His first goal was a superb overhead kick from close range whilst his second was typical of the man, an unbelievable header. China, however, should be proud of their achievements as no one expected them to even get this far.

China’s Wu Lei started the first half like a man on a mission, in the 6th minute he broke clear of the Aussie defence and seemed to be in with a chance of scoring before Trent Sainsbury dispossessed him before fouling the Shanghai midfielder. The 23-year old then stole the ball from captain Mike Jedinak before breaking clear again only to be stopped once again by Sainsbury. Lei then had yet another dazzling run before his shot was deflected for a corner. The corner was headed on to Ji Xiang whose header was comfortably stopped by Matt Ryan.

Jedinak was only just back from ankle injury that caused him to miss part of the group stage and he looked rusty in the opening 20 minutes. He was dispossessed multiple times, his passing accuracy was poor and to round it all off he was booked in the 18th minute for blatantly bringing down Xiang after the midfielder sped past him.

Australia’s first chance fell to FC Ingolstadt’s Matthew Leckie who jinked inside the box before firing it goal wards but Wang Dalei saved well. China’s manager Alain Perrin clearly had a game plan for today which was to pressure the Aussies into losing the ball before counter attacking with pace. It worked well in open play but from set pieces the Chinese looked vulnerable. In the 35th minute the Socceroos had their best chance so far from a Mark Bresciano free kick. He curled it into the penalty area from the right hand side and found Sainsbury who had lost his marker but he headed just over when he should’ve at least hit the target.

The last chance of the half fell to veteran striker Cahill after Leckie’s cross found him in the box but Ren Hang defended the situation superbly and the ball was deflected for a corner which came to nothing. At half time the Chinese made a change at the back with Mei Feng replaced by Jiang Zhipeng.

However neither player could’ve done anything about Australia’s goal from Tim Cahill. The initial corner was cleared by Captain Zheng Zhi who went down injured and when the ball came back in Cahill found himself in the space that Zheng Zhi had vacated. He took his time before firing it in with an overhead kick and wheeled away to do his customary boxing celebration.

Zhang Linpeng had a decent effort from distance well saved by Matt Ryan but after that Australia dominated once again. Some superb build up from Cahill and Leckie set up Bresciano in the box but he didn’t catch the ball right and fired high and wide. Cahill then had a chance of his own with Leckie once again the creator as the former Everton striker hit his shot on the spin and forced a superb save from Wang Dalei.

He wouldn’t be denied for long, 3 minutes later Jason Davidson crossed in from the left hand side and Cahill rose incredibly to head home into the bottom corner to make it 2-0. China then had to go on the offensive and Zheng Zhi had a good chance in the 70th minute but he dragged his effort wide before Sun Ke came off for Yu Hai. China continued to press but couldn’t force any serious opportunities partly due to the Socceroos’ defence but also thanks to their poor delivery from the wide areas.

In the dying stages of the game the hosts had multiple opportunities to finish the game off. Substitute Mark Milligan was denied twice by Wang Dalei as was fellow sub Nathan Burns. Dalei deserves an honourable mention as he was definitely China’s best player and if it weren’t for Tim Cahill he almost certainly would’ve been Man of the Match.