Australia 3-1 Japan

look forward to the day i can tell my grandkids i witnessed aussie football history

Brilliant. Absoltely brilliant. was in federation square (melb).

very very very proud to be australian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

give me a break. we won because we played ok in the last few minutes, we did not dominate the game. It was played like a bunch of school kids playing their methodical plays. Up the aussies for the win but be realistic too.

Football history made twice. First ever World Cup goal and first ever victory. A very special day for Australian football.

Patti, the statistics say it all.

shots on target : 9 – 2
shots off target : 10 – 5
possession : 56 – 44
corner kicks : 5 – 3

Absolutely historical! Congratulations!

Now ask your players to play more in the spirit of ‘fair play’, will ya? Violence is never beautiful to see. Great result and the goals were very nice too.

violence…?
did I miss something in the game?

What a bunch of lumberjacks! This team really is a lot of somewhat skilled strikers (but mostly just strong) coupled with a midfield and
defence of lumberjacks. They were hacking away at every single japanese leg. If they got more than three games, there’s no doubt
these guys would get the most cards during the world cup. This is all you don’t want to see in such a feast. Forgive me my australian
friends, but i can’t wait to see the back of you. Well done, but Hiddink though. He took the gambles he needed and they payed off.
But i wonder whether it would have worked against a tougher team. I reckon the difference would have just grown.

Viva Aussies ..the land of OZ produced real magic for me i have been biting my nails and jumping of joy in the final 10 minutes …i am italian in NYC routing for italy of course but i love Australia(ns)… so much i believed so much in the team that i’ve put my money on them ..won 500 today and expect to win much more on sunday because yes!!! what i’ve been saying for a while is even more possible now Australia is bound to give Brasil serious headache …and please let’s not start with violence crap again!!

Euler, Cheers for the congrats.

Mate, we play fair just hard. Thier is a difference, sometimes a slight difference. On the odd occasion, one player might overstep this, but this is no difference to say Italy or England or most of the African nations and also Uruguay.

Fair but hard.

Be interested to read your blog this week.

Good luck against Croatia and get a good victory.

Why Hiddink does not start with Cahill? I believe Australia only become better against Japan after the guy went in. Last but not least: in my opinion, to have a chance against Brazil, the Socceroos need to play very, very well defensively, making a lot of fouls _not violent fouls_ to make the game slower, than try to score with Viduka or simebody else after a cross (the Brazilian defenders are hot very good, specially when the ball is thrown into the area).

Go Socceroos!!! Great game.

It gave me hope that the US would come back in the end to tie or beat the Czechs, but alas that was not to be.

Take it to Brasil next!!!

Watched the game here in Vancouver at a local bar (run by an Aussie and opened for us)with a bunch of other Aussies that play footy for the Vancouver Cougars Aussie Rules team. It’s fair to say we were going balistic when goals 1-2 and then 3 went in. Unlucky not to have been up themselves in the first half, I thouight the result justified the never say never attitude of the Aussies. How good is the Brazil game going to be !!!!

Go australiaaa!! brilliant game..!!.. Vidukaaa!!!

@ all aussie fans,

CONGRETS MY FRIENDS,

nice second half, nice goals, good to watch,

dont think the aussies are bone breakers thouh they play hard its not like they look to injure a player from the other team

i think the main gain for the aussie team (ex. for the points ofcourse) will be selfbelieve!!

Hope you guys go a long way and keep playing with your hart (but not against Holland ofcourse)

greetz

Congratulations to the Socceroos. Well done – better – truly fantastic result and well deserved. I know what my heart looks like. Beating madly it jumped out of my mouth; I gave it a kiss and told it to go back before my body missed it.

Ricardo:

Two Words:

Ray Baartz.

If we play hard it is because we were taught we had to.

martin, i hope you read this…. that was the best moment for australian football and for a lot of us football lovers supporting the socceroos… I had my heart in my mouth when Cahill sent in the first. I did indeed feel that though we were playing better than the nipponese, we were certainly not making concerted efforts to score. all those crosses sent in with Kennedy in mind, did not bear fruit did they…? and why did Cahill and Aloisi not start instead of being brought on at half-time…? and with 20 mins to go…? Kewell was looking half-fit, and tired. Viduka was alright but, still lacked that killer instinct. all the same, that ws a nice win, and 3 points in the bag, that we needed extremely too much, to get through. All we need is a draw against brazil. and i’m sticking my neck out and saying the impossible will happen… speaking the unspeakable… we might even consider BEATING Brazil…. come on mates, why not hitch our bandwagon to the stars and ride our luck…!!! i.m waiting for the match. well done hiddink, well done boys, let’s retain the aussie never – say – die spirit as we did in this game… and get BRAZIL…!!we have nothing to lose being underdogs. And reputation does not win a game, so lets get them next..!!

