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Update

The show goes on!

The Socceroo squad for the Bahrain match is:

Socceroos squad: Michael Beauchamp (Central Coast Mariners, Australia), Alex Brosque (Queensland Roar, Australia), David Carney (Sydney FC, Australia), Alvin Ceccoli (Sydney FC, Australia), Ante Covic (Hammarby, Sweden), Spase Dilevski (Queensland Roar, Australia), Ahmad Elrich (Fulham, England), Brett Holman (Excelsior, Holland), Jon McKain (Timosoara Politechnica, Romania), Scott McDonald (Motherwell, Scotland), Jade North (Newcastle Jets, Australia), Michael Petkovic (Sivasspor, Turkey), Josip Skoko (Wigan, England - currently on loan to Stoke), Michael Thwaite (FC National, Romania), Michael Valkanis (Adelaide United, Australia), Tony Vidmar (NAC Breda, Holland), Nick Ward (Perth Glory, Australia), Luke Wilkshire (Bristol City, England)

Meanwhile, the Tiddleywimp and Packielackie spend their millions gained from their government protected media monopoly to entice young Catholic convent girls in a Wollongong school to watch their stupid sport. So how do you think they go about this process? By dropping their dacks in front a group of girls causing shock and hysteria! All caught on video. None are charged with offensive behaviour or child abuse. None have the their names placed on the Child Abuse Register. If a footballer player i.e. soccer player did this then no doubt they would be arrested and a media bum scrum follow with front page billing. So the incident is hidden and downplayed by the monopoly media owned by the Tiddleywimp moguls.

The mind boggles when these complete drongoes go on their tours in Thailand before frightening the pilots and stewardess in the air. This mentality not only typifies the crappie packielackie tiddleywimp sports and its supporters but reflects the mentality of the business community and the bureaucrats in the Australian government. We have the competition regulator controlled by a Tiddleywimp, all commercial TV controlled by Tiddleywimps and the government controlled ABC of Ignorance as the media voice for the Australian community. Add to this a mix of state premiers, judges and their gaggle of politicians! The corrupt Australian media monopoly makes South Africa under Apartheid look positively tolerant.

Newcastle go down in the first semi to the Central Coast 1-0 and further proves Gus’s wisdom in not select Zelic who looked stretched by the pace of the Central Coast and who was unable to send the pin point passes that were trade marks of his earlier year. Newcastle tired noticeably as the young Coast mounted wave after wave counter attacks from their defensive away from home formation.

Australia wins easily against Bahrain despite a nervous start to the game. Michael Beauchamp of Central Coast has an excellent game at the back and Skoko controls midfield. For a team that had a few days to prepare and who never played together it was a great performance. The final result 3-1 to the Socceroos.

Bahrain 1 (Hussein Ali 35’)

Australia 3 (Archie Thompson 54’, Josip Skoko 79’, Ahmed Elrich 88’ pen)

Australian line-up: Ante Covic (gk); Josip Skoko (c), Michael Thwaite (Brett Holman 46’), Luke Wilkshire, Ahmad Elrich, Archie Thompson, Michael Beauchamp, Alvin Ceccoli, Scott McDonald (David Carney 82’), Jade North, Jon McKain

Subs Not Used: Michael Petkovic (gk); Alex Brosque, Michael Valkanis, Spase Dilevski, Nick Ward, Carl Valeri

Cautions: Wilkshire 45’+, Holman 65’

It was a game of two half where Bahrain dominated the first half and the Socceroos the second. Once out of the defensive mode Australia out-performed Bahrain

David Carney when allowed on the field showed great touches and looked very dangerous. It’s a pity that Arnold still doesn’t recognize good players. McDonald played the holding role in the first half but never looked threatening at any time in the game. Brosque and Carney in an attacking role could have run rings around the opposition but were left on the bench. It has to be asked, when will the exciting players in the A-league be given a proper opportunity to play for the Socceroos? Arnold always sticks as did Farina in the past to players from overseas clubs even if they have no game time for their clubs. To build Australian football requires young talent and the ability to recognize that talent. This only happens if they are given an opportunity to prove themselves.

