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Update

Ever wondered why so many Australian footballers (Socceroos, Olyroos, Matildas) play overseas?

Melbourne really isn’t ready for international football. The poor performance of Melbourne against Newcastle in an at home must win game indicated two key points; Merrick’s tactical prowess is below par- taking off Patafta and playing him on the left in midfield and thereby allowing Denni to run riot in midfield picking up the loose ball. Patafta’s speed and mobility was really the only player available to Merrick that could match the speed and distribution of Denni. Lucky for Melbourne he was subbed for fresh legs mid second half or the final result may have been even more embarrassing. And of course the lack of media support where the game was buried in the fine print in the MMs.

Getting through the group will be difficult.

AFC Champions League draw

West Asia

Group A: Sepahan (Iran), Kuruvchi (Uzbekistan), Al Ittihad (Saudi Arabia), Al Ittihad (Syria)

Group B: Al Wasl (UAE), Saipa (Iran), Kuwait FC (Kuwait), Al Quwa Al Jawiya (Iraq)

Group C: Al Sadd (Qatar), Al Wahda (UAE), Al Karama (Syria), Al Ahli (Saudi Arabia)

Group D: Pakhtakor (Uzbekistan), Al Gharafa (Qatar), Arbil (Iraq), Al Qadsiya (Kuwait)

East Asia

Group E: Changchun Yatai (China), Adelaide United (Australia), Pohang Steelers (Korea Republic), Binh Duong (Vietnam)

Group F: Krung Thai Bank (Thailand), Beijing Guoan (China), Nam Dinh (Vietnam), Kashima Antlers (Japan)

Group G: Melbourne Victory (Australia), Chonburi FC (Thailand), Gamba Osaka (Japan), Chunnam Dragons (Korea Republic)

Sydney FC are into the Top Four after a 5-4 win over Central Coast and the absence of Milligan and loss of Rudan was clear for all to see. Popovich’s defending was below par as he struggled in the new back line and Brosque again missed from right in front at critical times during the game. This idea that 5-4 is an entertaining scoreline fails to understand that poor defence is not entertaining only nerve-racking. The game even got a mention on the government’s unaccountable broadcaster the ABC of Ignorance where they said how exciting and the Final Series should be if the games continue like that. How uneducated are the nepotistic morons on the ABC of Ignorance? Give me strong defence and a 2-0 win any day. Football is about winning and preferably easily. The problem of course is that the world has literally 100 000s of football teams vying for the World Club Championship. This means they will all meet a better team sooner or later (n-1).

Perth’s dismal performance both on and off the field show that the time has come the Walrus said to introduce relegation and promotion. Northern Queensland teams are itching to get into the competition and get some world profile for their areas. The dismal crowd support and poor football of Perth which is well below the standard of the rest of the competition make them the most likely for the flick. Wellington despite the poor results to be expected by a small island near the Antarctica has at least some ticker. A vibrant competitive team with community support is meant to be a prerequisite for entry. If there is a team ready with community support and the requisite dollars then let them in. However, too many teams make it harder for fans to know all the players and watch their progress as professional footballs as well as diluting the talent pool. In the days of Eeyore there were too many teams in the competition and with weaker part-time defences he still couldn’t hit the side of barn! So when he goes on about this miss or that miss coupled with his selective memory and delusions of grandeur about his own prowess make his negative comments on Fox laughable.

With the last round of the finals upon us and Newcastle with a must win well game Coach Egghead leaves out Denny! Looks like the Jets will be playing in the knockout phase despite their 2-1 win over a depleted Perth. Another good crowd over 16 000 on a wet weekend and this is another in a long string of games ignored by the ABC’s Unaccountable Ignoramuses from Planet Dunny.

Who will make the Asian Cup for winning the championship is now still open with Newcastle guaranteed bottom spot if all top three teams win on goal difference. They eventually make 2^nd place with failures to win by Sydney and Brisbane.

Central Coast tops the league and is into the Asian League next year after a gritty performance. FC fails at the last hurdle going down 2-2 to Melbourne with Little Big Mouth playing a 4-5-1 again after the failure of the system to yield a victory in Brisbane last week. Brosque is isolated and a lone ranger in FC’s attack and FC suffered the sucker punch at the back as they were forced to stream forward leaving two at the back. Much better to play a 4-4-2, score two and not concede. Santalab came on too late as a substitute and the lack of fire power continues to plague the team. Questions are now raised as to where the Grand Final will be held. Surely the FFA will stick to the agreement that league leaders play the GF at home. This is what the Premier’s Plate is all about. A packed 25k or 20k at either venue of passionate local fans will be much better than a bigger stadium of neutrals. Stretch of course is right. Why should Newcastle or Central Coast be disadvantaged by playing away from home with an Asian League spot up for grabs? Will the FFA repeat the disaster of many a year ago when the generally acknowledged nepotistic administration of the time forced the Wolves to play Marconi (Sydney Team) in Sydney despite being top of the league in front of a paltry band Marconi supporters instead of a packed Gong Stadium? Needless to say Marconi won but hardly a fair victory on any objective scale.

The Vulture has a case of foot-in-the-mouth as he states the obvious that Australian professional footballers in Europe are better players than those in the A-league. The ABC of Ignorance makes gloating reference to this view on its news. What the Vulture misses is that jet lagged players with less than 48 hours to recover are unlikely to be at their snappy best. Even birds of prey find hovering in the sky for 48 hours tiring. Our Socceroo big guns will wilt and lose concentration as the game progresses and will be vulnerable to an early goal because they are mere mortals. It would require a chartered plane with all the sporting facilities to prepare the players for the game. Even so, they performed below par in the Asian Cup with plenty of lead time albeit with Hey Arnold as coach and Melbourne this time of year can have sweltering conditions more likely to suit A-league and Qatari players. We need to win big and of course the Big Guns will give their all for the cause. Jetlag however works not on the conscious level as the mind may be willing but the flesh not. We all hope that the Vulture uses his instinct to devour the prey so we go immediately to the top of the table.

The overseas player can always wear tights

WEARING tights on long-haul flights relieves ankle swelling and helps ward off post-flight fatigue, a study of pilots and passengers has found.

Australian researchers tested the benefits of full-length nylon and spandex hosiery on the ankle swelling suffered by 90 per cent of long-distance air travellers.

The uncomfortable condition, called ankle oedema, is caused by a build-up of fluid.

Lower-leg socks are known to relieve the problem, but the exercise physiologist Stephen Lambert wanted to see whether the graduated compression tights used to assist athletes recover from strenuous competition could also help air-travellers.

It’s official the ABC of Ignorance do not consider football newsworthy. A quote from its corporate affairs regarding an inquiry from a viewer about the lack of reporting of results from the A-League “There was a match the previous night between Perth and Central Coast but we did not consider this to be newsworthy enough for inclusion.”

And watched their news which demonstrated the crappie packielackeys don’t have an original idea in their head. Crappielackey drummers! Wow now that’s original! Complete silence about the Socceroos.

Let’s hope it’s not Dim ‘d’ Geek after managing only a 1-1 draw to a depleted Melbourne Victory with the Socceroos squad players only saved from embarrassment by an Archie. So where’s the evidence of the team’s improvement? Let’s hope Dim’s not a sucker and we get hit in the first few minutes because of a jet-lagged team. With his mouth full of splinters he needs to come up with a good win.

Socceroos in front of a full house at the Melbourne Dome beat Qatar 3-0 in an impressive performance and so it’s Pim the Great. Good goals by Kennedy, Cahill and Bresciano. Carney now has established himself as a regular after being in the A-League last year. His defensive duties were excellent and he resisted his natural urge of pushing forward. His passing was beautiful through midfield and into the wings.

Group 1
	Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
	Australia	1	1	0	0	3	0	3
	China PR	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
	Iraq	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
	Qatar	1	0	0	1	0	3	0

Next comes the game in the back hills of China at about 2 000m. Can tired legs in the second half withstand an onslaught if we don’t score early?

FC were beaten by the Roar and were their own enemies shooting themselves in the foot when Middleby took out Criuse going down to 10 men. Shields then gave Roar a soft penalty decision and that is the season for FC.

Meanwhile a Toff’sToss is attacking a defenceless inebriated team mates on a night out breaking his jaw as he sat stunned at a bar in a bum chum bonding exercise. Seems brain damage a plenty in the game they play in heaven where no one watches. The ABC of Ignorance goes on about the massive amounts spent by Indians on cricketers with the total amount for all their teams hardly enough to pay the wages of any major footballer. Small minds in small world.

FC’s demise in Hawaii 3-0 is a sad end to a team that started promising but lost its verve at the vital moment. Newcastle and CC play in the finals and are into Asia. Only FC have nothing left to play for in the long autumn and winter break. Will Little Big Mouth build a rejuvenated team? Will Pim the Great fashion a win against a determined China in altitude? And what silly nonsense are the crappeylackies tiddleywimps up to now that their season has begun?

Newcastle wins the Grand Final in front of a decent crowd of over 36k at the SFS with replays of the game played in distant parts of Asia and Europe. Viewing audiences are now in the many millions with a potential of billions in the future. The great blue sky is the potential for the A-league which may not be the technical standard of the best European clubs but it is far more exciting. Still in the Bluetongue the Mariners would probably have won and taken advantage of their Premiership position. FC with an under strength side almost won over Galaxy in Hawaii and probably should have won except for atrocious refereeing where any challenge in the air by the dominant FC attack was pulled up. The old local refereeing rules won the game not football. Next comes the Asian Champions Cup with Melbourne and Adelaide matching it with the region’s best.

Meanwhile El-Pinkoes at the Ignorance had interviews with the ‘public’ about Australia’s bid to host the World Cup. Naturally only ethnic accents were heard except for a broad ‘aussie’ who said he was not interest in ‘soccer’ but the event as sport. Seems the Pinkoe-Stinkoes have never been to a game in the A-league which is dominated by the broad long vowelled accents of the public. So that is Toodai.

Melbourne look like they will struggle in Asia both on the park and financially.

“MELBOURNE Victory will need attendances close to 30,000 a game to break even on their first venture into Asia.

Victory embarks on their Asian Champions League mission on Wednesday with a game against South Korea's Chunnam Dragons at Telstra Dome.

Advance ticket sales are about 14,000 and substantially less for the other group home games against Japan's Gamba Osaka and Thailand's Chonburi, leaving the club well short of their target figures. “

Will Melbourne Victory be able to make the transition into international competitiveness? Or will they be abandoned as they enter firmly as underdogs against Asian clubs honed and practiced in professional football in Asia where climes of extreme dominate the most important region of the globe with half the world’s population that accounts for 37 per cent of world purchasing power parity? Remember that melboring and its Mining Club is one dominated by Tiddleywimps. Will the Melbourne public get behind a team playing in a truly global game or sit watching tiddleywimps in an oval arena? Time will tell. The struggle continues. Then there is incy wincy Adeliade who have been there before but without success as rank outsiders for the Asian trophy.

Pim the Great leaves the door ajar for A-League players as the Socceroos take on Singapore without their overseas players.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Australia coach Pim Verbeek plans to field a team mostly of domestic A-League players for an international friendly in Singapore four days ahead of the Socceroos next World Cup qualifying match against China.

Verbeek announced the March 22 friendly at Singapore's National Stadium on Friday, saying it would give the A-League players a solid chance to press for selection against China.

The Socceroos escape with a 0-0 draw in China playing a conservative defensive game. The game could have easily been lost after a last minute penalty was awarded to the Chinese. A trailing leg by Schwarzer was all that stood between relief and disaster. Pim the Great again relied on the experience of the Socceroos to pull through at altitude. Meanwhile Cahill is injured and out for the qualifiers opening the position to new talent. Pim the Great needs to get off his high-horse and give Joel Griffiths a run because the team needs penetration.

The disappointing thing was that Australia’s international channel in Asia did not even show the match or even make mention of the score preferring to show crappielackie and tiddleywimps. There were highlights on all Asian stations with full reports yet the ‘Australian’ station couldn’t manage even a cursory report. A survey of the rating of the channel in the local newspaper revealed Australian sport (translates as tiddleywimps and crappiepackielackey) rated a 0.0 in viewing audience. So one has to ask why they bother to fill scarce TV space when the audience is so low it cannot be measured?

El Pinko Stinkoes at the ABC of Ignorance are at it again in a program called Offsiders (not that they would know what offside is) which is supposed to deal with the important sports stories of the week. No mention of Australia’s World Cup bid, so don’t expect support from the government media outlet nor any mention of Osaka’s game against Victory in Melbourne on Wednesday. Can’t mention the ‘nips’ being here. So what was the program devoted to? Drivel.

Melbourne gets done in by Osaka 4-3 in an exciting game but it is Adelaide that looks like progressing out of the group. Not having Djite in the side did make Adelaide look like a side that will struggle to score and tactically they looked like a side struggling in a relegation battle rather than a team vying for honours that turned up an important morale boosting win.

Below the break-even mark for crowds and Melbourne are bleeding in more ways than one. A nice try, but naïve at home so what hope have they away. I suppose that is the way with international competition- all teams vie to be champions (something El-Stinker has no idea about).

The Socceroo qualifier against Iraq should prove to be the decisive thriller as it is a potential stumbling block and could send the Socceroos out of the group. Brisbane finally gets to see the team of champions like no other team ever produced in Australia in any sport, where competition is truly international. But are the Bribanites informed as they have just emerged recently from the dark ages of isolation and quasi-nazi rule of an invasive government regime? Will they be informed about the game or will the MMs attempt to blackout the coverage? After nearly losing to China in China this game against Iraq should be approached with great caution, something at which Pim The Great appears an expert. His stints with Korea were goalless risk aversion exercises that ultimately lead to failure in the lottery of the penalty shootout in the Asian Cup. I suppose Pim surmised that a 50-50 chance was the best odds his team was capable of achieving. And as with two-up one eventually loses especially if the coin is weighted to a superior side. Pin the tail on the donkey and include Joel Griffiths in the Socceroo squad. Pim’s failure to include Joel proved a flaw in his selection policy when all our strikers were injured and unavailable. Naturally no one can predict these events but in the Mystery of the Universe a sign is sent to Pim- include Joel for he is the stuff of a champion albeit unexperienced with foot-and-mouth. His call for the Duke is admirable but face facts the Duke may be an expert lone ranger but we need lots of goals. Australians are vocal and not timid ‘yes men’ the Pin The Greats seems to demand. Joel is an ambitions motivated player capable of climbing the heights of the international game. A win is needed and not a 4-3 kamikaze mission like in the Melbourne game. Merrick motivated the team into an all out attack but they seemed to lack defensive know-how.

Meanwhile Antlers also look impressive.

The true ANZAC tradition in the battle of the Pacific nations happened this week despite the media blackout and snub of our neighbours; Australia, Vietnam and Japan. Endo Melbourne, Yas u were hito twice in the guto as Yamazaki took hot boots to a buttery defence. A jaded Melbourne looked second best as it was the turn of the zippy Yamazaki to out manoeuvre and out think a Victory team that will struggle in next season’s A-League. A 2-0 cake walk by Osaka- very disappointing. Merrick was unable to see it and claimed his team ‘matched it in the midfield but lacked the finishing power of Osaka’. No way Jose!

But at least Adelaide is still in it with a 4-1 victory and waving the Australian flag in the Asian Champions Cup.

Hasbeen at the Ignorance chokes on his gollie as the Diego scores to send Adelaide to the top of the group with one game to play. The Ignorance continues its blackout of the Asian Champions League with its typical moronic unaccountable attitudes of a bureaucracy out of control. Diego get a yellow and is suspended for the big game in China. Pohang Steelers are outclassed, and outplayed relying on a crowded midfield game with their young and upcoming stars that sometimes can result in a scratchy win. Hooray for Adelaide as they maintain concentration to progress to the Knockout and are top of the group needing only a draw to progress. Meanwhile Melbourne struggle in Korea.

Can Adelaide do it? Will they be able to win with a depleted side in China?

The Tiddleywimp brigade are out claiming to be the oldest game in Australia. Well no! Football was played since settlement and round balls were kicked between and under posts throughout the land. True there was no official competition under an umbrella organisation at that time but the situation is similar as happens in many poor nations today. Kids are out in the streets playing football (not tiddleywimps) without any formal competition structure. So all the bull at the Ignorance is just that bull. And as far as indigenous goes? Well blah blah blah. It’s a modified Irish game not Australian- what morons!

Victory manage some verve as Archie comes on with instant penetration of the Chonburi defence in a dead rubber. Merrick’s team still doesn’t look the quality of FC and is likely to finish outside the top four again next season. The one-dimensional play is easily broken down. Keep Archie under control and the team lacks penetration. A creditable second-place but Melbourne were not nearly good enough to progress to the next phase of the competition.

	Team	Overall							Home						Away
			GP	W	D	L	GS	GA		W	D	L	GS	GA		W	D	L	GS	GA	GD	P
1.		Gamba Osaka (JPN)	6	4	2	0	14	8		1	2	0	4	2		3	0	0	10	6	+6	14
2.		Melbourne Victory (AUS)	6	2	1	3	10	11		2	0	1	8	5		0	1	2	2	6	-1	7
3.		Chunnam Dragons (KOR)	6	1	3	2	8	10		1	1	1	5	5		0	2	1	3	5	-2	6
4.		Chonburi FC (THA)	6	1	2	3	7	10		1	1	1	5	5		0	1	2	2	5	-3	5
Last played match: 21-05-2008

With the new structure of the Asian Champions League as exclusively professional and with the surprise inclusion of India it will be interesting to see the growth of an Asian football powerhouse. Mumbai FC are unlikely to be as competitive Chonburi who have been frozen out of the competition. Quite unfair on these teams who do not meet the criteria and they should be given the opportunity of qualifying via a playoff to give them a chance at the top level. The Uzbeks who play very attractive football are also left out in the cold.

Do the ABC of Ignorance at the Offsiders have peanuts for brains? Mr Nepotism himself now claims England is holding the World Cup. Now that’s checking facts. Not to mention there was no mention of the Ghana Game with bigger crowds attending than their idiotic crappielackey. Do they problem with African? Is it simple nepotism out of control in a cosy inbred media or just ignorance?

Meanwhile the Socceroos beat Ghana 1-0 in a friendly and the defence of A-League players or former A-League players held their own against a Ghanaian midfield running rampant through the second-half. And yes, Adelaide progress through to the Knockout Phase of the Asian Champions League. So football moves forward but the drivel from the ABC of Ignorance continues.

Australia wins 1-0 against Iraq in Brissy in front of a full house despite the usual attack by Mr Nepotism and Aunty Ignorance as they continue to make their usual derogatory comments against football. Backslapping and mercurochrome as they kiss the bowl of the Tiddleywimp typifies this out of control Kafkaesque.

The game itself was very close and Iraq must be credited with a determined approach showing some excellent midfield play, a lot of science and dash. Fortunately from Australia’s point of view the defence was too strong and Kewell scored a sucker punch immediately at the beginning of the second half. Many spectators had barely time to resume their seats when the ball flew off Kewell’s head into the right hand corner with power and panache. The quality of Kewell was there for to see. That really got the Iraqis going who pushed the midfield into the Socceroo Third but were unable to penetrate a solid defence. Culina in midfield and Carney streaking up the left stopped a too adventurous forward attack by the Iraqis who showed why they are Asian Champions. It was not a polished performance by the Socceroos but one that was solid and effective. The team cannot be expected to peak every game. Football is about grinding out results, and Pim the Great appears to have not only a bit of luck but has a team that can win when it needs a result. In the Gulf all may be different in the heat and the calls from the speakers to prayer but the result appears to be just about enough to ensure the entry into the next phase of qualification.

Group 1
	Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
	Australia	3	2	1	0	4	0	7
	Qatar	3	1	1	1	2	3	4
	China PR	3	0	3	0	1	1	3
	Iraq	3	0	1	2	1	4	1

An opportunity lost and now the Socceroos are under the pump after going down 1-0 to Iraq in the return leg under the hot Arab sky. Despite repeated attacks and a clear penalty not given by a blind as a dingbat referee there was little to no penetration by the Socceroos and once Kewell was off the field our attack lost all structure. Not having Bresciano in the midfield made a big difference and we never looked like scoring. The defence was solid and has only conceded one goal in five outings. Iraq was desperate for the win and it was tenacity and determination that ruled the day. There are no easy games in football and the Socceroos underestimated the reigning Asian champions allowing a shot from 30 metres with no pressure applied to the player from midfield. And it duly sailed in the gap between the outstretched fingers of a retreating Schwarzer hitting the underside of the cross bar to land in the back of the net. The Socceroos must now win at least one of the remaining two games. Jade North and Kewell were the outstanding performers in the team which lacked creative flare in the midfield. As far as the refereeing goes it was poor to abysmal. Fortunately qualification for the next round does not rest entirely upon his poor judgement and we still have two games to play.

Group 1
	Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
	Australia	4	2	1	1	4	1	7
	Qatar	4	2	1	1	3	3	7
	Iraq	4	1	1	2	2	4	4
	China PR	4	0	3	1	1	2	3

From the table it can be seen that if Qatar beat Australia they will be 10 points and if Iraq beats China and Qatar they will be 10 points. This means Australia really must get the points against Qatar to be certain of getting to the next round of qualifiers. Otherwise it may come down to a must win against China and having ridden our luck before it may result in elimination. The odds are with the Socceroos, but only just.

The Socceroos cruise into the next round in style with a thoroughly professional win over Qatar after a nervy start to the game. Pim the Great has completed Part One of the mission with the masterstroke of playing Emerton as an attacking midfielder. This payed off handsomely with two goals as Kewell dummied the Qatar defence in a repeat leaving Fossati pondering his time in the sun with Uruguay. The game finished 3-1 and Pim can now experiment a bit with players for the China game.

Difficult to make out what was achieved in the China game. Australia go down 1-0.

Standings

		Team	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1		Australia	6	3	1	2	7	3	10
1		Qatar	6	3	1	2	5	6	10
3		Iraq	6	2	1	3	4	6	7
4		China PR	6	1	3	2	3	4	6

· More »

Statistics

MP	GF	GA	Y	R
6	7	3	12	0

• More »

Unbelievable! Dopey left out both Burns and Djite and picked an ultra-defensive squad. No Zullo either! So it looks like the dour bumbling Dopey with the old one-at-the -front trick which dates back to the telephone boxes of the Thomson era. How can they beat Serbia with a one one-man band called Archie playing the accordion, drums and spoons? We need more up front and need options for critical situations. The Olyroos are professional players not the amateur squads of days gone past and we will need at least one if not two wins to get through the group. Serbia must be beaten and then we must do better than the Ivory Coast because the Argies will be hard to beat.

Talk about street cunning! La Dopey loses every game in the warm ups, is goalless and remains coach of the Olyroos! His trickery, tactical nous and enlightened selection policy reaps zilch. He has ‘em all fooled and is ready to strike the unaware. The next game is Serbia with a win vital to our chances of going into the next phase. Let’s hope it’s a case of regression to mean and we get a win. Good luck to the Olyroos. China should suit us better than the Serbs so we are chance despite the coach.

Meanwhile back at crappielackey the players are pissing (yes a kosher biblical term) on people in public and complaining players are going overseas for more money playing toff’s toss. Well I’ll be blowed! Flies bloody everywhere. Smell a dead rat I do.

The Olyroos played very well against Serbia in a game that they needed to win and must not lose. They hung on at 1-1 with former FC Zadkovich scoring from a Carney cross. But Hey Arnold, why was Milligan taken off? The minute Milligan was off all sorts of holes developed in the central defence and the eventual goal from the Serbs was a free header off a corner at the near post- a Milligan defensive strength. Anyway it was well played by the Olyroos who live to fight another day. Great games by North, Spiranovic and Topor- Stanley with the defence ruling the day. Celeski came on in place of Milligan and nearly scored which could have been a master stroke by Arnold. However not quite and the substitution nearly cost the game with the Serb surging through the middle of the park.

As far Stretch goes writing in the Sydney Morning Herald about the ‘Dutch Mafia’ he has missed the point as usual. In football it is how good you are that counts, not where you come from. Football is a world game and the most competitive game there is. This includes competition for coaching positions. Hey Arnold is not in danger of losing his position because he is Australian but because he is not a top-notch coach. He is a competent coach but a coach unlikely to make the correct decisions under pressure. Guus wanted him for motivational not tactical reasons. Stretch appears to be a little naïve. No one doubts the heart of Arnold. He is an Aussie through and through and has great passion for Australian football. Stretch gets the Third-Rate Commentator award for his silly comments and Aussie cringe.

“The truth is, the FFA doesn't want an Australian in charge of the national team, at least for the foreseeable future, which is why the "Pommy mafia" that previously dominated the coaching hierarchy has been replaced by the "Dutch mafia" that now sucks around $4million out of the coffers each year. Football in Australia is a lucrative proposition for coaches other than those with an Australian passport.”

Poor fellow!

El Weirdoes at the ABC of Ignorance have decided to change the name of the Olympic Football Tournament to ‘Olympic Soccer”. It appears to be official policy by the government monopoly to change the name of Olympic tournaments. The stench from their offices is clear. This is just another example of how the out of control unaccountable bureaucracy dominated by nepotism and ignorance of sport operates. One has to agree with Gerard Henderson writing in the Sydney Morning Herald that the ABC complaints department rejects 96 per cent of complaints compared to the free enterprise Australian Press Council of 53 per cent.

Olyroos draw 1-1 with the Serbs and back-peddled throughout the game.

Olyroos go down 1-0 in front of a packed house. Argentina played magnificent controlled football and the Olyroos held them out for a long time. Great game by Zadkovich who held up under constant left sided pressure by the Argentina. The team missed the strength of Djite upfront and Arnold’s selection mistake stood out like a sore thumb with just one goal from two games. So we still have a chance to progress through the group stage if we can beat the Ivory Coast on Wednesday. Although it will depend on how Serbia goes now. If they beat the Ivory Coast and draw with the Argies we are cactus. The Serbs are crunched by the Ivory Coast 4-2 so looks ominous for the Olyroos needing a win.

0-1 to the Cote d'Ivoire, Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou grabbing the winner.

Hey Arnold! Was it not the consensus of opinion that we needed Djite and Burns? The difference between you and Pim is that Pim recognises talent. However, not is all lost. Talent was discovered- Spiranovich and Federici , there was the consolidation of North and Carney but Milligan’s stress levels was his undoing and resulted in below par performances.

Now at last the A-League starts and the World Cup Qualifiers are just around the corner. Why we play our most crucial game against Japan in Melbourne is beyond me. Sydney packs them out and Melbourne hasn’t a clue about football. They are a fair weather supporters and Melbourne’s membership has halved. FC will destroy the wanawin Victory.