Burnden Aces

Herd Wins 3rd Cap; Qatar 1-0 Australia

• October 15, 2014 | By Chris Mann
• Short URL: http://b-ac.es/80a5f

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• Australia, Chris Herd, Khalfan Ibrahim, Qatar
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• See Also

• Chung-Yong Wins 62nd Cap; South Korea 1-3 Costa Rica

Chris Herd won his 3rd international cap on Tuesday, playing 45 minutes in Australia's 1-0 defeat to Qatar.

After appearing in his first two international fixtures in September, an Achilles injury forced Herd into missing last Friday's goalless draw with the United Arab Emirates.

He overcame the injury to start against Qatar, but couldn't help his side, who are ranked 84th in the world, to victory against the country 12 places below them.

Australia, playing in their 500th international match, disappointed on their travels, with Tim Cahill's poor header early on a sign of things to come.

Cahill was involved again at the midway stage of the half, with his header picking out the run of James Triosi. His initial shot was blocked, while the rebound brought a smart save out of Qasem Burhan in the Qatar goal.

The away side forced a succession of corners in the early moments of the second-half, but fell behind just after the hour as Khalfan Ibrahim beat the offside trap before firing past Adam Federici in the Australian goal.

Cahill fired straight at Burhan, as Australia looked for a way back into the game, but that was as good as it got for Ange Postecoglou's side, who continue to struggle ahead of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Australia return to action on November 18, when they face Japan at the Yanmer Stadium Nagai in Osaka.

Qatar: Burhan, Majid, Musa (I Mohammad 67), Hatem, Ali, Hassan, Rizik (Al Zereiqi 65), Ibrahim, Maqsoud (Ceara 65), Khalid, Soria (Abdulla 74)
Subs Not Used: B Mohammed, Ilyas, Mohd, Mahmoud, Al Sheeb, Issa
Goals: Ibrahim 61

Australia: Langerak (Federici 46), Wilkinson, Topor-Stanley, Behich, Bresciano, Cahill (Leckie 76), Jedinak (Franjic 63), Kruse (Ibini-Isei 63), Herd (Brillante 46), Troisi, Oar (Smith 76)
Subs Not Used: Davidson, Luongo, Milligan, Ryan, Sainsbury
Booked: Brillante, Franjic

Venue: Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Stadium (ad-Doha (Doha), Qatar)

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