Meanwhile the pinko stinko government headed by Razorwire attacks the Islamic community in Australia. If it’s not the Lebos, it’s the Viet gangs, the Dagoes, the Abos , the Greaseballs and so on. Scratch an Australian conservative and you’ll find a bigot. And caught-being-naughty-in-the-dunny Allan Jones teams up with Crowe on the monopoly media after he incited racial attacks against the Lebos calling for the bikies to bash the Lebos at Cronulla before the riots to promote the a packielackey club. This represents the mentality of the crappie (literally) packielackies and their monopoly media.

“AJ: John has a good answer, he says that it seems that the police and the council are impotent here. All rhetoric, no action. My suggestion is to invite one of the biker gangs to be present in numbers at Cronulla railway station when these Lebanese thugs arrive, it would be worth the price of admission to watch these cowards scurry back onto the train for the return trip to their lairs...Australians old and new shouldn’t have to put up with this scum.”

Adelaide goes down to the Central Coast 1-0 in Adelaide. Adelaide players were clearly disappointed by the lack of home support and this adversely affected their game as they didn’t have the swagger of their previous games. Just over eleven thousand of the desert dwellers turned up to the game. The isolation of Adelaide and their lack of contact with the globe were there for all to see.

The Coast defence held out with a few scares and excellent saves by the ‘keeper. Adelaide made a single blunder at the back and was punished.

Now for the Big One. Sydney v CC is to be held in the only truly cosmopolitan city in Australia- Sydney. Will Sydney one day go on to win the Asian title? There is now a future for football clubs with ambition and who want to win international competitions in the world’s only truly competitive code.

Sydney FC win the first premiership title 1-0 with clever Yorke play and an equally impressive Corica finish in front of a sellout crowd in the State of Football Origin NSW where it all began with the First Fleet.

Craig ‘The Turncoat’ Johnson shows his face in Australia after his exile. Hiss has the hide to comment on the performance of football players after his yellow bellied runner and his failure to help the Socceroos in the qualifier against Scotland in Melboring. Players get the reputation they deserve and Turncoat should go back to the hole he crawled out of as he is not welcome in Australian football. We remember what a cowardly second rater he was, too scared to upset Kenny. A game we could have easily won.

Ode to Magottry

I did my way

to the highway

England B

England B

England B

England C

England C

England C

No England at all

No England at all

No England at all

Oh what a champion

I did it my way

To the highway.

Without doubt the tension lifts to a new spike as the ‘Kool’ Kewell and Jump-In-The –Box Cahill are injured. Fortunately we do have depth in the Socceroo side. Australia can go through the group even with players injured. Japan might be the Asian Football Champions but the Socceroos have depth and ability.

Cahill did play well against Uruguay and his aerial ability and timing are quite brilliant. Each day before the finals the spikes reach new heights. Will there be a bust or can the Socceroos progress? There is pressure in world football.

Sydney FC despite winning the Major Premiership have let Libarski go. The club is privately owned so that’s that. Perhaps they need to consolidate and become financially stable first. It does though demonstrate the lack of Australian corporate board goodwill to football. They think their Do-Doos don’t stink. Can Australia really survive in the longrun as a mine?

In Guus We Trust.

Ground hog Viduka

Pressure? What pressure? Aloisi.

What’s new Archie

Kangarooflubber Cahill (Who doesn’t need to climb on other people’s backs to see cirrus unlike melboring tiddleywimp),

“What’s the weather like up there Kennedy”

Joshua fought the battle of Brasil.

Long ball ,

Short ball,

Running ball

Fat ball

Skinny ball

Bald ball

Tactics?

Beauchamp’s muscle

Milligan pace.

Enough to halt slow coach Kakaered out Brasilian forwards they ask?

And Kalac no longer has to look down at his team!

He can eyeball not only the cirrus crosses

And Thor’s ACDC longballs

But also his team mates!

Add a dash of dazzle Kewell,

Canon ball Bresciano,

Banana bender Skoko,

And Never Say Die Chipperfield

OOOWWWWWWWW

And we can progress.

Socceroos

Socceroos

Socceroos

Our Beloved Socceroos : John Aloisi, Michael Beauchamp, Marco Bresciano, Tim Cahill, Scott Chipperfield, Ante Covic, Jason Culina, Brett Emerton, Vince Grella, Zeljko Kalac, Josh Kennedy, Harry Kewell, Stan Lazaridis, Mark Milligan, Craig Moore, Lucas Neill, Tony Popovic, Mark Schwarzer, Josip Skoko, Mile Sterjovski, Archie Thompson, Mark Viduka, Luke Wilkshire.