Hiya Goose:

Gotta love that Netherlands side

Hooray for Australia! A great win for for one of the friendliest countries in the world (true to the theme of this world cup). Rock on Socceroos!

trapper:
I have to concede i don’t really know who Ray Baartz. But from what you’re saying maybe that’s a good thing.

@Trapper, cheers my friend, youre a aussie fan??
magic moments 4 you lot… you realy showed fighting harts

@jegen, dont think so but well see how Brasil they play their first game…

greetz

WIJ HOUDEN VAN ORANJE

Africa involved into results of World Cup 2006.
According to unexpected results of the football matches, african magicians are working hard in their magic area.
See the results on http://www.voodoo4football.com
Is it possible in our modern life?

Not one to take sides but Australia played a great game considering it was there first world cup outing in over 30 years. The game was a game of chances with moments of brilliance from both Australia and Japan, both teams not captialising on chances that more experienced sides would have taken in a heart beat. Soccer is a a funny game but for those who take away any credit to the Australian soccer roos for there 3-1 win over Japan, is surely blind to the fact that at the end of 90min a win in the world cup is a win you have to play with the hand your dealt with. And any team will tell you a win is all that counts after all is said and done.

Aussie!Aussie!Aussie!Oi,Oi,Oi!!!
Here we come the one the only SOCCEROOS. All I can say is justice was done today, Japan in no way in the world
deserved to win. Australia dominated pretty much the whole game and the goal that Japan scored was a clear and deliberate foul so much so the referee even apologised for it and thanked god himself that the socceroos had won!!! The scoreline reads Australia 3 Japan 1 but it could have so easily been Australia 5 or 6 and Japan 0 with the amount of chances that the Australians created. Go the SOCCEROOS!!!! and how good was Timmy Cahill’s
celebration, the little boxer, bang bang bang and Japan got knocked out!!! Bring on Brazil

Hey guys, congrats!! What a match… Just a quick question for after the celebrations (2010 ?): did Hiddink make mistakes in his starting line up? What do you think? Emerton in center midfield? Culina left? Luke W on the right? Kewell shadowing Viduka? Were the 2nd half changes brilliance by Hoes or did he correct his earlier mistakes?? Just wondering…

First of all congrats. Great effort.

But a little more objectivity might be good.
1. both teams have been very avarage and eventually the more determined of two avarage sides won.
2. stop talking about an ‘unfair goal’, because if you want to do that you have to say that Cahill’s second goal was ‘unfair’. At that point, he’s not even supposed to be on the pitch anymore. Seconds earlier, already booked, he clearly fouled a Japanese in the Penalty Box: which is a Penalty and his second yellow card. Either you mention both ‘irregularities’ or none. Wrong decisions by the ref are part of the sport. Teams have to deal with it – Australia did, good on them!

And I’d be careful with saying ‘Bring it on Brazil’.

Congratulations! Look forward to more magic! You will make it:)

Go on Aussies, you did what the English couldn’t do – play well in the second half, and score three goals. The opposition, the Japanese were also much better then the Paraguians.

Hey Ricardo, I cant wait to see the back of you. The netherlands are the Gods of Fair Play?? Remember Frank planting one on Rudi Voller?? Remember Argen The Hacker??

Strong play but fair

I think Guss Hiddink is a legend and pretty much everyone loves him so I’m happy to put it down to his brilliance than anything else. I thought Luke Wilshire didn’t have a particularly good game but he was probably abit worried after the red card in the dutch friendly which was unfortunate. Good to see Guss has confidence in him though. I don’t think there were any real problems tactically in the first half or second really its just Australia couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net even though they had something like a 10 shots to one on goal at half time. At the end of the day the fact is Australia deserved to win at least 3-1 if not 3-0 and the referee didn’t even mention anything about Cahill’s challenge in the box whereas he apologised for the clear obstruction on Schwartzer when Japan scored and if you recogn Australia was average mate then alot of teams have been average thus far in this worldcup alot,infact if australia were average with what 20 to around 5 shots on goal then pretty much all the teams that have played thus far have been average and that is definately not the case. Its been fantastic, entertaining football in most of the games during this World Cup and I’m definately looking forward to some more fantastic clashes in the upcoming matches including Brazil vs da Socceroos on monday morning(local time 2am in sydney).Come on boyz we can do it again!!!! STUFF HISTORY!!!Go da SOCCEROOS!!!

