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Update
Sermani’s tactic for the Matildas
game against North Koreas was
inappropriate for the situation where a win was the only result that
mattered. Not only had he selected
basically all similar players but persisted with the wide wing play and no
variation in attack. Sitting in his
ivory tower away from the field and completely abandoned the players he sipped
tea while the girls were tactically outplayed.
A coach belongs on the sideline helping to make tactical adjustments not
sitting in an ivory tower because the bench is too cold!
No wonder the Matildas are
eliminated after such a poor tactical display by the coach.
He claims he played against the best team in the
world. This is yet to be proved and the
World Cup should be his last tour of duty.
We need good coaches for our national teams to progress to the next
step, not necessarily foreign coaches but good coaches. Matildas end up
losing 2-0 at home to be eliminated from the Olympics. A sad day for Women’s Football in this
country and all but ignored by the media as usual with no reports of the score
even in Porkie’s Ausmoron Murdochian Mudpie.
Meanwhile the telemoron is at it
again claiming Viduka shouldn’t be allowed to play
because he hummed and hahahed about the Asian
Cup. No recognition of the full
commitment he has given the Socceroos over the years. It may be simple ignorance but Telechops is more likely seeking to discredit Socceroo players in a backhand way. Anyway the Duke is
playing for the Socceroos despite his move to Newcastle.
Hey Arnold is making tactical
changes and altering the attacking form for the Asian Cup. He is putting Duke and Kewell
in attacking modes instead of the usual containment modes with Carney as an
attacking left back!
Group A (in Thailand)
1.Thailand
2.Australia
3.Oman
4.Iraq
7- 7-07 Rajamangala Thailand 1 - Iraq 1
8- 7-07 Rajamangala Australia 1 - Oman 1
12- 7-07 Rajamangala Thailand - Oman
13- 7-07 Rajamangala Iraq - Australia
16- 7-07 Rajamangala Thailand - Australia
16- 7-07 Supachalasai Oman - Iraq
We rode our luck
against Singapore but pure class
by the Duke and Cool Kewell won the day with a 3 zip
result. The team was flat in hot and humid
conditions that had the added bonus of all two verses of Advance Australia Fair. The game did show that Arnold’s tactics are
easily dealt with by an organized compact defence and the vulnerability to
sucker punch. Kool was all class and the combination
with the Duke shows our reliance on individual brilliance.
AND on ABC News
Radio the ignorance of its Toff’s Tosses in the
sports department all but ignored reporting this important game before the
competition proper. Given the continued blackout of football on free-to-air and
the inability of the majority of public to see Socceroos games you’d think they
would report these important games that promote Australia in our
region. But as usual the race card is
used in the lead up to the federal election, this time it is being used to stir
up anti-Aboriginal sentiment, but it won’t be long before the anti-Asian
rhetoric begins in the parliament spurred on by the PM. After all, the ABC of Ignorance and its toff tossing shows its attitude to Asians, Africans,
European, South Americans and the Great Unwashed has been all too
transparent. Meanwhile their tiddleywimp counterparts are associating with hoods
shooting out of cars and terrifying citizens in Melboring
streets.
The Deadhead attack
on Oman in an undisguised attempt to destroy the credibility of a nation
because it is ranked below Australia in the FIFA rankings in what is the
world’s main competitive sport just shows what absolute morons are in charge at
the ABC.
For the punters:
The Thai public is
obviously more knowledgeable than the ignorant Australian sports media such as Hadfield and the Hasbeens as the
Socceroos are swamped with well wishers as they visit Bangkok in their lead up
to their first match against Oman. The ABC of Ignorance continues to blackout
news and this is replicated by the morons in the rest of the monopoly media
back at the ranch. With all the tools at
his disposal Hey Arnold must deliver a
winning side. The question arises as to
whether he learnt anything as the understudy of Guus. Can he deal with pressure or will he sit
remote from his team sipping tea doing a Sermani? Winning the group is essential and breaking
down the compact all-bar-one behind the ball defences
requires know-how and the ability to change tactics and spring surprises. Kewell is itching
to go and the Duke is in form so no excuses.
An interesting
start to the tournament, pouring rain in warm conditions and both Thailand and
Iraq played attractive football at times and showed a good level of technical
ability despite the conditions.
