When Australia scored the opening goal against India in their AFC Asian Cup game, it felt like 36,000 people went silent for a moment. Their team, India, was finally beaten after 50 minutes of resilient defending at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium.
The Aussies made the majority of the crowd quiet, much like its cricket counterpart did to India at the Narendra Modi Stadium last year, at the ICC ODI World Cup final.
“There’s nothing more satisfying than hearing a big crowd go silent and that’s the aim for us tomorrow,” its captain Pat Cummins has quipped before the summit clash.
Of course, the two matches do not bear any semblance of comparison, but thriving in front of large partisan crowds is part of the Australian identity, Jackson Irvine, the scorer of the opening goal, told reporters after the match.
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“We were actually watching that game (ODI World Cup final) together in Kuwait during our last round of qualifiers. And sometimes, you know, I think that’s part of our DNA. We like being the underdog, I guess, in a situation when the crowd is against us,” he said.
Irvine has been in such a situation multiple times with the Socceroos – against Peru, which had over 10,000 fans stationed in the stadium, had their hearts broken by Australia as it made its way into five consecutive World Cups for the first time.
That, incidentally, was at this very stadium when it started its continental campaign on Saturday.
“I was really pleased with the players’ mentality, they kept pushing, stayed patient, and did all the right things and we came out in the second half and got the important goals that that got us the win,” he said.
For Irvine and the Socceroos, life came a full circle at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium. The last time it played here, it was humbled by eventual World Champion Argentina 1-2 in a round of 16 clash. Talking to reporters after the game, Irvine had broken down.
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“I hope we made our home proud,” he had said with a breaking voice and then covering his face, breaking down in tears.
Over a year later, he looked a happy man, arriving at the press conference in slippers, brandishing his George Harrison-esque hair and replying amicably to reporters.
“We work on crosses and finding the right positions and for me, it’s just about sniffing out the right danger spot. And then at that moment, the ball fell to me and then it was just about trying to get the ball down and find a shot on target,” he said.
“I think there were still two players on the line as well. That’s the way India defended today and (we) had to try and squeeze it through that gap, and fortunately, it went in.”
Graham Arnold’s squad for the AFC Asian Cup has only 12 players out of the 26 who featured in the FIFA World Cup 2022 and Irvine is one of the veterans in the squad. Entering the tournament as one of the title favourites, the Aussies face Syria and Uzbekistan next, in the group stage.
And Irvine will look to ride on the “Aussie DNA” to guide the team to similar success throughout the tournament.
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