Rallying support: Tomi Juric: Australian fans better not miss out on the Asian Cup


Tim Cahill, Massimo Luongo, Mile Jedinak and James Troisi got on the scoresheet in Australia’s 4-1 win over the Middle Eastern nation on Friday, with Ange Postecoglou’s side playing some scintillating football at AAMI Park.

Juric, who came off the bench after half-time, hopes Australia’s performance inspires Sydney and Brisbane to fill their respective stadiums for the home side’s next two matches.

“The fans were great. Credit to them it was a full house tonight and, you know, hopefully they can now come out in big numbers in Sydney as well,” the Western Sydney Wanderers striker said after the match.

“You know, we’ve got a big stadium to fill over there and it would be great to fill it out as much as we can.”

Friday’s win was Australia’s first in four matches and only the third in the Postecoglou era but Juric insists their performance against Kuwait is closer to their true potential than previous defeats.

The hosts had to come from behind after Hussain Fadel gave Kuwait the lead in the eighth minute but, as they grew into the game, so did the crowd of 25,231, eventually roaring them to a fourth goal in second-half stoppage time from Troisi.

“I hope we showed tonight that we’re a country that really knows how to play football and it’s a good direction that the country’s [heading],” Juric said.

Luongo’s header just before half-time that put Australia in front was the first time a player apart from Cahill had scored from open play during Postecoglou’s tenure.

With Troisi following that up late in the match, plus big chances to Matthew Leckie, Nathan Burns and Juric, there was a sense Australia found their scoring boots in Melbourne.

“There’s a lot of quality in this side and I don’t think people quite realise that,” Juric said.

“And it will take a little bit of time for people to see that but give us a bit of time throughout this tournament and I’m pretty sure people will understand that there’s a lot talent and a lot of goals to come from everyone in the team.”

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