Hey Arnold, an
important but simple point- go out and get the lead
before relaxing and conserving energy.
The Socceroo performance against a skilful Oman was
disappointing to say the least. The slow
start was tactical poor. In football it
is important to get a lead as early as possible and build on the lead thereby
reducing the chances of losing. The
defence was all at sea as Oman attacked
narrowly with passes behind the line of defence that was seldom picked up by
the lethargic midfield. In the second
half as the Socceroos lifted the tempo Oman ran out of steam
and the last gasp equalizer by Cahill made for an unnecessarily difficult
game. The point gained means we are
still in the group but still needing the win to go through in top spot. Australia 1 Oman 1
Mark Shield’s
award of a penalty to the Saudis against South Korea was not at all
controversial. It was clearly a case of
both holding and deliberate charging in the penalty area. The coach needs to realize his side was
caught by a brain explosion by the defender.
Hey Arnold or is that
Dopey? What on earth were the Socceroos
doing? Multi-million dollar players and
a crap coach equals a thrashing by Iraq. Black Friday strikes with avengence, Iraq
3- Socceroos 1.
Sack the coach
now before the next game. Bring in
anyone but Dopey and Big Mouth.
The Socceroos
now play Thailand and must
win. They are capable of this but Thailand is a host
nation and will lift against the Socceroos who look weak all across the
park. What has Arnold’s football
brain being doing? Is his valve
leaking? How can we be in this situation
needing a good win again Thailand to
progress? The Asian are fast, technical
and above all play with passion. If Thailand plays anywhere
near as good as Indonesia last night we
are in for a torrid game. But where
there is life there is hope.
But
Kewell stressed the blame did not lay just with the manager but with the team as a whole.
He added: “You can’t blame the referee, you can’t blame the manager, the only people
you can blame are the 11 players that are out there and we were not got enough,
it was as simple as that,
“We
can only go out there and try to play better than we did. We can’t even look
towards the next round after the way we played.
“Players
need to pull their finger out and I am no exception. My own performance was
poor but we have got to sit down and turn this around.”
Kewell’s point is
valid. A manager who is capable brings
the best out of the team. Hey Arnold has not done
this. When you look at the quality of
the coaches in the other team and see Hey Arnold on the bench it
does not inspire confidence.
Great win by the
Socceroos with a brace by the Duke to progress through 4-0. The question arises is it due to Hey Arnold’s
football brain putting Milligan, Beauchamp and Carney in the team FC, CC, FC,
or an act of desperation. Whatever, good
defences win games and the Socceroos showed this
tonight. Now for Japan who has been the
form team of the tournament.
The Socceroos go
inevitably down to Japan after extra-time
1-1 and 4-3 on penalties. It was hot and
humid but that is true for both sides. Australia lacked ambition
and know-how in attack. Aloisi’s goal
was well executed but after a mix-up with Schwarzer and Milligan, Japan immediately responded
with a Takahara turn and pivot to blast the ball off the post into the
net. Grella’s brain explosion
with a trailing arm in an aerial challenge sees a hash red gets beets
and Socceroos were down to ten men. The
Socceroos fought valiantly but in vain. They should never have been in that
position playing an in-form Japan on-a-mission in
the Quarter Finals. Arnold’s substitution
of Viduka who was causing the Japanese defence all
sorts of problems was baffling. True the
Duke put his hand up to come off but I am sure he would have sunk the penalty
in the shoot-out after his miss against Uruguay. Of course taking Aloisi
off after scoring is another question mark about the tactical play by the
Socceroos. We needed to win play defend
or an as we were attitude. It is the mentality of all hands to the pump instead
of full steam ahead that plagued the team throughout the Asian Cup group
stage. In terms of performance –one win,
one draw and two losses or 4/12 making it 33/100 or an F. Arnold must take his share of the blame for
the premature departure. The send-off of
Grella was harsh. The 10 players who fought to the
bitter end of time to go down in a penalty shootout exhausted deserve full marks
for effort if not inspiration.
Bring on the new
coach and let’s begin the long climb up Everest to Asian success. Everest takes its victims and preparation and
planning are crucial for success. World
Cup qualifications have been made all that more difficult due to our failure to
perform once again in a pressure situation.