Aussies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bring on Brazil!

hehe what a game look out World here come the Aussies

Thats the spirit! I am so proud of the Aussies. This was refreshing after watching three days of a lot of teams playing it safe and with no heart. No more of this violence crap going on. Especially after the last world cup with all of that bad diving. I would much rather see a defender making a mistake on a tackle then a forward taking a dive. C’mon Aussie!!!

What an awesome win for the roos. Not trying to ruin the party, but in all honesty both teams are average and just like someone said the more determined side won. To have a chance against brazil or croatia they will have to step it up at least 2 or 3 gears…

nice going, soccaroos. glad to see a team that can pick itself up off the ground and fight for a win. cahill looked good. sorry our team couldn’t do something similar…we got schooled today. arena will have to eat his words about the aussies, eh?

up the red rooster!

Yes, we may be tough players, but that’s because we’ve had to be! Like the South Americans, our boys have come from the tough areas, and play with real spirit. I’m not one to take much notice of radio personality Alan Jones, but I think he sums this up nicely: http://www.freedigitalcontent.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=129

LiverpoolFC: Oh, no doubt that we’ve seen many avarage teams so far. I think the only difference is that this is as good as the Aussie game is gonna get, while others (like England, Holland, Portugal might raise the bar a little in upcoming matches).
As for the Cahill’s foul. It think it’s pretty clear. Watch it again!

But that’s all beside the point. Australia won. They have 3 points and chances on going through to the next round. That’s all that will be remember in a few months anyway!

As for ‘tough playing’. I didn’t think the Australians were too tough yesterday. Australia will always have to play physicial during this WC. As long as there is no danger to the other players health, that’s ok. I reckon, the Aussies got a reputation already, mostly because of the Holland friend. There I thought it was a bit too much, simply because it was a friendly only one week ahead of the WC. One should take it a little bit easy on the challenges then!

And on a similar note, I thought the worst team so far, was everybody’s darling T&T. They’ve been very radical with the Swedes at some points. The Aussies were labs compared to T&T.

Now it’s Brazil. We will see how that goes…

Well we came away with a win, and we played well.
It’s all good.

Australia 1 Brazil 0

for all those whingers who say australia is a rough team, thats rubbish. australia just doesnt pull a punch. unlike 90% of sides in the world. the rules are rules. i didnt see a red card yesterday. the cahill almost foul. well it should have been paid. i have no doubt that the ref rewarded the team that he wronged in the first half. thats wrong i know. but at the end of the day, he made a blunder but too wrongs dont make a right. but i cant help but think if any one of the top ranked teams played like australia did yesterday that they would become favourites for the cup. instead australia gets branded as too rough. thats just a sad attitude from arrogant jealous sore losers.
what more does australia have to do to convince people that we deserve to be there. since last year australias results have been
wr22 uruguay 1-0 australia 42
wr22 australia 1-0 uruguay 22
wr54 bahrain 1-3 australia 42
wr42 australia 1-0 greece 20
wr3 netherlands 1-1 australia 42
wr42 australia 3-1 japan 18
wr=world ranking.

where is the thrashings, the easy beatings. australia is far better than their world rankin suggests. a yellow card is one refs descision. you can tackle in soccer for a reason. ricardo, australia has as many world class players as the netherlands. europe loves its self to much and disrespects countries outside of europe. why do you think brazil wins all the time. did you bother to research any australian players and who they play for. they start for liverpool, middlesborough, blackburn, everton, parma, psv, alaves. we just finally got a world class coach who can coach world class players. ricardo, why cant you just admit that you are scared australia might play the netherlands again this cup and you are afraid they will win. its a sore loser who cant admit that there was a better team on the day that is equal as any in the cup.

