In a monumental moment in the history of Australian football, Team Australia came up huge on Thursday with a stunning 2-0 win over Argentina. One could argue that the Australian win might lack some significance due to the fact that both teams do not have their best players because of the age restrictions. Any way you look at it, this is a huge moment for the Socceroos in their quest for global respect on the international football stage.
In the 2-0 Australia win, Lachlan Wales of Western United scored the game-winning goal in the 14th minute. Wales did a wonderful job of receiving the pass from Mitch Duke to put Australia up 1-0. Another Aussie who was instrumental in setting up the Wales goal was Joel King.
Then in the 80th minute, Marco Tilio of Melbourne City scored a key insurance marker from Duke, who notched his second assist, to put Australia up 2-0. Just how big of an upset is this? This was Australia’s first win in men’s football on the Olympic stage since the Socceroos beat Serbia and Montenegro 5-1 at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Argentina was the gold medalist in men’s football in Athens, as well as at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
The Australian men’s football team was not the only Australian team to record a shutout on Thursday. The Australian women’s softball team evened their record at one win and one loss after beating Italy 1-0. Australia’s lone run came in the second inning on a RBI single by Jade Wall, which scored Taylah Tsitsikronis. Meanwhile, Kaia Panaby pitched 6 2/3 innings of shutout softball, where she only gave up four hits.
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