Sorry Tigtog, I know that you were keen to talk about another kind of football, but I got up at 4:45am and went out to a pub to watch the soccer, so I’m afraid I have to write about it at least briefly.
Highlights were, of course, our two goals – particularly Kewell’s, which was beautifully shot – and the dancing performed by Croatia’s coach. At one point he appeared to be impersonating a washing machine (and quite convincingly too).
Lowpoints were, unfortunately, fairly abundant too, particularly Croatia’s second goal – or more accurately Kalac’s fumble (following on quickly from a previous fumble that almost scored him an own goal), which was horrible to watch. Schwarzer looked deeply depressed sitting on the sideline – and justifiably so.
I couldn’t believe that Poll didn’t remember to red card Simunic after giving him his second yellow card – especially because he was being so aggressive about it. Missing the handball by Tomas was also a little odd. But ultimately it just didn’t matter.
My only remaining question is what happened in the last minute? Was I seeing things, or did Australia score a third goal? I can’t find any reference to this at all online, but everyone around me was just as confused as I was when the whistle was blown.
Update: Apparently, it was scored after the ref had already blown the full time whistle. [Thanks Liam]
to all you unbelievers, heretics and pagans.
This IS what sport is all about.
a close result, magnificent play, sensational support which means you just don’t want the day to end.
My boys saw history this morning. Their mother wasn’t too impressed when I woke them up to watch the game but even she enjoyed it.
don’t they play in close and exciting games.
Wasn’t it appropriate our Arry scored!
I think the third goal was not allowed because the game had ended.
Great game. Wuold prefer if they did it from infront rather than behind all the time.
Yeah, it was after the siren.
Poor Emerton though. I think he’ll be sorely missed next round.
Kalac. That is all.
Cristy, I’m waiting for the YouTube version of all the Managers’ groovy moves set to music. Can’t be too far away and Mr Croatia will definately feature. I also like the Guus “fist of power” move very much.
What an exhilarating and nerve wracking morning!
Yes it was – I couldn’t believe how stressed out I got!
A video-mix of the coaches’ manoeuvres is certainly in order. It would make fabulous viewing.
Kalac. Must. Not. Play. Again.
Every time he went near the ball I could see him punching it into his own net, as he almost did. My heart cannae take it.
I don’t think he will be, Georg!
Poor guy. I felt sorry for him.
Of course, I still agree that he must never play again. Every time the ball went anywhere near the goal, I was convinced that he was going to send it into the net. It was horrible to watch.
What have you all got against Kalac? Australia’s defenders should never have let the strike go through. If the goalie even has to get dirty elbows it’s the fault of every player backwards of the midfield.
What an air-brushed hate site.
Liam did you see him drop the ball – within an inch of the goal line? My heart was in my throat!
I have no doubt that he is a talented player, but he had a bad match.
The cultural vandalism continues.
you xenophobe Razor,
embrace the beautiful game favoured by all who believe in globalisation.
No other sport can produce such emotion or outpourings for a NATIONAL team.
ole,ole,ole,ole,oleo
What’s with the flares??? Never seen them at an AFL match, although I was close to a Grenade simulator that was thrown during a West Coast Eagles Match.
And I haven’t seen a flare at a Rugby match either!!
Yes, dropping the ball under NO pressure from attackers and then taking two or three tries to pick it up is not the form of a World Cup goalie. Sorry Liam, I’ll always go for Schwarz over ‘Spider’ any day (and not least because of that hideous hair he has…).
Razor,
your kidding me,
every vietnam vet wore flares!
I did in the 70’s!
Georg, “NO pressure from attackers” means no strikes from outside the square.
The brand of football I learned (as a defender) put vast responsibility on the defenders, acknowledging that the goalkeeper’s job is almost impossible.
The real lesson from Australia’s World Cup is that our defence is simply a fraction too slow. All our tackles are from behind, any drive down the centre from a counter-attack is deadly dangerous, and the goalkeeper has far too much responsibility for stopping scoring shots.
I favour a 7-2-1 formation, myself.
I take your points Liam. What I was trying to say that there was not an opposition player within a couple of metres of him. He was not being physically pressured (pushed, etc) at the time he had to make the catch. I don’t deny that keepers have a thankless task. Part of their job though is to be able to catch the ball…
Even though a little slow, our defence has looked better than it has for years.
Fair point, Georg.
It was a bit of a slapstick fall, I heard the slide-whistle and tambourine in my head when I saw it.
You’ve got to cut Kalac some slack though, everybody picks on the goalkeepers.
I’m a great supporter of goalkeepers. I’ve even had to be goalie meself a few times. Not pleasant (specially when you are as short as I am). I guess I just couldn’t see the dropping of Schwarzer as justified, and I thought that before the game even started! Kalac just seemed a little overawed by the occasion, his nerves seemed to get the better of him. I’m sure he is quite a competent keeper – AC Milan didn’t sign him for nothing…
steve edwards has sent a hit squad to Germany if they select Spider again.
you know Schwarzer has black eyes!!!
I never want to go through that EVER AGAIN!!
I thought Kalacs was shit too.
What Georg said.
I felt sorry for Kalac. Poor bastard gets his big chance and has a bad day. It happens. And Australia still managed to get through, which was a great result in the end.