This afternoon on Sydney radio I heard the shockjock say that Australia’s win does not rate as high as many sporting wins from other sports in which Australia has participated. This dull-brained announcer then rated Australia winning the America’s Cup in yachting as a far greater sporting achievement. His loathing of football was so obvious. He admitted that all the celebrations were beyond his comprehension. Seems he cannot comprehend very much, when he rates a yacht race where about 4 nations originally participate to select the final two is of greater significance than a sport that attracts about 198 nations and elimination matches takes four years. It’s not that his head is in the sand, it’s that sand is in his head.

i agree, but i think his statement was just a reaction which non soccer fans would make. sporting events have to be put into perspective for the competition at the time and the era that it was in. it was 20 years ago and its a rich sponsered sport in which there really is no skill its just the cost of the boat. but 20 years ago its was a great sporting moment. but i think soccer has to be put into perspective. every nation in the world competes in soccer. to make it to the finals was good.to win a final is better. but at the end of the day i dont agree it was australias greatest sporting moment either. it was just one game. i think if we qualify for the second round and win a second round game then i would say thats one of the greatest. its just the passion talking that has got people so excited. but dont get me wrong it was brilliant and i had a tear in my eye. i think instead of comparing olympic moments where the sports are individual acheivements it has to be thought of in terms of sporting teams. and soccer is truly the only sport in the world which has every nation supporting it. only 8 teams are good enough at rugby and cricket where there is a world cup to win. so in terms of team sports i rank it as our best in a truly best of the world competition.

@Jan the Man.

I was shocked to see Hiddink’s starting line-up, especially to see Luke there (after his game against the Dutch). But I guess Hiddink loves players who are adaptable and especially against the Japanese, players who are fit and mobile. This is the only reason I can think of why Hiddink had Luke start and his formation. To adapt to the mobile and quick Japanese style.

Saying that, I think he did brillianlty to get the win. Throwing caution to the wind and trying to get a result. Why not go down fighting for point(s) rather then settle with the 1-0 loss. Kennedy I thought was better than expected. He has some nice touches and Aloisi does what he does best. Get himself amongst the play and score goals. But the real masterstroke (if you can call leaving Cahill on the bench in the first place a masterstroke) was bringing on Timmy. That guy is class – not as naturally gifted as say Harry but plays with the heart of a lion and just knows how to score goals.

I think we looked better when Emerton and Kewell (he still does not look anywhere near being fit – where was his pace and acceleration) were able to get down the flanks and put in some crosses. I do hope Kewell gets better for the next match though.

Issue will be yellow cards. Don’t want yellow cards in the Brazil game. Be a shame if Moore, Cahill, Grella miss the Croatia game due to this.

@Jegen. I love your attitude mate. Why not ride this wave of euphoria until the bubble bursts?

That was without a doubt the greatest football moment to date for Australia. Unreal.

We did dominate posession but mainly that was due to Japan allowing us to have the ball and they just pack it in and try to score a second on the counter. This was their mistake.

I think we are actually a better team when we play only 3 at the back. You have to play to your strengths and defence is not our strenght, so why not play attacking football. That does not mean you need to be reckless at the back, just the whole team needs to work better as a defensive unit.

Harry is a big concern. I hope he gets fitter and Guus has Cahill starting against Brazil. Kennedy will get better the more he plays. At least we have a forward to build on when Dukes and Aloisi head into the sunset. I thought Dukes had his best game for a long time. He looked sharp and full of running and actually had some shots (on target too). Bresciano is a little worry too – is he struggling from a virus or something (not himself).

It is a lot better than what I though after 80 minutes. Now we have 3 points and the max I thought after 80 might’ve been 1 point. Japan will be hungry now to avenge this result against Croatia and Brazil. This will work in our favour, especially if Brazil do what they should do, play football and win.

You know, any football team can be defeated on the day, so we should head into Brazil with the right attitude and we might just sneak a result (draw more realisitc). This is ok and as all the pressure will then be on Croatia to get a result against Japan.

The next week will be great football.

Go the Socceroos!!!

I had my heart in my mouth when Cahill sent in the first. I did indeed feel that though we were playing better than the nipponese, we were certainly not making concerted efforts to score. all those crosses sent in with Kennedy in mind, did not bear fruit did they…? and why did Cahill and Aloisi not start instead of being brought on at half-time…? and with 20 mins to go…? Kewell was looking half-fit, and tired. Viduka was alright but, still lacked that killer instinct. all the same, that ws a nice win, and 3 points in the bag, that we needed extremely too much, to get through. All we need is a draw against brazil. and i’m sticking my neck out and saying the impossible will happen… speaking the unspeakable… we might even consider BEATING Brazil…. come on mates, why not hitch our bandwagon to the stars and ride our luck…!!! i.m waiting for the match. well done hiddink, well done boys, let’s retain the aussie never – say – die spirit as we did in this game… and get BRAZIL…!!we have nothing to lose being underdogs. And reputation does not win a game, so lets get them next..!!

ricardo:

Get someone to teach you how to use Google.

