Debutant keeper Vukovic saves Australia’s blushes against Colombia
London, March 28 (IANS) Debutant goalkeeper Danny Vukovic saved a late Miguel Borja penalty kick as Australia earned a barely deserved 0-0 draw with Colombia in their international football friendly here.
Vukovic, who replaced Brad Jones at half-time, looked like he would be the villain for the Australians when he brought down Borja with a mistimed tackle in the 86th minute on Tuesday, reports Xinhua news agency.
But the 33-year-old dived to his left to keep out Borja’s low shot and cap a frustrating night for the Palmeiras striker.
Introduced at half-time for Radamel Falcao, Borja missed several gilt-edged chances and saw two of his shots rebound off the woodwork.
Vukovic, who plays his club football for Belgium’s Racing Club Genk, also kept out a dangerous James Rodriguez header.
“I won’t forget it any time soon,” Vukovic said of his debut at Fulham’s Craven Cottage in southwest London. “I was disappointed to give the penalty away and the main thing was I saved it in the end. We rode our luck a bit tonight… but it’s a great result.”
Australia created few clear scoring chances and lacked calmness in possession in the absence of injured Huddersfield Town playmaker Aaron Mooy.
Queens Park Rangers (QPR) midfielder Massimo Luongo provided a rare attacking highlight for the Socceroos when he danced around a posse of defenders before seeing his shot saved by David Ospina.
Australia captain Mile Jedinak praised his team’s performance, which came just four days after a 1-4 defeat to Norway in Oslo.
“We let ourselves down the other night,” Jedinak said. “We wanted to put it right.”