A few of the crappielackeys on Fox Sports are at again claiming the
Giant i.e. football is about to fall asleep because of the poor performances in
the Asian Cup. Ignorance abounds amongst the MMs from
the second raters who think biting is an exciting tactic. Football is a professional sport where the
top athletes of the world assemble seeking victory. News for the MMs is
that real football is about to kick off with Sydney FC having the
best squad and looking to challenge Melbourne for the
title. The World Passion begins. Fan fare, fan fare..goalllllllllll.
The Socceroos
square off against Argentina with Arnold as coach in Melbourne.
It will be difficult game but a chance for a new striking combination to
demonstrate its ability against top quality opposition. Viduka and Emerton are missing otherwise we are about as good as we
get.
Socceroos squad: Mark Bresciano
(Palermo, Italy), Vincenzo Grella
(Torino, Italy), Mark Schwarzer
(Middlesbrough, England), Nick Carle (Genclerbirligi, Turkey), Josip Skoko (Wigan, England), Michael
Beauchamp (Nurnburg, Germany), Luke Wilkshire (Twente, Holland), Josh
Kennedy (Nurnburg, Germany), Brett Holman (NEC Nijmegen, Holland), Carl Valeri (Grosseto, Italy), David Carney (Sheffield United, England),
Archie Thompson (Melbourne Victory, Australia), Jason Culina
(PSV Eindhoven, Holland), Michael Thwaite
(Wisla Krakow, Poland), Scott McDonald (Celtic,
Scotland), Clint Bolton (Sydney FC, Australia), Alex Brosque
(Sydney FC, Australia), Patrick Kisnorbo (Leicester
City, England), Simon Colosimo (Perth Glory,
Australia), Lucas Neill (West Ham, England), Dean Heffernan (Central Coast
Mariners, Australia)
Meanwhile
the ABC of Ignorance is
at it again attempting to ignore the A-League with no reporting of the upcoming
round. Wellington is easy beaten by Central Coast 3-0 and it was all over
within a 20 minutes. Of course the
ignorance continues as they avoid reporting A-league games.
Olyroos are through first rounds
of the qualifiers with a Milligan miracle goal amid the usual media blackout
with the ignorant snub of the Koreans. But then that is par for the Tele and Ausmoron.
Australia 1 (Mark Milligan 49')
DPR Korea 0
Australia team:
1. Danny Vukovic (gk), 2. Ruben Zadkovich, 3. Adrian Leijer, 4. Mark Milligan, 6.
Stuart Musialik, 7. Kristian Sarkies, 9. Mark Bridge, 15. Nick Ward (11. Bruce
Djite 64’), 19. David Williams (39. David Micevski 74’), 20. Nikolai
Topor-Stanley, 22. Billy Celeski (16. Leigh Broxham 89’)
Unused Subs 13. Trent McClenahan, 17. Aaron
Downes, 18. Tando Velaphi (gk), 27. Ersun Gulum
Yellow Cards: Leijer 74’
Red Cards: None
Referee: Hiroyoshi Takayama (Japan)
Meanwhile on Foxsports the football commentator Andy ‘Eeyore
’
Harper moans and harps on about strikers in
the A-League, yet when he was playing in a non-professional league with very
much weaker defences he couldn’t hit the side of a barn. A case of never-was and
could-never-have-been.
FC
manages a draw at Perth that is beginning to look like a team with players that
can run backwards faster than forwards.
Even my bantam
cannot run backwards that fast and can’t cock-a-doodle-do
like Eeyore!
Meanwhile
back at the ranch the debate goes on about the Australian football coach.
Hiddink
contended, “Now that Australia must qualify for World Cups through Asia they
cannot rely just on European based players who will fly sometimes in to matches
24 or 36 hours before kick off.”
“'What sort of preparation is that? How can they be at their best?”