Kewell goes off in the FA!

Lucky we have depth.

Liverpoorl equal

An injury upset

Can Guss put a postive spin of surprise

Adaptability and survuival

Go hand in hand

Lest’s hope Kewell recovers.

With 22 days to go to the start of the World Cup the Tiddleywimp panic begins- oh no!

We have the government owned ABC of Ignorance at it again.

This times poems about tiddleywimps with degrogatory comments about football i.e. soccer.

Hadley and the Has Beens are at it again on government funded National Radio-

The propaganda arm of the Melboring Blubber Club

A call was made for a poem to support the Socceroos

What happens is one of their very own sport’s punies writes a poem and is aired first over the radio.

A poem designed to denigrated football.

After all it is full of those garlic breathing wogs – no?

These tiddleywimps have an enormous inferiority complex.

Tooo scardey cat to compete in a real game.

Skoko genius and Australia account for Greece 1-0 in a professional display without their key strikers. The full house of 95k enjoy the game and see the Socceroo passing game. It rates at around 2 million viewers just behind the State of Origin with 20k more. The rating is of course highly flawed and bias and has been known to be such for a long time. The key rating remain in the same households for years on end to satisfy the PBL. What they are actually testing is the change to the sample over time and results cannot be extrapolated to the community as whole due to the biased sampling. But whatever, the Socceroos win and are actually mentioned in the press!

The next friendly game as we close in on the World Cup is against The Netherlands. It will be a difficult game and should test the resolve of the Soceceroos. Meanwhile Croatia are lucky to escape with a draw against Iran in a friendly and the usually strong Croat defence looks vulnerable to a bit of pressure. Brazil take it easy and play minnows as they complain the game is too physical these days and stops the skill from emerging. Naturally they would. Anything to pressure the referees as the World Cup approaches.

Australia survives against the Netherlands in a friendly and Schwartzer put in a magnificent game. Cahill shows speed and bouncing ability to score off the rebound from a penalty by Viduka. Wilkshire started well but had a rush of blood to the head and makes a senseless crude tackle in a position where Australia is in no danger whatsoever. I guess that is inexperience coupled with unbridled enthusiasm. All Hell break loose and the Dutch claim too physical and Guus denies this. Now the Brazilians are running scared wanting protection from the referee against physical challenges. In other words, they want favourable treatment in Europe where the game is one of speed and physical presence. Let’s hope the referees don’t cow-toe to the Brazilians.

The Socceroos finish with a 3-1 against Lichtenstein with Joshua looking down on the goals. A bit untidy but a warm-up that shows we need to always concentrate even against Lichtenstein. Kalac looked every bit as good as Schwartzer in goal. So we have two good goalies! Now that is a bonus. Kewell looked out of sorts coming back from injury but may be able to play some role against the must win game against Japan. Archie never looked menacing and still has to find his feet in the squad.

And now for the big ones….tension spikes further.

There is also a complete turn around by the media with the Socceroos given massive coverage.

Zico is at it getting together with his Brazilian counterparts who are trying to gain an unfair advantage from the referees claiming that Australian players target the ankles of opponents. Guus responds in an interesting manner by simply stating that this is false. So expect some histrionics from the Japanese with diving, rolling and pain-acting over the slightest physical contact. Let’s hope the Socceroos are not put out by poor refereeing and simulation by the Japanese which is just another form of cheating. We are in for a vital match.

Full Moon OOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW and let Chipperfield rip the park apart. There is tension and I’m nervous.

What an amazing comeback by the Socceroos. The spirit of the Geebung Club is alive and well.

A Schwartzer bungle and a refereeing mistake and a should have been harmless long ball lodged into the Socceroos net. It just didn’t seem our day. Australia dominated play and had numerous chances and yet with 10 minutes to go we were still behind. The agony of referee mistakes flooded the mind as happen when we played Iran in Melbourne. Doubt hovered about the wisdom of Guus, but out of the blue Cahill scored two quick goals in succession and Aloisi finished off the Japanese for a 3-1 win in the nick of time.