Baartz would have been Australia’s best player at the ‘74 World Cup, but a Uruguayan “Karate Chop” in backplay in a warm-up “friendly” vs Uruguay ended his career, and almost took his life.

Perhaps you would have preferred it if those famously sportsmanlike Uruguayans (who were kicking the Aussie players in the tunnel before the 16/11/05 qualifier) had qualified instead of us?

When the Aussies have actually injured an opponent you’ll be entitled to come here and whine about thuggery. Until then shut up.

Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi Australia are going to win the world cup!

How good were we? We love you socceroos!

Euler what are you talk about violence? Did we miss something? Australia played fair and square!

Bring on Brazil coz we will be them!

Two Rovers chants you guys should use:

‘lucas Neills a football hooligan’ whenevr Lucas takes someone out, and then

‘Lucas Neills a football genius’ when hes legging it down the right flank (although i guess he doesnt do that much as a centreback)

seriously though, i hope this boy doesn’t play too well as i fear he may leave England for one of the big Italian clubs.

I expected some better chants from rovers supporters. Those are just shockers. Anyway relive those moments from the Japan game http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1acZtesWHY&search=Socceroos awesome AUSSIE!!AUSSIE!!AUSSIE => Oi!Oi!Oi,GO DA SOCCEROOS!!!

hello everybody,

australia!!! wat can i say! greatest country in the world!!
now to the people that say we play violently…..pfft, u watch the AFL see how hard that is, watch the NFL or NRL or the NHL, thats rough! bunch of lil kids thats wat i say, 1st instant of contact and these soccer players fall to the ground cleching their knees and grinding their teeth, hmmm abit much no?!
even though Brasil played poorly in this match they r a force to b reckoned with, i believe the Australians will give it 110% (aussie spirt), and like they say “the ball is round” and anything can happen! i just wanna say lay off the aussie team they play very well and maybe there is need for a lil more contact! think about it!!

go australia! make us proud again

There seems to be a lot of big heads in Australia at the moment, but you watch the egg on their face when they meet Croatia and Brazil, let them try their ‘dirty tatics’ with them. Can’t play the game by the rules go play in the street where the AFL started. Me I know a good team when I see one and Go England, you rock.
Most of the world will make excuses for Australias ‘dirty tricks’ against Japan after all the haven’t much experience with World Cup matches. OK Aussies remember the Rugby and the cricket, did’ny that egg run a lot. If you want to play play honourably or it is just not worth winning!

HELP!!!!

Anybody out there got a phone line to the Aussie Team Manager.

Qick tell him to read the rules of Soccer(Football in the countries that know about it)

This is a NON COntact Sport didn’t you Aussies know that.

Fan, you are an idiot. There’s no better word to describe you after reading your puerile comments. Either say something intelligent, or keep your inane opinions to yourself.

That also applies to you, Diane.

Actually Diane, it isn’t a non-contact sport. I’ll let it slide though because after all, you’re just a girl.

Fan, Australia will be Asian champions in 2007. How do you like those apples? Better start getting used to our “dirty” tactics because we are going to put a rocket up all the soft asian teams like yourselves.

Yeah England great exponents of fairplay, maybe you should checkout Steven Gerrard’s 10 point dive in the penalty box in England’s last friendly, thats so by the rules. Get a life Diane and da Fan u don’t know soccer and you don’t know Australia or its team, who are all topline players around the world playing for the world’s best clubs, if they were such f*ckwitted idiots who hack at legs as you claim they wouldn’t be playing for these great clubs while players from certain countries around the world even if they are picked for the top leagues,warm up the benches for their teams. Australia were just a class above Japan and maybe its about time that you face that fact.

aite aite get this jap fans……would of been funny to see yall on the soccer pitch doin that ritual suicide that yall did back in the day wif the samuri true fact for realli sore loser(After a defeat, some samurai chose to commit ritual suicide (seppuku) by cutting their abdomen rather than being captured or dying a dishonorable death.) now thats wat the jap players should have done! a real dishonerable loss there!! domo arigato sensie

TO Blue Samurai Assassin, well put mate, now all the diane needs to say is TOSHEY, N THEN JUS SAY ILL SHUT THE HELL UP NOW!!! BUNCH OF SORE LOSERS:(

My take is that the Japanese played pretty dirty. It was obvious they looked for loopholes in which they could use the rules to their advantage. Examples would be all their diving antics. Even in simple tackles, they’d roll around in agony as if their leg was broken. Japanese should win an Oscar. Honestly. 2ndly, that was just plain dodgy when 2 men had to push the aussie goalie to make sure their volley made it in. That was poor, to say the least. Talk about sportsmanship.

