The Socceroos have suffered a setback, going down to Jordan 2-0 in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, leaving the Middle Eastern nation to claim top spot in Group B.
A penalty in the 47th minute gave Jordan the advantage, before a second goal five minutes before full-time handed them a decisive victory over the Australian team.
Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou said while the result was disappointing, there was still hope for the team.
“It’s one loss,” he said. “I mean, right now it doesn’t feel good, but I still think we are making progress and certainly from our perspective we will still push on with what we have started here and I’ve got no doubt we will get to a good place.
“Once they got a goal up, the game became a little bit chaotic, a lot of disruptions, we couldn’t get into any flow. We had a couple of chances but overall we just lost control of the game.”
It is the second time Jordan beat Australia in World Cup qualifying, with their previous win coming in 2012.
The Socceroos dominated the first half but failed to breach the Jordan defence before Hassan Abdel Fattah struck from the penalty spot immediately after the resumption following a foul on Hamza al-Daradreh by Matthew Spiranovic.
Australia pushed hard to restore parity but it was Jordan who found the net again, al-Daradreh scoring with six minutes remaining to put his team on 10 points from four matches.
Source: ABC/AFP