Olyroos Knocked Out of Beijing Games

The Olyroos have been knocked out of the Olympic Games after losing their final group game 1-0 to the Ivory Coast on Wednesday night after Chelsea superstar Salomon Kalou netted the winner.

Needing a win to advance to the quarter finals of the men’s football tournament, Australian Coach Graham Arnold decided to field only one striker against a side looking to sit back and absorb pressure.

Australia dominated possession but struggled to find a direct path on goal. David Carney received the best chance of the first half when he beat the offside trap, but after hesitating over the linesman’s verdict he was forced wide and his low shot was cleared off the line.

Graham Arnold decided against making any changes for the start of the second half and Ivory Coast slowly began to find more time on the ball with Kalou and Gervinho both impressive.

Clear cut scoring opportunities continued to elude the Olyroos attack sparking Arnold to swap West Australian striker Nikita Rukavytsya for substitute Matt Simon, with the reserve suffering a similar fate to the Glory attacker against a wall of Ivorian defence.

Ivory Coast sensed Australia’s lack of attacking depth and killed off the game on 80 minutes when a turnover in midfield set up a fast paced counter attack. Salomon Kalou was left with a simple finish which he duly obliged with a sweet first time effort that killed off Australia’s medal hopes.

Arnold brought on West Australian defender Nikolai Topor-Stanley and James Triosi in response to the goal with neither able to regenerate Australian fortunes.

Despite the second loss in three matches, Arnold felt the Australian team had performed well.

“We had nerves in our first game, but against Argentina we were outstanding and we were outstanding again today,” Arnold was quoted as saying afterwards on FIFA’s official website.

“The difference in the game was Kalou. He’s a big player and he made all the difference today.

“We’ve had problems scoring with this team. This is generally a problem with all levels of Australia’s national teams. Disappointment aside, I am proud of the work the players put in and I think we have developed as a team.”