Aussies on the other hand, were a bit too rough, granted, but they did what they had to do to get the job done.

I’m impressed with the socceroos as I would have never guessed that they had the finesse to come back from the dead.

I wish them well in their next two matches, and would definitely wish to see them moving on past this stage.

The Australia v Japan match has been one of the most entertaining match in this world cup and I would definitely like to see more of that Aussie determination and grit.

oh, and for the sore japs out there. We went 1945 on your arses.. and it felt really good. Stop cribbing that we were rough, cos you guys were just plain dodgy. If you wanna talk about honourable behaviour, accept the defeat and move on learning new things.

australia will S@#$ their pants in their next match against brazil..im looking forward to it.

HA HA HA GOT YOU GUYS GOING!!!Hey you guys I’m British and very proud of it, I know my roots!!! However having livid in both Japan and Australia I have a lot of worldwide experience of watching football Oh sorry your newcomers to the sport you call it soccer. Your football is were you beat the hell out of each other and call it a sport!!! Get a life I know you are so far away but do keep in touch with what goes on in the world of Football, we Brits taught you everything you know. Yeah a lot of your player come from teams based all over the world, cause I suppose in Aussie there is no potential for them. Of course the England team go to other clubs abroad, yes right they go because of their talent and experience and are payed extremely well for it, I say bring on the Brazillians and Croations hope the bloody mince you guys, Get back in your box and play AFL leave football to the guys who know how to play.
Ask yourself why nobody worldwide pays a whole lot of interest to AFL because it is played by hooligans!!!

Oh by the way any Aussies watch the FRIENDLIES the Aussie team played. Cough cough, dirty dirty.

Diane,
If your countrymen are so good – have the highest paid league in the world – invented the sport – and are born with all that so called talent – then why cant they win a bloody tournament Euros or World cup???? Countries like oz and Japan are producing such great teams with out the millions of dollars or popularity of the game and taking on the giants – now thats sport at its best!!!
Down with the Brits and down with Brazil.

Kent, wake up mate. The UK give opportunity to many good players from around the world because they don’t have the opportunity in their own country. We make them great. The game is not so much about winning it is about sportsmanship. I have livid in both Australia and Japan. Yes the Japanese are as passionate about football as European nations, Aussie on the other hand have very little football in their country their priorities are AFL, cricket, rugby, tennis and somwhere way down the line is football. Now I suggest you watch the FRIENDLY between Holland and Australia then give me your opinion as to whether Aussie play dirty or not. I supported neither Australia or Japan I was looking for a fair game and was totally disgusted at what I saw.

Why can’t trolls ever spell properly? It really drives me bananas. Sigh…

Kent, the UK gives opportunities to players from all over the world. They do not have the potential in their own country they come to Europe and we make them great! Australia on the other hand have other sporting priorites, they are passionate about AFL,Rugby,Cricket,Tennis and somewhere down the line is football. Watch the FRIENDLY match bewtween Aus. v Holland and tell me they don’t play dirty. The Japanese are as passionate if not more than the Europeans about Football. They have some excellent players, who play in Europe. My gripe is I didn’t support either team but watched what I hoped was a good and fair game. To be quite honest I was disgusted, the Auusie intentionally went for the legs not even attempting to go for the ball, I think 4 yellow cards proved that. I think they are crowing far too much and it will be interesting to see the comments when they get smashed by Brazil and Croatia. You make a lot of enemies on the way up but don’t forget Ausies you meet them again on the way down.

OOO Diane sounds like you are afraid the Aussies are coming.
Because we tend to dominate any sport we get involved in I understand how badly you must want to exclude us from this particular party, too bad you will never get rid of us now….hee, hee, and we can only get better and better.

