Aussies slam referee after penalty blow in Melaka

MELAKA: Australian players and media slammed the referee after Syria’s controversial late penalty dented their hopes of reaching next year’s World Cup following a 1-1 play-off draw in Melaka yesterday.

The Socceroos remain in the box seat ahead of Tuesday’s second leg in Sydney, where the eventual winner will go into a final play-off with the CONCACAF federation’s fourth-placed team.

But Omar al-Soma’s 85thminute equaliser raised harrowing memories of the 1997 playoffs, when Australia drew 1-1 with Iran in Tehran but were held 2-2 at home to go out on away goals.

Forward Robbie Kruse even claimed Iranian referee Alireza Faghani — who farcically gave him a yellow card when he went down with a serious injury in the 2015 Asian Cup final — was itching to give the penalty.

Australia were 1-0 up after Kruse’s first-half goal but the crucial moment came when Mathew Leckie made contact with al-Soma in the box as they both went up for a header.

“It was evident to everyone it wasn’t a penalty,” Kruse told Australian media, adding: “You expect that from this referee, we’ve had him before.

“I think he wanted to give it as soon as he made contact.”

Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou said he was “bemused” by the decision, while Leckie called it “very poor.”

“It wasn’t like I (made) body contact and tried to put him off, I actually won the header. I don’t know what went through the ref’s mind to give a penalty,” Leckie said.

More worryingly for Australia, they were under the pump for much of the second half, when Soma had a header deflected on to the post and Omar Khribin saw a free kick flash just wide.

Postecoglou said his team had struggled with Malaysia’s hot and humid conditions but that it would be a different story in Sydney, when he can call on a number of fresh players.

“We want to play really hightempo and really go at them and test them,” Postecoglou said, adding: “We’ll make some changes to the XI. When we’re at home we want to attack aggressively.” AFP