ADELAIDE, 2 June 2004: Australia has booked their place for Stage 3 of the OFC Nations Cup/FIFA World Cup preliminaries after a fiery 6-1 win over Fiji at Marden Sports Complex today.
The Tony Buesnel coached Fijian side proved competitive in the first half replying to Adrian Madaschi’s opening goal with the equaliser provided by Laisiasa Gataurua who was later sent off early in the second half for a retaliatory challenge after being brought down in a Tim Cahill tackle.
Australia went into the break with a slim 2-1 lead after Tim Cahill put the Socceroos in the front with another trademark header.
With Fiji’s confidence up and the Socceroos fighting for every possession, Madaschi extended his side’s lead with his second goal of the evening. Not longer after Fiji were reduced to ten men when Gataurua was sent off which effectively killed off any hopes of a comeback.
Tim Cahill showed off his goal-scoring prowess to again torment the Fijians completing his hat-trick with consecutive goals in the 66th and 75th minute – again from headers.
Replacement Ahmad Elrich finished off the scoring with a late goal to send the crowd of over 2000 in celebratory mode knowing their team would now compete in the OFC Nations Cup final home and away on 9 & 13 October and also the World Cup playoff next year in September.
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