Yes, I am feeling a bit guilty about this whole ‘attack the goalie’ development. The fumbles were heart-stopping, but they must have been so much worse for him and everyone deserves a break. Perhaps we should lay off. They got through in the end, so no harm was done.
Everybody has off days, including goalkeepers. Heck, Oliver Kahn had his in the Cup final, after he almost singlehandedly dragged Germany there.
Back to Cristy’s note on Harry,… I was getting a little frustrated at how many of his previous shots went straight to the keeper’s hands. A similar pattern in the other games, too. It might sound like sacrilige saying this but I’m glad he’s finally earned his stripes. Speaking of goalies.. did you get to see the the Japanese goalie’s efforts against Brazil???
yep oliver was a Kahndo goalie but still a sauerkraut
It took Rugby admistrators and outside Government financial pressure to achieve all of this.
On the keeper – suprised it wasn’t blackie in their, but the ball has to go past 10 others before the keeper. And why don’t they start the basket-baller?? That Viduka chav hasn’t created let alone scored a goal!! Leaning on his reputation.
If you think Viduka has done nothing, then clearly you know nothing about soccer.
Mark V is saving his best for the next round.
Incidentally
SOCCERUUS to beat Italy 5-4 (penalty shootout)
What have you all got against Kalac?
I don’t have anything against him but I didn’t expect him to start. He’s been bridesmaid most of his career, only had two outings with AC Milan, is largely untested in internationals (I missed the Greece-Aus friendly but from what I read he was largely untested), may have the height but not the agility and versatility IMHO (which is why I thought the speculation about Kalac was idle spec), haven’t thought Schwarzer has been up to form but he’s had the experience having been capped for Oz plenty of times and still hungry while Kalac has more or less conceded his career is over… so when he walked out on the pitch I, as usual, started asking if anyone could explain Hiddink’s tactics to me especially as I knew that Hiddink would not sub him no matter how bad he played (in fact there was more reason for him to play against Brazil)
And as Georg said, Kalac looked nervous and awkward not just for the first few minutes when the whole team looked jittery and conceded a goal, but for the entire match. Was prepared to cut him some slack but when the guy threw a ball straight to a Croatian player right in the closing minutes of the game I thought nope, not a match to remember but certainly not one that’s going to get you a place in the history books.
At least someone had a worse game than our wee Kalac…
I’ve been a Kalac basher for as long as I can remember, and the fact is that Mark Bosnich could have played better on crack. In fact, Bosnich, I am certain, HAS played better on crack.
Steve, that was rather harsh on Kalac. But I did laugh.
So Stuttgart is 4-5 hours from here. Hmmmm…
No Poll position Georg. Is it the water or something?
Should say that I thought Sterjovski had a (suprisingly) good game – which was good to see – but really, the stand out Aussie of the tournament so far has to be Lucas Neill. Rock solid all three matches. And judging by the number of hits my blog is getting with searches for “Lucas Neill wife” or “girlfriend” I think some the gals have noticed too.
saint, that’s hilarious. Is this the new way of scoring yourself a famous shag? Google and see if there is a girlf, if so, what does she look like and do I rate?
Well if I told you some of the other search terms…er…if you saw the Swiss World Cup commercial I pointed to on my blog…you would get desparate. LOL!
Sometimes I think I should write a post on the what Google searches reveal about the human condition. But I am sure someone far more capable (and wittier) than I has done that.
Thanks for explaining the song thing in the other thread.
But unfortunately, since Mr Howard expressed his enthusiasm for the sport, I don’t think I can watch it any more. I have nothing against the man following national teams, it’s just everything he touches becomes immediately uncool. I don’t automatically dislike everything Howard does, he just has a tendency to pour a big bucket of embarrassing uninteresting on everything.
“King Harry” ffs…
Isn’t it excellent how Howard invited cameras into his TV-room at 3am to witness him jumping out of a chair? Or do you think that was pre-recorded?
Was it that yukky green leather Menzies era chair?
Couldn’t tell you… looked that way. I wonder if the camera operators were able to claim overtime under new AWAs?
Georg, Steve, you may be interested in the stoush.net weekend poll.
I voted yes. What a bunch of intolerants you all are.
weathergirl,
the game started at 5am,
The jump was for the penalty Craig Moore scored which was about halfway through the first half but yes he did phone to get the cameras
I agree, AK – Howard has some sort of anti-cool superpower that renders anything he approves utterly unhip and in immediate need of ditching. Perhaps we should encourage him to get an emo haircut, or would that be an abuse of his powers?
He could always grow out his eyebrows and gel them into spikes. Start painting his nails. Wear cats’ eye contact lenses instead of those glasses. Oh the possibilities.
Well, I can think of few experiences more exhilarating and nerve-wracking than being there. The Australian support was amazing – despite the opposition supporters being bigger, blokier, more menacing and more numerous, we out-sang, out-cheered and out-danced them. And I say this while noting that there were Australians in the crowd who really didn’t know much about football (just on another generic Fanatics sports tour!)
We deserved our draw – hey, we deserved the 3-2 win that a more competent referee might have awarded. And if the match-fixing allegations distract the Italians, and they play like they did against the USA, well, you never know …
We beat the Eyties in a penalty shoot-out as we experience another emotional roller-coaster.
Mandy does it get any better than this?