Australia (9) v (3) Czech Republic
By Fiona CrawfordSTRONG teamwork took the Australian Street Socceroos one step closer to being in the top group of Secondary Stage of the Homeless World Cup
Stephen Maloney and Coen Slaughter proving an unstoppable goalscoring combination. Slaughter scored five of Australia's nine goals, while Maloney slotted in the other four.
The Czechs fired a warning shot that skimmed the backboard right on kick off, but it was the Street Socceroos who drew first blood when Maloney seized on a loose ball on the edge of the box.
After some clever build up play, Slaughter slotted one past imposing Czech keeper, Igor Karpis, to make it two.
Czech Republic's Martin Zejglic received a blue card after he clattered into Slaughter and, under the Homeless World Cup rules, he was off for the remainder of the game. The Czech Republic was able to replace him after two minutes, but in the interim the Street Socceroos capitalised on a clearly unsettled Czech Republic to give themselves a solid 7-0 first-half lead.
Josef Bartos put the Czech Republic on the board early in the second half.
Maloney hit the backboard with a clever backheel, but Slaughter anticipated the move to collect the rebound and put Australia 8-2 up. Josh Kennedy lookalike - captain Alex Marshall - made an appearance shortly before full-time.
After another Slaughter goal, the Street Socceroos finished a convincing 9-2 up.
Photos: Photoworx
