Serbia wanted a win. Australia needed a miracle. Neither side had their prayers answered Wednesday in Nelspruit.
It ended 2-1 to the Australians behind goals from Tim Cahill and Brett Holman. Serbia got a consolation goal from Marko Pantelić, but neither side will advance out of Group D. The Socceroos' win puts them level on four points with Ghana, but the Black Stars advance based on goal differential. Serbia, who had been on such a high after their improbable 1-0 win over Germany in the second matchday of the group stage, will be left to ponder where it all went wrong.
After a first half dominated by the Serbs, Australia started more brightly in the second. They were rewarded for their endeavors in the 69th minute, when Cahill, the talismanic Everton attacker who had missed the Socceroos 1-1 draw with Ghana last week, got in front of Manchester United's Nemanja Vidić and onto the end of a Luke Wilkshire cross. Cahill's header left Serbian keeper Vladimir Stojković no chance, and with 20 minutes to go it was 1-0.
Substitute Holman made it 2-0 just four minutes later with one of the goals of the tournament. After finding space behind the Serbian midfield, Holman stepped into a 30-yard laser that Stojković could only wave at as it snuggled into the lower left corner of the net. Australia, who needed to make up four goals on the day to match Ghana, suddenly not only had life, but also real belief that they could pull off their miracle.
But it wasn't to be. Marko Pantelić, who was brought in midway through the second half for the ineffective Nikola Žigić, was the man on the spot in the 84th minute, slamming home a rebound after Mark Schwarzer spilled Zoran Tosić's 22-yard drive. It was hard luck for Schwarzer, who'd kept the Aussies in the game in the first half and had been blameless on any of the previous goals Australia had conceded.
Serbia pushed for a late equalizer that would have seen them through ahead of Ghana on goals scored, but Schwarzer kept out several late efforts. In the end, both teams will feel they missed out on a chance to write their own destiny, while Ghana will look at the result with a sigh of relief.
Scoring Summary
Australia:
Cahill (69’)
Holman (73’)
Serbia:
Pantelić (84’)
AUSTRALIA: Mark Schwarzer; Luke Wilkshire (Richard Garcia 82'), Michael Beauchamp, Lucas Neill, David Carney; Jason Culina, Carl Valeri (Brett Holman 66'), Brett Emerton, Mark Bresciano (Scott Chipperfield 66'); Tim Cahill, Joshua Kennedy
SERBIA: Vladimir Stojković; Branislav Ivanović, Nemanja Vidić, Aleksandar Luković, Ivan Obradović; Zdravko Kuzmanović (Danko Lazović 77'), Dejan Stanković, Miloš Ninković, Miloš Krasić (Zoran Tosić 62'), Milan Jovanović; Nikola Žigić (Marko Pantelić 67')
