A double from Stephen Domenici helped Australia defeat Saudi Arabia 3-1.TASHKENT – Stephen Domenici scored twice as Australia opened their AFC U-16 Championship account with a confident 3-1 victory against Saudi Arabia on Monday.
Domenici struck a double within 15 first-half minutes before captain Brendan Hamill added the third at the start of the second half to seal a convincing victory against a Saudi side who grabbed a late consolation through Nawaf Al Ghamdi after failing to test Australia goalkeeper Robert Kolak for the majority of the contest at Pakhtakor Stadium.
The results leaves Australia at the top of Group C alongside China, who had earlier needed a late strike from Guo Yi to edge out Turkmenistan 2-1.
Neither side took control of the opening exchanges as they were both forced to settle for the odd brief counter-attack and speculative long-range effort.
But with 15 minutes played, Domenici found himself in between two Saudi defenders following a flick on from strike partner Eli Babalj before calmly slotting the ball past advancing Saudi goalkeeper Fawaz Al Khaibari from just inside the area.
Eight minutes later Babalj struck the foot of the post from the edge of the Saudi area with Al Khaibari beaten and scrambling across the face of his goal before Kamal Ibrahim headed over as Australia looked to increase their lead midway through the first half.
With Saudi struggling to find a way into the contest Domenici added a second on the half hour mark as he easily danced past defender Abdullah Al Hafith to cut into the left side of the area before beating an exposed Al Khaibari at his near post.
Three minutes before the break striker Musab Al Otaibi had Saudi’s first real shot in anger as he pulled a low strike from the edge of the area comfortably wide of Kolak’s upright.
Australia added a third four minutes after the break as Saudi Arabia had several attempts to clear a right wing corner before Trent Sainsbury headed into the path of Hamill, who rifled into the bottom corner low across Al Khaibari.
Al Khaibari denied Australia a fourth with 15 minutes remaining as he dived low to his left to save from Nikola Stanojevici after the striker allowed a low cross from substitute Danai Gapare to roll across his body.
With six minutes remaining Al Ghamdi was allowed time on the edge of the Australia area to find the bottom corner despite Kolak getting a hand to the dipping effort.
Source:The AFC.com
