger has his sights set on him. How much better these games become when the contest is defined by prior results.
The first chance fell to Serbia. The excellent Milos Krasic, who gave Manchester United nightmares in the Champions League, should have done better than blaze over with an empty net to fill having rounded Schwarzer.
Minutes later a brilliant three-touch dissection of Australia involving Aleksander Lukovic, the overlapping Branislav Ivanovic and finally Zdravko Kuzmanovic breaking into the box only narrowly failed to put Serbia ahead. Schwarzer then did brilliantly to block an Ivanovic volley when a slam dunk looked a given from close range.
Why didn’t Serbia play with this conviction in the opening matches? They might have been spared the tension of the roulette wheel in Nelspruit. The offside against Krasic in the 37th minute was marginal. Pantelic also netted in the second half and he, too, was perhaps unfortunate to be ruled offside.
The introduction of Holman and Scott Chipperfield had the greater impact for Australia in the middle of the park and within minutes Cahill headed them in front. It wasn’t pretty, but it counted. There were no such issues with Australia’s second, an emphatic 25-yarder from Holman.