We still have a chance to go through the Group stage and if the Socceroos follow the Bresciano adage “It’s about how much you want it.” we could be in store for the roller –coaster ride of our lives. In any event we are all proud of the efforts of our team and proud of the entire Australian soccer fraternity from Lowry to the mums and dads who take our young people to the games each week.

For the record

Australia - Japan

3:1 (0:1)

Match	Date	Venue / Stadium	Time	Attendance
12	12 June 2006	Kaiserslautern / Fritz-Walter-Stadion	3:00 PM	46000

Goals Scored NAKAMURA Shunsuke (JPN) 26', CAHILL Tim (AUS) 84', CAHILL Tim (AUS) 89', ALOISI John (AUS) 92+'
Australia (AUS)		Japan (JPN)
[1]	SCHWARZER Mark (GK)	[23]	KAWAGUCHI Yoshikatsu (GK)
[2]	NEILL Lucas	[3]	KOMANO Yuichi
[3]	MOORE Craig (-61')	[5]	MIYAMOTO Tsuneyasu (C)
[5]	CULINA Jason	[7]	NAKATA Hidetoshi
[7]	EMERTON Brett	[9]	TAKAHARA Naohiro
[9]	VIDUKA Mark (C)	[10]	NAKAMURA Shunsuke
[10]	KEWELL Harry	[13]	YANAGISAWA Atsushi (-79')
[13]	GRELLA Vince	[14]	SANTOS Alessandro
[14]	CHIPPERFIELD Scott	[15]	FUKUNISHI Takashi
[20]	WILKSHIRE Luke (-75')	[19]	TSUBOI Keisuke (-56')
[23]	BRESCIANO Marco (-53')	[22]	NAKAZAWA Yuji
Substitutes		Substitutes
[12]	COVIC Ante (GK)	[1]	NARAZAKI Seigo (GK)
[18]	KALAC Zeljko (GK)	[12]	DOI Yoichi (GK)
[4]	CAHILL Tim (+53')	[2]	MONIWA Teruyuki (+56') (-91+')
[6]	POPOVIC Tony	[4]	ENDO Yasuhito
[8]	SKOKO Josip	[6]	NAKATA Koji
[11]	LAZARIDIS Stan	[8]	OGASAWARA Mitsuo
[15]	ALOISI John (+75')	[11]	MAKI Seiichiro
[16]	BEAUCHAMP Michael	[16]	OGURO Masashi (+91+')
[17]	THOMPSON Archie	[17]	INAMOTO Junichi
[19]	KENNEDY Joshua (+61')	[18]	ONO Shinji (+79')
[21]	STERJOVSKI Mile	[20]	TAMADA Keiji
[22]	MILLIGAN Mark	[21]	KAJI Akira
Coach	HIDDINK Guus	Coach	ZICO
Cautions MIYAMOTO Tsuneyasu (JPN) 31', GRELLA Vince (AUS) 33', TAKAHARA Naohiro (JPN) 40', MOORE Craig (AUS) 58', MONIWA Teruyuki (JPN) 68', CAHILL Tim (AUS) 69', ALOISI John (AUS) 78'
Expulsions

Match Officials
Referee	ABD EL FATAH Essam (EGY)	Asst. Ref. 1	DANTE Dramane (MLI)
Fourth Official	POULAT Eric (FRA)	Asst. Ref. 2	NDOYE Mamadou (SEN)
Fifth Official	TEXIER Vincent (FRA)

Australia (AUS)	Statistics	Japan (JPN)
20	Shots	6
12	Shots on Goal	2
22	Fouls	11
5	Corner Kicks	3
3	Free Kicks (shots on goal)	0
0	Penalty Kicks	0
5	Offsides	3
0	Own Goals	0
4	Cautions	3
0	Expulsions	0
52%	Ball Possession	48%
36	Actual Playing Time	33

