Australia ease past India to win Asian Cup opener

Second-half goals from Jackson Irvine and substitute Jordan Bos earned Australia a comfortable 2-0 victory over India in their Asian Cup opener on Saturday.

After a cagey opening half, Australia opened the scoring in the 50th minute when Indian keeper Gurpreet Singh failed to deal with a cross, with his tame effort to palm it away falling to Irvine in the box who pounced to finish.

Australia killed the game off in the 73rd minute when Riley McGree dribbled into the box and cut a pass back to Bos to score seconds after coming on.

While Australia dominated on the field, it was India's fans who made the majority of the noise among the crowd of 36,253 at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.

High-pitched cheers rang around the stadium to greet India's increasing number of defensive clearances as the pressure mounted during the Group B match. And that was amplified for India's rare attacks on goal, such as a flying header from Sunil Chhetri in the first half that went wide.

But Australia turned the screws from that point and controlled possession as India rarely managed to venture out of their own half.

With India pegged back, Connor Metcalfe saw one of his efforts swatted aside by Singh and Mitchell Duke had a close-range shot blocked by Sandesh Jhingan, while Martin Boyle skied a volley from the edge of the six-yard box.

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