GistBiz Times

Lucas Herrington did not deserve to be the face of this painful defeat. The 18-year-old was already the youngest starter the Socceroos have ever fielded at a World Cup. Now he will be forever connected with one of Australian football’s great tragedies.

Once he missed his penalty kick – his side-footed effort placed too high and into the crossbar – first Awer Mabil ran to him, the gesture acknowledging the pain that will never leave him. When Egypt finished the shootout moments later, Herrington quickly turned his back to the crossbar that did him wrong, and put one arm to his mop of curly hair.

Bending over, the teenager hid his emotions. The way Jackson Irvine came up to him, they were clearly raw. Before long Nestory Iraknunda, a foot shorter than him, gave him an embrace. These two are the future of Australian football, but in this moment they could not avoid the painful

Australia must now wait another four years – at least – for that elusive victory in the World Cup knockout rounds. The nagging suspicion will be hard to avoid that they may not get a better chance than this for some time. Of course, Herrington was not the only player who would like to have the shootout back again. Harry Souttar had stepped up first. The man looked exhausted, having exerted everything across a 120-minute tussle. And his penalty was scooped over the bar, handing Egypt the initiative.

Not even Tony Popovic’s wildcard of bringing on captain Maty Ryan in the dying stages could assist, as Egypt scored all four of their spot kicks, ending the shootout early.

Three hours in this tournament without a goal, down 1-0, the Socceroos went into half-time with their morale low. It was subterranean when Jordy Bos tried to put pressure on his left knee after a challenge, and found it too painful to walk. A couple of half chances aside, the Australians had struggled to unpick the Egyptian defence in a first half reduced to a tactical tit-for-tat, as both teams spent most of their time evading the press.

The Australian optimism of the early moments – a Cristian Volpato sidewinder that flicked the crossbar and a marauding Bos run into the box – had been shattered by the opening goal. Australia conceded ground easily down their right in a breakdown of their press, and in a contested passage on the edge of the area Jackson Irvine was surprised by Ziko into a foul.

The free-kick was taken by Emam Ashour and blocked by Irvine, but the ball came back in and found the Egypt No 8 who had drifted in unmarked at the back post and headed home. It was a reminder of the cutting edge of Egypt, and suddenly the Socceroos faced a deficit.

With Bos off the field in the second half, Kai Trewin came on for his World Cup debut at right-back. Within 10 seconds his man had almost scored, as a wild start to the second half threatened to kill off Australian hopes.

The Socceroos steadied, however, and did something they had not done in this tournament: scored while behind. Officially it was an own goal to Mohamed Hany, but Aiden O’Neill’s gorgeous looping delivery from the left side of the box deserved to be credited.