Socceroo Jason Cummings has almost certainly sealed his spot at the World Cup with a brilliant performance for the Central Coast Mariners, who came from two goals down to rout A-League Men champions Western United 2-0 on Saturday.
Premier League-bound teenager Garang Kuol also boosted his selection chances, coming off the bench to help turn the game – drawing the red card from Nikolai Topor-Stanley that reduced United to 10 men for most of the second half, and then providing the assist for Cummings’ first goal.
Cummings could have had a hat-trick, with two earlier goals disallowed, but ended up with a hat-trick of assists after setting up Beni N’Kololo, Jacob Farrell and Paul Ayongo to complete a stirring comeback from the Mariners.
Graham Arnold is due to name his 26-man squad for next month’s World Cup in Qatar on November 8, and with so many key players either injured or not playing regular football at club level, it will be hard for him to go past the currency of Cummings and Kuol’s output in the A-League.
Both players made their debut in Australia’s 1-0 friendly win over New Zealand in Auckland and made an instant impact, with Kuol creating the move that led to a penalty converted by Cummings in that game, and the pair’s chemistry has only improved on the basis of their display at Central Coast Stadium.
First-half goals from Nicolas Milanovic and Connor Pain had put United ahead 2-0, but the match swung at the break with the introduction of Kuol, 18, who is still yet to make a single start in his career but continues to change match after match as a substitute for the Mariners.
Central Coast’s Garang Kuol holds off Neil Kilkenny of Western United on Saturday in Gosford.Credit:Getty
Kuol was weaving his way through Western United’s midfield in trademark fashion when Topor-Stanley cynically scythed him down in the 47th minute, with the yellow card initially shown to him upgraded to a straight red by the VAR.
Twenty minutes later, he nutmegged Ben Garuccio, effortlessly turning the left-back inside out before squaring the ball from the edge of the six-yard box, where Cummings tapped home his deflected cross.
Cummings then turned provider for substitutes N’Kololo and Farrell, who both scored within the space of four minutes, to put the Mariners in front.
After being kept quiet in the Mariners’ loss to Perth Glory the week prior, Cummings and Kuol will have one final chance to mount their Socceroos cases against Western Sydney next week before Arnold’s World Cup squad is unveiled.
United, meanwhile, will be devastated with the nature of their collapse, which leaves John Aloisi’s side bottom of the ladder with just one point from their first four games.
with AAP