Kes wrong opinion, I loved my time in Australia and yes like the Americans Australians seem to exceed at the majority of sports. However they do it fairly and honourably, it is my opinion that they played dirty in football. The were told after the friendly with Holland about dirty tactics. Yes maybe they can go through to the next round but is it worth it if you resort to dirty play. There can be no pleasure in winning by those standards the win means nothing and they Aussies get a bad reputation. The Japanese are very honourably people I know I have lived here for 7 yrs, doesn’t mean I support them but they are passionaate about the sport and play well and fair. So maybe you should think about sticking to the sports your good at and don’t bring down football

My gripe is overseas people always include “rugby” in the list of sports Aussies care about more than soccer. Rugby *league* yes in certain areas, but “rugby”=rugby union which has a very narrow base of support and has the most to lose from surging popularity for football. Ratings for the A League matched the Super 14s in its first season. After the proven success there and increasing quality, next season I predict it will pass the yawnion in popularity. Attendance will grow too. Yawnion had its chance with the last world cup here and plenty of people jumped on the bandwagon who then immediately then went back to not caring. The job for the FFA is to ensure we hang on to more of the instant fanatics. These other sports — tennis, swimming etc — are very popular at serious international level but not week in, week out to be passionate about.

Rugby league in NSW/QLD (Go Knights!) and AFL elsewhere are the dominant codes, sure. After that though, football/soccer surely has the best claim on widespread popularity — and that can only grow.

Im just glad dianas out of australia. The aussies play tough but fair.
What we dont need in football is English Hoolingan Idiots. Why dont you spend time talking about that than bagging the aussies.
We Won, suck it up! move on!

Hey Amanda you made some excellent points there and most of it I agree with. However as a nation of approx. 19million people in a country where the UK could fit inside 33.3 times. You have to look at the logistics. If you take the percentage that are male (hey girls I’m not being sexist) and ask yourself how many out of that percentage would have the ability to play professional football/soccer. Most schools don’t even play it they encourage the children in AFL (Go Cats). Surely, and only my opinion ascertained from the Aussie support on this site, if you want it to continue to be a National sport a few more fans should get up and have a positive say to the Aussie Sports federation or whoever it is down there. There are some true fans in Australia who are passionate about the game however unless the Australian team do exceptionally well, play fairly and maybe by the skin of their teeth get through to the next round, it will all be forgotten about until the next world qualifier. There is nothing better than going weekly to support your team. Can you imagine if Perth Glory played in Melbourne their fans would either have a 5hor flight to support them or what a 5 day drive, won’t happen.

Boca, please don’t lower the tone by becoming personal! If you don’t have anything constructive to say don’t comment. Whether I am in Australia or any other place in the world doesn’t matter. This is about football and peoples opinions.

Lower the tone? C’mon Diane, now you’re just being silly. Have you read your own comments?

“get a life”
“AFL hooligans”
“dirty dirty ha ha”
“bloody mince you guys”

Charming! I’m all for intelligent, well-written, rational or constructive criticism but those comments hardly qualify. To pretend otherwise is disingenuous of you, to say the least, and a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

If you wanted to start a decent conversation that would have been so easy! You could have said “I was disappointed by the physical style of play against Holland”. Then others could have pointed out various factors; the obvious gamesmanship involved, the disappointment felt by a team ranked 3 in drawing with a team ranked 42, the positive comments made by Van Basten about Australia, the fact that both Sneijder and Cocu injured themselves by colliding with Australian players. Or talked about the 3 yellow cards for Japan versus 4 for Australia in Game 1, the role of the media in potentially influencing referees, the shirt pulling and diving styles favoured by some other teams…

But you chose to post a couple of poorly written, rather obnoxious digs instead… and then complained when people found then annoying!

Give me a break. I wish people would start thinking before they post because trawling through the insults and text-speak grammar is getting tiresome.

Ok Matilda get your point, apologies if you found my comments offensive, perhaps my expressive comments where not to your liking. However there is freedom of speech and I am sure after England play tonight there will be many comments from Australia. However as you have brought up the subject of officals I have to make the following comments. Somebody has to do the job, difficult watching 22 players on the pitch, and we all think we can do mutch better job than they can, so back off there, we all want someone to blame but the officials job is the hardest of them all, don’t forget their only human and I am sure you as well as I have made mistakes under moments of pressure. They should be applauded.

Sorry that should have been much better

Diane, that great football nation called England that you keep talking about, do you happen to remember the score the last time they played Australia? It’s at the back of my mind and I just can’t seem to remember it but thought you would be able to help out. I mean it would obviously have been a thashing to the brits considering how much money the spend on their football but across a number of sportsI would like to know the exact score.

And yes we do have numerous sports in this country that get more focus, but it still shows the Aussie spirit with which we’ve all come together to support our national team. After all, considering our population size and our sporting achievments across numerous sports, we would have to be one of, if not the, number 1 sporting countries in the world.

Few grammar fixes which my computer decided to spit out.

