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SYDNEY - Australia qualified for the 2014 World Cup by beating Iraq 1-0 on Tuesday, with Josh Kennedy heading home the winner in the 83rd minute to reward a bold substitution by coach Holger Osieck. Osieck made the surprising decision to take off veteran Tim Cahill and replace him with Kennedy, and the decision paid dividends when Mark Bresciano chipped a cross into the box, where the tall striker took advantage of lax marking to head past Noor Sabri in the Iraq goal. The goal sparked euphoria among the sodden but exultant home crowd of 80,523, curing the heightening anxiety among fans as the minutes ticked by without Australia being able to find a way through Iraqs defence. A draw would have left Australia at the mercy of the outcome of the Jordan-Oman game later in the day, with a likely relegation to third place in the group and a further playoff round. Jordan beat Oman 1-0 to finish third in the group and book its place in the Asian zone playoff against Uzbekistan. Kennedys goal meant Australia qualified directly for its third straight World Cup. "Im proud of everybody," said captain Lucas Neill. "Its been a really tough campaign. Weve stuck at it, showed mental strength. "Sorry, it wasnt pretty. But weve beaten what was in front of us and pushed ourselves on to a very exciting tournament." The Socceroos won just one of their first six games in the final stage of Asian qualifying, putting their Brazil ambitions in jeopardy, but home wins over Jordan and Iraq delivered a place in Brazil for the veteran squad, which includes Bresciano, Mark Schwarzer, Lucas Neill and Cahill in the twilight of their careers. "The boys did really well in the final stage of the campaign, it was a great effort," said Osieck. "We really grew together as a team, we presented ourselves as a unit, and the reward today was that we could qualify for the World Cup." "It gave me a beautiful feeling and I must admit that Im proud to be part of this. "I know theres going to be a tough year ahead but tonight we have the right and privilege to enjoy our qualification." Australia started the game positively and had the first good scoring chance in the third minute with Cahill stinging the palms of Iraqi keeper Abbas Noors goal from 10 metres, after some clever build up play from winger Robbie Kruse. In the 15th minute Sasa Ognenovski spurned a good chance when he headed over the bar from fellow central defender Neills chipped cross. Cahill too had a good chance when Matt McKays cross from the left floated over the defence to the back post, and Cahills acrobatic effort to hook the ball over his left shoulder went just wide. Iraq, missing several of its best players, managed just one shot in the opening half which failed to test Schwarzer. The former Asian champions qualifying hopes ended last week in a defeat to already-qualified Japan in Doha, and they missed captain and striker Younis Mahmood and veteran midfielder organizer Nashat Akram, who didnt travel to Australia. The visitors started the second half brightly with midfielder Saif Salman forcing Schwarzer to dive to his left to stop his low drive from 25 metres. In the 57th minute, Bresciano shot narrowly over from just outside the box as the hosts looked to up the pressure on the Iraq backline. Australia named an unchanged lineup for the third successive game after an impressive 1-1 draw away to Japan and a 4-0 rout of Jordan in Melbourne last week. On the hour Australia coach Holger Oseick brought on Glasgow Celtics Tom Rogic for Brett Holman and the change almost paid immediate dividends with Rogic bursting into the box, but he miscued his shot. Australia put the ball in the net in the 65th minute, but Kruses volley from outside the box was disallowed by Iranian referee Faghani Alireza who saw a foul by Ognenovski in the lead up. Australia continued to press but couldnt find the breakthrough, prompting Osieck to substitute Cahill for Nagoya Grampus striker Kennedy. Cahill was less than impressed with the decision, storming past the German coach to take his place on the bench, but the substitution proved inspiring. "You have to understand that no player wants to come off but its my prerogative as a coach to substitute players," said Osieck "You can see that after the game he was one of the happiest players, he even sat on my shoulders. But hes a lightweight, if it had been (Sasa) Ognenovski it would have been a different matter." The hosts survived some nervous final minutes as Iraq pressed forward and created opportunities, but some last-ditch defending preserved the famous victory. Iraq coach Vladimir Petrovic paid credit to Australia and was pleased with the efforts of a largely second-string young team. "I want to say well done to Australia for qualifying for the World Cup," he said. "We have young players that proved today that they can do the job. The luck wasnt with us."Air Force 1 Cheap . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. Air Force 1 Low Outlet . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. https://www.cheapairforce1outlet.com/ . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Air Force 1 Store . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. Air Force 1 Sale . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary.NEW YORK -- The Philadelphia Phillies enter Sunday with a better record in August than the New York Mets. The Mets, however, are feeling far better than the Phillies heading into the finale of a three-game series at Citi Field.The Mets will look to complete a sweep of the Phillies -- and continue their surge in the race for the National Leagues second wild card -- when the two teams square off Sunday afternoon.New York hit four homers for the second straight game on Saturday in a 12-1 rout. The Mets have outscored the Phillies 21-5 in the first two contests to improve to 66-63 overall and pull within 2 1/2 games of the St. Louis Cardinals for the second wild card.The Mets, who are 12-13 this month, have scored 50 runs in the last seven games, during which they have gone 6-1. The current hot stretch follows a 34-game stretch in which New York went 13-21 and scored three runs or fewer 18 times.Just the nature of the game, Mets manager Terry Collins said. Theres some days, theres some weeks youre red-hot and others you cant hit anybody.The Mets have been ignited by the return of Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes, all of whom were on the disabled list earlier this month. The trio, which occupied the top three spots in the lineup in each of the last two games, is a combined 13-for-23 with five homers, nine RBI and 10 runs scored against the Phillies.It looks like a completely diifferent team, Collins said.ddddddddddddManager Pete Mackanin has seen a completely different team over the last five games as well, a stretch in which Philadelphia has gone 1-4 while being outscored 42-11.The funny thing about it is were 11-11 in the month of August, so its hard to figure out, Mackanin said.Phillies right-hander Vince Velasquez gets the task of trying to figure out the Mets on Sunday. New York has scored 62 runs in 11 games against the Phillies this season.Weve just got to regroup, put these two games behind us, Mackanin said. Its like (the Mets) know whats coming. They just seem to feast on our pitching.Velasquez fell to 0-4 in seven starts since the All-Star break in his most recent outing on Aug. 21, when he gave up five runs over six innings as Philadelphia fell to the Cardinals, 9-0.Mets right-hander Robert Gsellman is scheduled to make his first major league start for New York. It will be the second career appearance for Gsellman, who won his debut on Tuesday by throwing 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief in place of injured left-hander Jonathon Niese in the Mets 7-4 victory over the Cardinals.Gsellman is taking the rotation spot of Niese, who is expected to miss the remainder of the season after undergoing left knee surgery on Thursday. ' ' '