RAYYAN   -  A physical Australia side domi­nated India to win their Asian Cup Group B opener 2-0 on Sat­urday in front of a crowd largely made up of Indian fans at the Ah­mad bin Ali Stadium. 

After a cagey opening 45 min­utes, Australia got on the board through Jackson Irvine before Jordan Bos made it 2-0 seconds after coming on as a substitute. The encounter felt almost like a home game for India with the crowd at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium largely made up of fans from the Indi­an diaspora in Doha and they made their presence felt, roaring the team on despite Australia’s early dominance. 

But after being shut out in the first half, Australia silenced the crowd with the opening goal soon after the break. Their second deflated both the Indian team and the arena. “The excitement of the first game (of the Asian Cup) got to the play­ers in the first half,” Australia’s coach Graham Arnold said. “At halftime, we discussed where we could hurt India and calmed them down. We told them, ‘Just be patient and it will come’.” 

The match also saw Japan’s Yoshimi Yamashita become the first woman referee to officiate a men’s Asian Cup encounter, with assistant referees Makoto Bozono and Naomi Teshirogi making it an all-female trio. Spurred on by the crowd, Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri missed a golden opportu­nity when he sent a header wide, but Australia turned the screws thereafter and controlled posses­sion as India rarely managed to venture out of their own half. 

It soon became apparent that India were no match for Austra­lia’s physicality across the pitch as the 2015 champions regularly won duels to prevent Igor Stimac’s side from progressing the ball. In­dia held firm until the break, but five minutes after the restart Aus­tralia found the breakthrough. 

Indian keeper Gurpreet Singh failed to deal with a cross and his tame effort to palm it away fell to Irvine, who needed no second invitation to score. The goal took the wind out of India’s sails and Australia capitalised with a second in the 73rd min­ute when Riley McGree dribbled into the box and cut a pass back for Bos to score. Although Aus­tralia took all three points, Ar­nold said there was still room for improvement.