The Aussies advanced to the second place in Group B on goals difference from Oman.

Australia took the lead, scoring in the first minute when Michael Matricciani found the back of the net. He then scored his second in the fifth minute of the first period. At the end of the second, Australia had extended their lead to 3-0, when Demetrios Bakis scored his first goal of the tournament.

The Aussies extended their lead to 4-0, Matricciani scoring his third goal. The only Chinese goal was scored in the final two minutes of the match. Australia entered this tournament with no experience and had pulled the team together in a matter of weeks. Australia face Oman tomorrow in a crucial game to decide which of the teams will grab second place in the group.

Meanwhile, Oman lost to Iran 5-3 in an exciting match.

Australian coach Airton Andrioli commented: “We needed it, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow. We are expecting a tough game, but you know, today’s win gave us a bit of confidence. We have been playing well but we’ve just been a little bit unfortunate in the last results, including our friendly matches. We hope we can continue our winning run and qualify for the World Cup.”

Meanwhile, Iran became the first team to reach the semifinals after defeating Oman 5-3 in a thriller early in the afternoon. Iran scored their first goal in the opening seconds of the game when Moslem Mesigar found the back of the net.

Mesigar then added another in the second minute of the game to give Iran a 2-0 lead. Oman hit back in the second period scoring two goals to equalise before Iran again wrapped up the second period 4-2. Mesigar sealed the win with his third, scoring in the eighth minute to put Iran in the semifinal stage.

In the other matches, Japan made a winning start with an easy 5-3 victory over Uzbekistan and UAE flexed their muscles against neighbours Bahrain 4-1.

Today’s Fixtures:

2:5pm Iran x China (venue A); 3pm Oman x Australia (Venue B); 4pm Japan x Bahrain (Venue A); 4pm Uzbekistan v France (Friendly match) (Venue B).