Diane, that great football nation called England that you keep talking
about, do you happen to remember the score the last time they played
Australia? It’s at the back of my mind and I just can’t seem to remember
it but thought you would be able to help me out. I mean it would obviously
have been a thrashing to the brits considering how much money they spend
on their football but I would like to know the
exact score.

And yes we do have numerous sports in this country that get more focus,
but it still shows the Aussie spirit with which we’ve all come together
to support our national team. After all, considering our population size
and our sporting achievments across numerous sports, we would have to be
one of, if not the, number 1 sporting countries in the world.

diane is really getting on my nerves, i wish she would just accept the fact that the teams that went in as the underdogs of the competion, during their first round gams did so much better than anyone would have expected, yall chack out Trinidad and tobago vs. Sweden, 0-0 and Australia vs. Japan 3-1……these teams are just to name a few, that were not expected to a thing at all, and about the hard but fair game that Australia play, be reasonable the only reason to why yall are omplaing is because you lost, and the Netherland game was not rough at all! soon we will be saying the reason to why australians are good at swimming is cos we psych the other competitors out with mental telepathy!! please get over your ego’s and just enjoy the rest of this great tournament!!!!

peace out yall

Gosh I didn’t realise you Aussies were so sensitive and temperamental, if you can’t take it I suppose I had better back off before your cry lol
luv ya guys really

naa we just hate pathetic liars and bs artists thats all diane, but we luv u really

I agree with Diane on the unfair play style of Australian team.
If Tim Cahill did get another yellow card, he would’ve let out of the game, which means, you would’ve been playing with just 10 players. (and he was the one who scored, too.) And during the whole game it was a rush of leg-attacking play…

Why so many Australians slag off the British and Americans anyway? They could be painful sometimes, but that’s just too ugly.
Why don’t you do something for yourselves before you criticise others?

Well, good luck with the next World Cup without Hiddink.

You write like a male, Diane, you are a guy, and you haven’t got the balls to admit it – hmmm – maybe that’s why you have given yourself a female name. You are just a stirrer. I refuse to take your inane comments seriously because you have proven you don’t know the first thing about football, tactics, players and the World Cup event.

And for you Genin Goshu, the ifs, buts and maybes can make a primary school football team world champions. Face the facts, don’t give us if this, if that, if this and that. That’s for dreamers.

Enzo, sorry but I am female, maybe not called Diane but thats for a reason. I have a daughter who is a doctor in the UK and a son who is a footballer, I have lived football since he was 2 and could walk and kick a ball. School, club, county,schoolboys and 1st division juniors and now in his element, anyway must dash think he might have a game tonight. Enjoy the world cup

Wow, this thread sure attracts some crazy people!

GG; The Japanese players didn’t complain about the Australian style of play after the game. They know they played poorly towards the end and didn’t try to blame anyone but themselves. It’s a shame some of the fans can’t be as honourable about this loss as their players.

I understand being unhappy about losing 3-1 but the charge of overly physical play simply isn’t supported by facts. There were no injuries and no red cards. Japan got 3 yellows and Australia 4.

By the way, the FIFA Referees spokesman made a public statement about Japan’s goal. Yes it was a clear foul and Essam Abd El Fatah said he simply couldn’t see the interference from where he was. An honest mistake but we’re lucky it didn’t cost us 3 points.

If there were no referring errors then Japan wouldn’t have scored at all and Cahill might have been sent off after his first goal. The score still would have been 2-0 to Australia, rather than 3-1. Or if you think 10 men means Aloisi wouldn’t have scored too, it would have been 1-0 to Australia. But these are pointless attempts to re-write history…

Concentrate on getting a result against Croatia. Australians would love to see Japan do well because it would actually help us!

Good luck.

well said

Yea who cares bout idiots who know nothing about soccer. Go the SOCCEROOS!!!, here’s a video of the celebrations in Federation Square,Melbourne.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29zIY74t1Ug&search=Socceroos

Talk about one-eyed. Japan’s coach Zico is in the depths of misery after hearing that a top FIFA official said Japan should have been awarded a penalty in the second half of their 3-1 defeat to Australia, “why are they saying this now when nothing can be changed? If we had been given that penalty it could have changed the face of the game.” Either Zico must suffer from short-term memory loss, or he is only interested in incidents that affected his team. What about the goal by Japan that shouldn’t have been a goal. Even the referee admitted his mistake with this one. So let’s be fair here. Japan’s first goal should have been disallowed but they deserved a penalty, and if they converted the penalty the final score, and events continued as they did, the final score would still be 3-1 to Australia.

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