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Who Do We Put In Goal?

May 27th, 2006 | By: Matt | 20 Comments »

With Kalac having played against Greece on Thursday, as opposed to Schwarzer who has been Australia’s number one goalkeeper since Moses played football, it will be interesting to see who Hiddink puts in goal for the World Cup. While both play for European clubs, one thing that Kalac has over Schwarzer is his height. Whether this has played some part in Hiddinks decision I’m not sure, but personally I would like to see Schwarzer with the gloves. I guess now is as good a time as ever to give Kalac a run and see how he is, but against Greece the other night he didn’t look overly confident and he made a few minor errors. Like the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it.
That’s what I think anyway.

Tags: Australia, Goalkeepers

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Comments

By marco | May 27th, 2006 at 2:51 am

Kalac is so bad .. yea hes tal but an unco … and although he playes in eurpoe he sits on the bench ….

Posted from Australia

By nick | May 27th, 2006 at 5:23 am

no way marco. Kalac should be first choice keeper as schwarzer lacks severley when it comes 2 making the right decisions about when to come or not for crosses. Ive seen him conceed so many goals for his club team based on this weakness despite the fact he is a fantastic ’shot-stopper’. Thus, i think Kalac is the best option

Posted from Australia

By nick | May 27th, 2006 at 5:23 am

Posted from Australia

By Milan | May 27th, 2006 at 5:52 am

Kalac should be in the goals for Australia. Yes he wasnt in the best of form against Greece but that was certaintly down to nerves which i think he overcame during the final period of the match. As nick said Swchwazer does tend to make alot of mistakes in goals for his club which is opposite to Kalac whos form has been so good, football experts believe he should replace Brazils Dida for AC Milan’s 1 keeper position. When Kalac is in form he is one of the best keepers in the world.

Posted from Australia

By dave | May 27th, 2006 at 6:33 am

kalac looked unconvincing in everything he did against greece. its simple … if schwarzer is fit, schwarzer plays.

Posted from Australia

By Tomislav | May 27th, 2006 at 7:58 am

Matt

If it ain’t broke, than don’t fix it.

No body is saying much about Swchwazer face injury. We don’t really know how much this has to do with the decision

Posted from Australia

By Martin | May 27th, 2006 at 9:04 am

I think Schwarzer should be given the gloves for the first game and if he makes some errors, then Kalac.

By Matt | May 27th, 2006 at 10:16 am

Tomislav thanks for that one

Ive still got beer in me from last night

Posted from Australia

By marco | May 27th, 2006 at 11:09 pm

well fottball expers talk crap .. because Milan Want Buffon (and plus kalac was the 3rd GK for milan until the No. 2 GK left) … any wany no matter what happens you can never put some one on when they never play .. look at cassano .. ws meant to be the next huge thing, then stuffed him self up, has not really played in the past 12 months and is now not even going 2 the world cup

Posted from Australia

By Stelios | May 28th, 2006 at 5:42 am

Relax people, Schwartzer will start for Australia guaranteed. They just played Kalac so as not to risk injuries. It was a friendly not a qualifier. Schwartzer has the experience and has earned his spot from the penalty shhotout performance!

Posted from Australia

By Tomislav | May 28th, 2006 at 5:48 am

I said this before on another page but ill throw it in again.

Kalac will play first against Japan with Schwartzer in goals against Brazil and Croatia. This is what I think will happen.

Does anyone know the status of Schwartzer face injury?

Posted from Australia

By Matt | May 28th, 2006 at 5:56 am

His face has healed. It wasn’t his injury which kept him out against the Greece game. I think it was just Hiddink giving Kalac a test run.

Posted from Australia

By Tomislav | May 28th, 2006 at 6:13 am

Thanks Matt on the update.

Schwartzer didn’t perform too well when Middlesbrough lost to Sevilla. Maybe he was uncomfortable with the face mask but to me he looked a bit apprehensive. Like he might get more hurt. This is why I was wondering on the status of his face and if this had an effect of the decision not to put him in goals yet.

BTW I do this Schwartzer is playing better than Kalac.

Posted from Australia

By matilda | May 28th, 2006 at 7:27 am

ABC website 25th May – “Hiddink is reported to have been unimpressed with Schwarzer’s form at training this week…”

I don’t think Guus would test run the 1st GK because he said he doesn’t want to experiment too much with the starting 11. Kalac was picked on form… and that makes me nervous about our GK strength. Frankly, they both look rusty.

Posted from Australia

By Ossie | June 1st, 2006 at 4:18 am

Having being a goalie myself, I am surprise that Kalac is even in the squad. He is as useful as an ashtray in a motorbike.

Posted from Australia

By shoemoney | June 1st, 2006 at 1:04 pm

shoemoney

nice shoemoney site at shoemoney http://www.imyourhuckleberry.info/ 8

Posted from Austria

By Bigone | June 1st, 2006 at 8:31 pm

Ossie,

Just because you’re a has-been, washed-up, two-bit goalie doesnt give you the wright to bag out players like Kalac.

Mate, Kalac plays for AC Milan, and big clubs like that know a whole lot more about goalie’s than you do.

Both Schwartzer & Kalac are top line keepers, well will do well with either of them between the sticks.

Croatia wish they had keepers of the calibre of our two. They are stuggling to find one that hasn’t got two left hands!

Posted from Australia

By Ritz | June 1st, 2006 at 10:17 pm

I’m surprised Kalac has been written off this way. Which areas of his game are you guys worried about?

I don’t see many weaknesses.

Posted from New Zealand

By Martin | June 2nd, 2006 at 8:43 am

I think people are just worried about his apparent lack of match practice. But as Bigone says, he is playing for undoubtedly one of the biggest clubs in the world, and although he didn’t play a lot of Serie A games, he played most cup matches (I still think he is as good as Dida). Also, he would have been keeping his sharpness in training. This is why Guus is giving him a chance now, to evaluate just where his is in relation to Schwarzer.

I think we have two of the best keepers in the World. Imagine if the idiot Bosnic kept himself together, our keeper lineup would be awsome. Would’ve been interesting to see who got the nod then?

Posted from United States

By Ossie | June 2nd, 2006 at 8:55 am

Dear Bigone, do you think that the fact you have croatian blood makes you think Kalac is a keeper. He is only a back up keeper at AC Milan. Washed up or not at least I was there.

Posted from Australia

By Googla | June 24th, 2006 at 2:16 am

This thread makes for interesting reading after the Aust-Croatia game.

Ritz from NZ will definitely go through a change of mind!

From what I saw in that game he has “hard hands”. His stiffness is what let in that bad goal. I remember the thump I heard when he caught a ball later in the match. But then again, maybe it was tension? Still, his options with crosses seemed good, even if his executin was lacking.

But then again, Schwartzer struggles with crosses, shown by the goal let in against Japan, where he moved too late which let the Japanese forwards impede him.

Then there was the header he did against Brazil – straight to an opposing forward just outside the box!

We are vulerable either way – with Schwartzer’s poor options but great reflexes and hands vs Kalac’s good options but unreliable hands.

Posted from Australia

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