10 January 2015
Juventus-owned James Troisi, currently out on loan at Belgian outfit S.V. Zulte Waregem, was on the scoresheet as his Australia side got their Asian Cup campaign off to a flyer with a 4-1 victory over Kuwait on Friday.
Born in 1988 to a Neapolitan father and Greek mother over in Adelaide, the winger, who has also played for Premier League side Newcastle and Atalanta among others during his professional career, added gloss to the victory with a fierce left-footed effort deep into stoppage time.
After initially going 1-0 down to Ali Hussain Fadhel’s header on eight minutes, the Socceroos provided an emphatic comeback in front of 25,000 supporters at the Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne, a ground Troisi only knows too well from his Melbourne Victory days.
Tim Cahill got Australia level on 33 minutes and then Massimo Luongo’s goal on the stroke of half-time saw Ange Postecoglou’s men turn the game firmly on its head. Into the second half, captain Mile Jedinak converted a penalty just after the hour mark before Troisi struck from inside the area to make it 4-1.
Australia now sit joint-top of Group A with South Korea and the Socceroos are looking to go one better on their last involvement in the Asian Cup, when they narrowly lost 1-0 to Japan in the final back in 2011.