Australia (AUS)
#	Name	Pos	MinP	GF	GA	SOG/S	PK	Fouls		YC	RC
								FC	FS
1	SCHWARZER Mark	GK	90		1				1
2	NEILL Lucas	D	90			0/1
3	MOORE Craig	D	60					2		1
5	CULINA Jason	M	90
7	EMERTON Brett	M	90					3
9	VIDUKA Mark	F	90			4/5		1	2
10	KEWELL Harry	F	90			2/3		2	2
13	GRELLA Vince	M	90					3	1	1
14	CHIPPERFIELD Scott	D	90					2	1
20	WILKSHIRE Luke	M	74			0/1		3
23	BRESCIANO Marco	M	52			1/3		2	2
Substitutes
4	CAHILL Tim	M	38	2		2/2		1		1
15	ALOISI John	F	16	1		2/2		1		1
19	KENNEDY Joshua	F	30			1/3		2	2
Totals				3	1	12/20		22	11	4

Japan (JPN)
#	Name	Pos	MinP	GF	GA	SOG/S	PK	Fouls		YC	RC
								FC	FS
23	KAWAGUCHI Yoshikatsu	GK	90		3
3	KOMANO Yuichi	D	90						1
5	MIYAMOTO Tsuneyasu	D	90					1		1
7	NAKATA Hidetoshi	M	90					1	1
9	TAKAHARA Naohiro	F	90			0/1		1	4	1
10	NAKAMURA Shunsuke	M	90	1		1/1		2	4
13	YANAGISAWA Atsushi	F	78			1/2		1	2
14	SANTOS Alessandro	D	90						3
15	FUKUNISHI Takashi	M	90			0/2			2
19	TSUBOI Keisuke	D	55
22	NAKAZAWA Yuji	D	90					2	5
Substitutes
2	MONIWA Teruyuki	D	34					3		1
16	OGURO Masashi	F	1
18	ONO Shinji	M	12
Totals				1	3	2/6		11	22	3

a.e.t.:	after extra time	PSO:	Penalty Shoot-out	(C):	Captain	Pos:	Position
GK:	Goalkeeper	D:	Defender	M:	Midfielder	F:	Forward
MinP:	Minutes Played	GF:	Goals for	GA:	Goals against	SOG/S:	Shots on Goal/Shots
PK (PG/PS):	Penalty Kicks (Goals/Shots)	FC:	Fouls Committed	FS:	Fouls Suffered	YC:	Yellow Cards
RC:	Red Cards	N:	Not eligible to play	I:	Injured	A:	Absent

Three cheers for the Socceroos.

Hip Hooray

Hip Hooray

Hip Hooray

Bring on the Brazilians.

Croatia can definitely be beaten by the Socceroos. The display in their first half against Japan must give Australia hope. They looked vulnerable in defence a usual Craotian stronghold. Siminic was very ordinary and despite height can be easily beaten in the air by the likes of Cahill and Kennedy. Vidcka should give them problem also along the ground.

Beating Brazil was always going to be difficult but to beat Brazil and the Merk is impossible.

merk v. 1. to kill (someone); to verbally or physically attack someone; to defeat, to overcome someone or something, to do well; 2. to depart; to travel (to a place). Also murk, mirk. English, Hip-Hop, Slang

The Socceroos played an outstanding game but the goals just didn’t go in except at the wrong end of the field. Brazil scored two dubious goals both appearing offside. It may well have been the alignment of Saturn and Mars that caused the Kewell explosion against the Merc. The claim is that no harm comes from the alignment but the rush of blood to the head by Kewell was nearly a disaster for the Socceroos.

KOLKATA: Allaying public fears over any adverse impact on the Earth due to Saturn and Mars coming close to each other on Sunday night, astrophysicists said the celestial phenomenon was not a cause for worry.

Panic phone calls to the M P Birla Planetarium since last evening prompted its officials to go on a myth-busting drive as planetary scientists and astrophysicists made public appearances to rubbish claims by astrologers that the cosmic event could have an impact on people and the environment.

"Saturn and Mars are so far away from the Earth that their coming close will have absolutely no effect on the orbit or environment of the Earth," said Debi Prosad Duari, a senior scientist at the planetarium.

Saturn and Mars appear to be close to one another every two years and 20 days and the phenomenon could not be described as "very rare", he said.

"They are actually not close but simply appear to be close since they revolve on the same plane. Around this time every two years, they look as if they are very close to each other on the western horizon," he said.

Duari said the event was slightly exciting for amateur astronomers this year since the apparent distance between the two planets was around 0.56 degree or, in layman's language, about the diameter of the moon.

