Socceroos cruise to easy victory over Nepal

The Socceroos have strolled to a 5-0 win over Nepal in a night of capital punishment for the visitors.

Socceroos striker Jamie Maclaren scores his third goal and Australia’s fifth against Nepal in their World Cup qualifier at GIO Stadium in Canberra. Picture: AAP

The Socceroos have strolled to a 5-0 win over Nepal, just about delivering the Canberra crowd the night of capital punishment that their supporters had craved.

A hat-trick for Melbourne City striker Jamie Maclaren was topped up by a rather more unlikely pair for debutant defender Harry Souttar, but it still felt a little like meagre pickings against a side that lost 7-0 to Kuwait last month.

Still Maclaren won’t look back on this night with anything other than delight, taking his international tally to four and earning the right to take home the match ball. At the end he had it firmly gripped to his chest, and the City striker might start to feel he belongs at this level.

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“(It’s) my proudest moment in a football jersey,” he told Fox Sports after the match, while conceding that his side squandered a few easy opportunities through the match.

“End of the day we scored five... but looking back we could’ve scored more,” he said

If Nepal earned some credit for their obdurate defending, Australia couldn’t quite cast off the Canberra chill and sustain the sort of sustained tempo to sweep the visitors aside.

A very long night seemed ahead of Nepal’s goalkeeper and captain, Kiran Limbu, when his botched clearance in the first minute hit Maclaren and somehow didn’t go in.

Instead there was a succession of chances spurned, especially once the home side had achieved their dominance — ahead by three goals with just 25 minutes gone, an avalanche seemed in store.

Jamie Maclaren celebrates his hat-trick against Nepal. Picture: AAP

Maybe it was too easy, or rather it seemed that way; such a foregone conclusion took some of the urgency away from the Australian attacks, and a number of their key men looked a touch off colour.

“We created a lot of chances, but we have got to be a bit more ruthless when it counts,” said Australia coach Graham Arnold after his side’s biggest home win in three years.

“Overall, I’m very happy.”

The goals were precisely as might have been written out beforehand — Maclaren turned in his first two from close range, one with a boot and the other with his head to confirm his ability to anticipate a goal-scoring opportunity.

Socceroos defender Harry Souttar, No 23, scores against Nepal in Canberra. Picture: Getty Images

Both of Souttar’s of course were headed in, and his 198cm height promises a rich source of chances in the future — even if few defences will be so mismatched as the diminutive Nepalese rearguard.

The biggest cheer of the night came in the final seconds, when Maclaren chased into the penalty area and lashed in his third. Any hat-trick for your country is special, and after two games he is the leading scorer for Australia in this World Cup journey.

But Arnold will have much to ponder on the flight to Chinese Taipei, facing a side likely to offer even less resistance than Nepal.

This performance came on the back of just a couple of training sessions , but Arnold will want that elusive tempo to quicken, for passes to move with alacrity and show greater willingness to shoot.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH