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Australia 3 -1 Liechtenstein

June 7th, 2006 | By: Matt | 7 Comments »

Overnight, we played a rather uninspiring game of football. After an early scare from a Lucas Neill own goal, we managed to get the lead back and restore the scoreline to a somewhat respectable 3-1 victory. We were nowhere near convincing, and the side in both halves looked tired and sloppy.
Our passes werent sharp, we were making silly errors, the defence once again posed questions, and going forward we wasted a number of chances.

Some have written the game off, saying that the players had previously spent 2 hours on a bus getting there, we didn’t play with our usual squad, and the team was focused on the Japan game. Make of it what you will, but with Japan around the corner, the game will draw its sceptics of the national side, especially after producing a game which nowhere near rivaled that of the Holland one.

Perhaps on the positive side, a few fringe players got to have a run and get some game time, as well as the fact that no one was injured. This was perhaps the biggest positive overall. Other than this, the highlight of the game was hearing the Green and Gold Army chant ‘buullllshittt’ every time the linesman put his flag up. There were no real match highlights.

During the game, I never felt confident with Kalac in goal. He just didn’t look in touch with things, for instance making saves with his feet when he should have used his hands, also there looked to be communication errors with the backline. I think Tony Popovic proved to us and Hiddink why he won’t be getting a starting spot, with a very shaky performance and numerous sloppy errors.

When Kennedy came on, I think we got our first glimpse of possibly our version of Peter Crouch, minus the robot dance. His height is obviously a big help in the box, as he demonstrated with his headed goal. I would have liked to have seen him used previously, as perhaps on another day he could have provided us with a real edge going forward, both with his height and mobility. Whipping crosses into the box to his frame could have possibly helped us out in that area. When we have seen Viduka up front on his own, he doesn’t have this height option to work with and therefore he is beaten to a number of balls. Food for thought.

Other than what I have mentioned there isn’t a great deal else. Emerton looked decent in patches, but I think with the midfield options coming back in his pace is better suited up back, also down to the fact that we are lacking in defence options particularly on the sides. Cahill and Aloisi both missed decent chances and neither looked convincing, so it will be interesting to see how that pans out.

Lets just put this result behind us, look back to the result against Holland, then look forward to the much anticipated game against Japan, and hope Hiddink can weave his magic.

Tags: Australia, Friendlies, Green and Gold Army, Liechtenstein

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Comments

By Gus | June 7th, 2006 at 4:06 pm

I agree about Josh Kennedy. He had a decent performance, and his first international goal in his first international game. He moved well and actually was the generator of a couple of good chances.

The back three did look a bit shaky, making silly mistakes. Near the end, when they switched to a line of 4 they looked a bit more solid. I also thought at times that there were too many people in the midfield when in the 3-4-3 formation, and they were getting confused.

On a different note, did anybody noticed they played the music for “God Save the Queen” during Liechtenstein’s national anthem? At first I couldn’t understand it, but then I looked it up and found out the music is the same, but the lyrics are different. You learn all interesting facts watching international football at three in the morning

Posted from Australia

By matilda | June 7th, 2006 at 9:00 pm

The overwhelming impression I got was that the players were BORED and didn’t want to be there. No heart, no soul, no concentration, no energy. Their heads are already in the Japan game next week.

At least Milligan and Kilkenny got their first caps.

Posted from Australia

By matilda | June 7th, 2006 at 9:53 pm

p.s Missed the Liechtenstein national anthem but I did notice ACDC’s Highway To Hell was blasting out in honour of the Socceroos!! Classic.

Posted from Australia

By henry | June 7th, 2006 at 11:34 pm

Amazed our many negative comments about Austraila. Leichstein actually drew with Portugal 1-1 and only lost 2-1 away. So given the small population they are decent team.

We will progress to second round for sure. Hiddick got a few less team to the Semi-Finals of the last world cup. Each one of our players are in the top of the leagues. A draw vs Japan. Small loss or draw to Brazil and beat Croatia in the last to see us progress.

Posted from Hong Kong

By troy | June 8th, 2006 at 12:00 am

gee marco when did brazil do that. according to the friendly and warm up matches with brazil, it doesnt list the game, was this magical game a year ago, two years ago. marco give it a rest. australia isnt likely to take it easy in their first world cup match in 30 years. are you nuts. if they lose to japan its becuase japan were a better side on the day. not because australia took it easy. i dont care if australia loses all there matches. its better there than not. its an experience of a life time. its should be enjoyed for what the experience is. this is the first time in 32 years we have participated. if we qualify next time again we should have an expectation. australias form is pretty good overall compared to other countries going into the world cup. Liechtenstein game was nothing more than viewed as an easy game by the roos. thay played terrible. but it wasnt a settled line up. everyone should settle down on saying australia is crap and also the people that expect australia to win all there or any of their group matches. lets just watch the first game and make a decision after win/lose/draw against japan. lets just get drunk and enjoy it and know australia will go down fighting.

Posted from Australia

By Binarybloke | June 8th, 2006 at 12:40 am

I’m actually tipping the aussies to beat Italy in the play-offs and face France in the quarters. Past world cups have shown that a fighting spirit can make a big difference, if you can score goals - and with the likes of Viduka/Kewell I think you will.

Posted from United Kingdom

By marco | June 8th, 2006 at 3:40 am

3-1 .. i finally hope that every one realises that barzil is a far superior team then australia .. seeing that they beat them 10-0 .. Australia struggled in the past 3 matches … you never know what will happen but i got a strong feekling that australia will lose to japan because they will underestimate them ..

Posted from Australia

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