"Saturn and Mars were this close about 20 years back and will come so close after 16 years," he said.

In reality, the planets are about 120 crore km away from one another.

Eminent planetary scientist Amalendu Bandyopadhyay said there was nothing ominous about the cosmic alignment.

"Both Saturn and Mars are believed to be evil planets in astrology. So some people are using this chance to fleece people and make some money," he said.

The cosmic event, which began last night, will last till Sunday night and the two planets will appear to move away from each other after that.

It does show that Kewell is fired up for the challenge. Are the Socceroo all alone in the football universe as the referees succumb to the protected Brazilian species from physical contact pressure? A poor refereeing display by Merk over protecting the Brazilians and no protection for the Socceroos resulted in an impossible mission and cost Australia at least a point.

Socceroo Harry Kewell has been cleared by FIFA over his post-match tirade against a referee and will be free to play in Australia's crucial World Cup Group F match against Croatia on Friday (AEST).

Brazil - Australia

2:0 (0:0)

Match	Date	Venue / Stadium	Time	Attendance
27	18 June 2006	Munich / FIFA World Cup Stadium, Munich	6:00 PM	66000

Goals Scored ADRIANO (BRA) 49', FRED (BRA) 90'
Brazil (BRA)		Australia (AUS)
[1]	DIDA (GK)	[1]	SCHWARZER Mark (GK)
[2]	CAFU (C)	[2]	NEILL Lucas
[3]	LUCIO	[3]	MOORE Craig (-69')
[4]	JUAN	[4]	CAHILL Tim (-56')
[5]	EMERSON (-72')	[5]	CULINA Jason
[6]	ROBERTO CARLOS	[6]	POPOVIC Tony (-41')
[7]	ADRIANO (-88')	[7]	EMERTON Brett
[8]	KAKA	[9]	VIDUKA Mark (C)
[9]	RONALDO (-72')	[13]	GRELLA Vince
[10]	RONALDINHO	[14]	CHIPPERFIELD Scott
[11]	ZE ROBERTO	[21]	STERJOVSKI Mile
Substitutes		Substitutes
[12]	ROGERIO CENI (GK)	[12]	COVIC Ante (GK)
[22]	JULIO CESAR (GK)	[18]	KALAC Zeljko (GK)
[13]	CICINHO	[8]	SKOKO Josip
[14]	LUISAO	[10]	KEWELL Harry (+56')
[15]	CRIS	[11]	LAZARIDIS Stan
[16]	GILBERTO	[15]	ALOISI John (+69')
[17]	GILBERTO SILVA (+72')	[16]	BEAUCHAMP Michael
[18]	MINEIRO	[17]	THOMPSON Archie
[19]	JUNINHO PERNAMBUCANO	[19]	KENNEDY Joshua
[20]	RICARDINHO	[20]	WILKSHIRE Luke
[21]	FRED (+88')	[22]	MILLIGAN Mark
[23]	ROBINHO (+72')	[23]	BRESCIANO Marco (+41')
Coach	PARREIRA Carlos Alberto	Coach	HIDDINK Guus
Cautions EMERTON Brett (AUS) 13', CAFU (BRA) 29', RONALDO (BRA) 31', CULINA Jason (AUS) 39', ROBINHO (BRA) 83'
Expulsions

Match Officials
Referee	MERK Markus (GER)	Asst. Ref. 1	SCHRAER Christian (GER)
Fourth Official	RODRIGUEZ Marco (MEX)	Asst. Ref. 2	SALVER Jan-Hendrik (GER)
Fifth Official	LEAL Leonel (CRC)

Brazil (BRA)	Statistics	Australia (AUS)
16	Shots	14
6	Shots on Goal	4
9	Fouls	25
7	Corner Kicks	4
2	Free Kicks (shots on goal)	0
0	Penalty Kicks	0
5	Offsides	1
0	Own Goals	0
3	Cautions	2
0	Expulsions	0
54%	Ball Possession	46%
30	Actual Playing Time	26

