India go down 0-4 to Australia in Asian Cup

Australia made a solid start to their Asian Cup campaign, with a 4-0 win over lowly India in their first match of the tournament here Monday.

Stars Tim Cahill scored a brace in the 11th and the 65th minute while Harry Kewell (25th) and Brett Holman (45+) had Holger Osieck’s side comfortably in control against their 142nd-ranked opponents, who were returning to major competition for the first time in 27 years.

Australia could have won by a big margin but India’s goalkeeper Subrata Paul made some fine saves.

India were far from disgraced though, as they made Australia work hard and also came close to scoring a goal when their dimunitive striker Sunil Chettri fumbled after he came between the defender and the goalkeeper at the Al Sadd Stadium stands.

Cahill netted his 22nd international goal in the 11th minute. Luke Wilkshire found Brett Emerton in space and the Blackburn midfielder sent in an inch-perfect cross for Cahill to smash into the roof of the net.

Australia didn’t have to wait long for another, however, with Kewell putting his side 2-0 up with a brilliant second.

Australia would have gone into halftime further in front had Paul not made two great saves to deny the typically impressive Cahill.

Holman did his best Cahill impersonation on the stroke of halftime, scoring his fifth goal in the past 10 matches with a brave header from Emerton’s cross.