Qatar v Uzbekistan - Live Match Update
Catch all the Live Action here of Australia's match against Qatar
Full time: 0-0
There it is full time and Australia is through to the 2010 World Cup finals. It wasn't pretty by any means, but they did enough and the point is good enough for them to join Japan in South Africa.
92' Aust sub - Tim Cahill off - Richard Garcia on
Three minutes of extra time
90' YC - Talal Albloushi
90' Melee develops after Neill's challenge Talal getting involved with Valeri.
90' YC - Neill
89' Shot - Kewell plays nice one-two with Cahill in box, but shot is blocked away.
87' Corner to Qatar - Kennedy clears under extreme pressure and follow up shot from 35 metres is well over.
86' Corner to Qatar - Schwarzer punches clear.
Five minutes to go.
84' Shot - Hassan - got two bites at the cherry with second shot going out for a throw in.
79' Shot - Kewell brilliant play to dispossess defender, but shot is well wide of far post.
78' YC - Quintana
77' Ball played into Kewell in the box, gets rid of his marker, but chip to the back post is just too long for Kennedy.
77' Aust sub - Mark Bresciano off - Brett Holman on
76' Schwarzer takes a free kick by Qatar with ease.
73' Aust sub - Vince Grella off - Jade North on (Culina moves into defensive midfield role)
Lots of niggly fouls from both teams and no flow in the game.
68' Coyne forced off the field with a bloodied nose after copping an elbow from Quintana.
Game has gone a little quiet at the moment.
62' Shot - Kewell receives terrific ball wide on left, cuts inside and his right foot shot is tipped away by Burhan for a corner.
61' Great by Kewell on the left - cross though is fairly easy for Burhan
58' Corner to Australia - Kennedy's intended cross almost catches out Burhan, but the keeper manages to push it away for corner.
57' Shot Cahill - heads corner over the bar.
57' Shot Cahill - terrific shot by Cahill as he burst onto the ball and thundering shot is parried away for corner by keeper. Good shot and good save.
54' Corner to Australia - dangerous ball into the box is nodded down to Chris Coyne, who flick shot is cleared off the line. Best moment for Australia.
51' Free kick to Australia - Bresciano into box and after the ball bobbling around in the box, Qatar eventually clear.
51' Poor free kick and ball goes harmlessly over the bar.
50' Foul on Al Faris on right edge of the penalty box.
46' Free kick to Qatar - ball into the box is cleared away by Chipperfield.
Second half is underway and Australia is just 45 minutes away from joining Japan in South Africa next year.
Well we are half way there. Qatar to their credit are putting up a good fight with their World Cup play-off hopes on the line. They are making hard for Australia to find any real rhythm in the game, but there has been some bright moments with Kewell causing some real problems for Qatar defence. Our passing through midfield has been a little off today.
Half time
46'+ Bresciano's free kick is dangerous, with the last touch off the Qatar keeper, but the referee somehow picks out a goal kick.
46'+ Foul on Kewell just to left of penalty box.
45' Shot - Mesaad - quick counter by Qatar, ball comes out to Mesaad on the right, but ambitious shot from wide out is high and wide.
43' Shot - Grella's shot from edge of the box is blocked after free kick is headed away.
43' Free kick to Australia 25 metres out.
41' Great turn by Kewell, surges forward and passes to Kennedy, who almost puts Bresciano through on goal with a delighful ball that is just cut off.
A few nervous moments for Australia there.
38' Shot - from Schwarzer clearance, Talal Albloushi's shot is blocked at the edge of the box.
37' Corner - played short and cross is awkward for Schwarzer, who punches clear.
37' Shot - Quintana shot is deflected over the top after corner was headed back into the middle by Bilal.
37' Corner - Neill concedes the corner after dangerous ball into the box.
33' Shot - Valeri - another burst into the box by Kewell, cross is blocked away by keeper's legs, out to Valeri whose goalbound shot is deflected away for a corner.
32' Shot - Cahill breaks from 10 metres inside own half and races down the left and into the box, tries a shot that is blocked.
31' Shot - Kewell capitalises on a slip out wide on the right and charges towards goal. Takes a shot that is blocked and comes back to him and second attempt goes over the bar.
30' Corner to Australia - Bresciano's cross is cleared at near post
27' Shot - from free kick, Kennedy flicks ball on and the ball bobs up for Cahill, who acrobatically attempts an overhead kick that he smashed against the post. It however wouldn't have counted as he was ruled offside.
Oh off the post by Cahill.
26' YC - Hamed Shami Zaher for a deliberate block on Bresciano.
25' Offside - Kennedy is ruled offside as he goes through on goal... that was close.
24' Corner - Bresciano delivery is met by Kennedy, glancing header is cleared as far as Chipperfield, who blazes over the bar.
23' Cahill wins a corner.
Qatar are showing a lot of fight and not allowing Australia to get into any rhythm. Australia guilty of cheap turnovers in the middle of the park.
21' Free kick - after foul on Kennedy wide out on right, but Neill's cross into the box is easily dealt with by Qatar defence in the penalty box.
18' Shot - Quintana - good chance for the Qatari after he got free with a delighful switch into the penalty box. Took shot first time and went across face of goal.
14' Corner - Qatar after coming off Chippefield... Australia clear danger.
Click on above link to get all the stats.
13' Shot - Kewell's cross into the box and Kennedy gets high under pressure from two Qatar defenders but can't direct header on goal.
10' Tame Kennedy cross is cut out by Burhan.
9' Shot - Corner comes in and Bilal Mohammed heads tamely straight to Schwarzer.
8' Shot - Quintana from 20 metres is blocked and goes out for a corner.
7' Long ball to Cahill, who nods into penalty area, but Burhan comes out to gather.
6' Grella - fouled
3' Kewell - offside
It's a slow start, with Australia prepared just to knock the ball around.
50 sec - Chipperfield free kick into the box is taken by Qatar keeper Burhan.
15' sec - Foul on Kewell
We have kicked off.
Confirmation of the other result in the group and Japan has confirmed its participation in South Africa with a 1-0 win over Uzbekistan in Tashkent.
We are just a minute or so from kick-off.
The national anthems are being played and the few hundred Aussie supporters are in full voice. It doesn't seem the Qatar football fans have too much faith in their team, with lots of empty seats in the small stadium. Stark contrast to a year ago in Doha when it was a near capacity crowd.
Team News
No suprises with Pim Verbeek's starting line-up, with the only notable being Jason Culina basically filling in at right back in Luke Wilkshire's absence through suspension. Chris Coyne gets the nod next to Lucas Neillin the middle of defence and Scott Chipperfield has done enough at training to convince Verbeek that he is recovered from his ankle injury after a fitness test earlier in the day. Josh Kennedy gets the nod up front supported by an attacking midfield trio of Mark Bresciano, Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell.
Starting Line-ups:
Australia: Mark Schwarzer (gk), Lucas Neill (capt), Chris Coyne, Scott Chipperfield, Jason Culina, Carl Valeri, Vince Grella, Mark Bresciano, Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, Josh Kennedy.
Qatar: Oasim Burhan (gk), Hamed Shami Zaher, Bilal Mohammad, Mesaad Al Hamad, Ali Yahya, Ibrahim Majid, Mohammed Abdulrab, Majid Mohammed, Sebastian Soria Quintana, Ahmed Al Faris, Talal Albloushi
Referee: Abdul Malik Bashir (Singapore)