Brazil (BRA)
#	Name	Pos	MinP	GF	GA	SOG/S	PK	Fouls		YC	RC
								FC	FS
1	DIDA	GK	90
2	CAFU	D	90					2	1	1
3	LUCIO	D	90						4
4	JUAN	D	90			0/1		1	2
5	EMERSON	M	71						3
6	ROBERTO CARLOS	D	90			0/3			2
7	ADRIANO	F	87	1		1/2		2	3
8	KAKA	M	90			2/4		2	4
9	RONALDO	F	71			0/2			2	1
10	RONALDINHO	M	90						2
11	ZE ROBERTO	M	90					2	1
Substitutes
17	GILBERTO SILVA	M	19
21	FRED	F	3	1		1/1
23	ROBINHO	F	19			2/3				1
Totals				2		6/16		9	24	3

Australia (AUS)
#	Name	Pos	MinP	GF	GA	SOG/S	PK	Fouls		YC	RC
								FC	FS
1	SCHWARZER Mark	GK	90		2
2	NEILL Lucas	D	90					2	1
3	MOORE Craig	D	68
4	CAHILL Tim	M	55			0/1		4	1
5	CULINA Jason	M	90			2/2		1	1	1
6	POPOVIC Tony	D	40					2	1
7	EMERTON Brett	M	90			0/1		2		1
9	VIDUKA Mark	F	90			1/3		4
13	GRELLA Vince	M	90			0/1		1
14	CHIPPERFIELD Scott	D	90					3	1
21	STERJOVSKI Mile	M	90			0/2		2	1
Substitutes
10	KEWELL Harry	F	35			0/2		1	1
15	ALOISI John	F	22
23	BRESCIANO Marco	M	50			1/2		3	1
Totals					2	4/14		25	8	2

So the story continues as we face the Croatians but who can forget the Merk?

From the village were heard the distant sounds of revelry, mixed occasionally with loud laughter, sometimes broken by screams, and sometimes by wild strains of distant music. All these sounds, intimating the disorderly state of the town, crowded with military nobles and their dissolute attendants, gave Gurth some uneasiness. ``The Jewess was right,'' he said to himself. ``By heaven and St Dunstan, I would I were safe at my journey's end with all this treasure! Here are such numbers, I will not say of arrant thieves, but of errant knights and errant squires, errant monks and errant minstrels, errant jugglers and errant jesters, that a man with a single merk would be in danger, much more a poor swineherd with a whole bagful of zecchins. Would I were out of the shade of these infernal bushes, that I might at least see any of St Nicholas's clerks before they spring on my shoulders.''

"This is the excellent foppery of the world : that when we are sick in fortune -- often the surfeits of our own behaviour -- we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars, as if we were villains on necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence."
---- William Shakespeare; spoken by Edmundo in *King Lear*, act 1 scene 2.

What an amazing game. The referee misses three penalties and still the Socceroos win against Croatia. Two hand balls go unpunished by the referee and a rugby tackle in the box that even Blind Freddie sees, leaves an uphill battle for the Socceroos. Yet defying all odds and a blind referee who cannot even count to two, the Socceroos still win. Goals from the spot by Moore and a last minute gasp by Kewell and the score is 2-2.

Far from charmed, it’s the Socceroos’ resilience against the odds that grinds out another win which was enough to take them through to the knockout phase.

Group F

Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Brazil	3	3	0	0	7	1	9
Australia	3	1	1	1	5	5	4
Croatia	3	0	2	1	2	3	2
Japan	3	0	1	2	2	7	1

A Kalac howler early in the second half nearly causes the demise of the Socceroos. After failing to stop the first shot with the wrong hand and seeing the ball in the net, Kalac misses a lollipop drive from Kranjar which is probably missing the goal and pushes the ball into his own net! Poll the referee issues three yellow cards to the traitorous Siminic before realizing he should have been off after the second. Yet the Socceroos win. Italy may not be so lucky, as luck has the tendency to even out.

“Australia made history by twice coming from behind against Croatia to earn the point they needed to claim a place in the Round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup™.”

It happens again. A penalty in the last minute for what was an obvious dive. Italy 1-0. We are proud of the Socceroos and disgusted by the blatant incompetence of the refereeing. And that’s football.

I suppose the referee though better the wrath of an Aussie than an Italian if it was really a foul. Referees in FIFA play politics and that is unavoidable in a game of such importance.

However, the Socceroos are building a truly global audience.

Thank you Guus for giving the Socceroos and the Australian public the belief.

The struggle goes on!