Of course in
‘Guus We Trust’, there may be a motive for him to comment on the selection of a
new coach. After all, he does represent
The Ruskis and
unless he is expecting defeat at the hands of the England and the sack why
should he comment? It is quite obvious he is correct. We need an Australian based team with maybe
one or two players from Europe. After
all the players in the A-League are now professionals and will be able to match
with other professionals in Asia. Will
European players be able to cut
the mustard in Asia and Africa given the dismal form in the Asian
Cup? Players like Grella did not cope with the conditions. They may be fine in the cold climes of Europe
but in heat and humidity, including South Africa in summer there must be some
doubt about their ability to adjust to the more technical and tactical games
needed in oppressive heat. Asian Belly,
African
Belly, Big Belly or No Belly the European players must show they can
perform in conditions outside Europe.
Guus may be right.
Great game by
Grella against the Argies with a rampant Messi kept under control by the new
defensive lineup. In the end the Argies
were too good winning 1-0 in front of 70k on a Cool Tuesday where the class was all at
the MCG.
The Matildas
show some grit as Sermani hides in the stands to win 4-1 against Ghana. Finally when da Vanna came on and our only
ball player in the team was there some penetration of the Ghana defence. In the end a great win and well deserved.
Brosque
says he’s FC’s saviour for the game against Wellington. This is a must win situation for FC otherwise
they’ll be off the pace and make it difficult to qualify for Asia even at this
early stage. Brosque
missed his usual sitters and failed to score again!
The
Matildas are almost through as Sermani goes down to the bench. Perhaps he only leaves the bench for the
hills when the team is losing. Great
play by the Matildas and a thoroughly deserved set of results. The 1-1 with Norway showed that the Matildas
are able to continue to play at high intensity right to the whistle.
Brosque
is finally on target as FC record two wins on the trot. The Melbourne game will show whether FC can
grind out wins when it counts.
Culina bites the dust- SF did play poorly and continue to struggle. Selling Petrovski and taking Rudan out of the
central defence were critical mistakes.
The team just didn’t perform when it counted. Contrast this with Farina’s Queensland and
his uncovering of new talent and Culina just didn’t cut the mustard. It is always easier to sack the coach than
all the players! Maybe now SF can claw
its way back up the table.
Meanwhile,
the Olyroos leave their campaign in jeopardy after a 0-0 draw in Lebanon with
the usual Hey Arnold style of one striker.
The game against Iraq at Bluetongue is now a critical game with only a
win sufficing. Hey Arnold give Zullo and
Cruise a run and score a few goals!
Little Big Mouth has got FC off
to a flying start with two wins on the trot!
Now for the Melbourne test. I
looked at the players in Four
Two Four considered the greatest Australian players and note the
inclusion of Mori. Yes, Mori was a great
talent but Soper was better. Soper added
flair unrivalled in Australian Football history. And no, Eeyore didn’t make list! FC will player LA soon and the game is
reported to be a sell-out. No mercy to
LA!
Socceroos
play Nigeria and the squad is: Michael Beauchamp (Nurnberg, Germany), Tim
Cahill (Everton, England), Nick Carle (Genclerbirligi, Turkey), David Carney
(Sheffield United, England), Scott Chipperfield (Basel, Switzerland), Nathan
Coe (Copenhagen, Denmark), Brett Emerton (Blackburn, England), Adam Federici
(Reading, England), Josh Kennedy (Nurnberg, Germany), Harry Kewell (Liverpool,
England), Patrick Kisnorbo (Leicester City, England), Scott McDonald (Celtic,
Scotland), Lucas Neill (West Ham, England), Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough,
England), Mile Sterjovski (Genclerbirligi, Turkey), Michael Thwaite (Wisla
Krakow, Poland), Carl Valeri (Grosseto, Italy), James Wesolowski (Leicester City,
England), Luke Wilkshire (Twente, Netherlands). We win easily on a cold
wind swept field unlike any to be encountered in Asia.
Finally
we have a national coach Pimaroo Verbeek
and assisted by Henk Duut
with the qualifiers upon us starting in Melbourne the place of historical
failures where the crowd has only begun to understand the rudiments of real
footy. Fortunately the staid Advocat with his motor stuck in reverse gear won’t take the
reigns. Where a football field is an oval and the crowd is kept as far as
possible away from the action with a constabulary ready to attack the yellow
hoards of wogs dominating the cityscape. Qatar, China and Iraq meet the Socceroos in a home and away series beginning in February
at Telstra Dome. So begins page 19.