AFC U-22 C'ship: Australia 1-0 Kuwait

Right winger Kitto slid the ball under Kuwait goalkeeper Sulaiman Abdulghafoor midway through the second half to give his side an ultimately deserved three points in a match in which a nervous Australia team had initially struggled and were grateful to the woodwork on two occasions.

Australia next face Iran on Tuesday, while Kuwait will look to bounce back against Japan in the day’s other fixture in Group C.

“I’m very happy with the win as, although we started the game quite strongly in the first 15 minutes, we lost our way for much of the first half,” said Australia coach Aurelio Vidmar.

“In the second half we controlled the game for long periods and dominated possession. The players were nervous at the beginning, but once that period was over their confidence grew.

“Ryan Kitto was a different player after the goal. There were a lot of good performances all over the park. Our defence was very good and the goalkeeper and central midfielders worked very hard.”

Kuwait started the match the stronger and controlled much of the first period of the game with a high tempo pressing game, and as early as the 10th minute defender Fahad Al Hajeri found the ball at his feet inside the penalty area, but saw his effort smothered by goalkeeper John Hall.

Five minutes later, though, Australia were to have their best chance of the half as wide man Kitto picked out an unmarked Dylan Tombides with a cross from the right flank and the West Ham forward’s forceful header needed a flying save from custodian Abdulghafoor, diving to his right.

With both sides struggling to take a firm grip on the midfield, set-pieces looked the most likely source of goals with Sultan Al Enezi coming close with a header from a Zaben Al Enezi free-kick in the 17th minute that flashed narrowly over.

Just after the half-hour mark, Kuwait came even closer with another deadball situation. This time, Faisal Al Harbi took responsibility and his swirling right-footed shot from the left side of the penalty area beat Hall but not the woodwork, ricocheting off the crossbar.

In the second half, however, Australia were a changed team, raising their tempo and beginning to dictate play and after 52 minutes had the ball in the net as Christopher Gligor bundled the ball home only for the referee’s assistant to disallow the goal.

Undaunted, Australia continued to press and just a minute later midfielder Stefan Mauk had the crossbar rattling with a fierce shot from 20 yards.

Vidmar had noted the danger to his side from set pieces, but despite instructing to his charges at half-time to limit the number of needless fouls around the area, another free-kick on the edge of the penalty area again gave Al Harbi a dead-ball opportunity on goal. Fortunately for Australia, the unlucky playmaker cannoned his swerving shot off Hall’s right upright with the custodian well-beaten.

As a wake-up call for Australia, it could not have been better as just a minute later a mazy run from deep by midfielder Mauk saw the ball end up at the feet of Kitto who finished with aplomb from eight yards.

And 10 minutes later things went from bad to worse for Kuwait as Al Harbi, who had been the creative hub for his side, was stretchered off injured.

His replacement, Yousif Al Rashidi, did his best to fill the playmaker’s gap and worked himself into space in the final 10 minutes on two occasions only to be denied first by some stout defending from substitute Jason Geria and then by poor finishing as he blazed over from 12 yards out.

“The truth is we helped Australia to beat us. We made mistakes through bad work, that’s the reason,” said Kuwait coach Jorvan Vieira.

“Today we were very bad, we lost our style of play. Even the first half wasn’t that good, it was just a little bit better.

“They played like a different team to the one I saw in Qatar (at the 2014 WAFF Championship). We made mistakes, we didn’t maintain our rhythm for both halves, and they get paid like this: with defeat.”