Australia off to the World Cup
Great job Pim Verbeek and ignore the criticisms we're off to the World Cup and that is all that matters.
It wasn't that long ago this country and its sports fans would never have expected us to get there or have any real belief we could.
And this time we did it the hard way. 14 matches across Japan, Iraq, Uzbekistan and China to name a few.
Our defence has been very strong our preparation top-class and we've had a little luck along the way.
But whatever happens in South Africa we'll be at the biggest party in sport and the AFL, Rugby League boys can't compete with that can they.
As a code, as a sporting country, we need to be there. We can't win it, but we may match our achievements of Germany with significant development of a couple of attacking midfield or forwards
For now and Australian football isn't it great?
2 comments:
yeah, we are going to the big party. we had a bit of luck, but luck won`t get you through a campaign like that.
in a way, we are already at the big party. playing meaningful games, against good opposition, every year. not just once every 4 years.
i think i can now accept this new pragmatic australia. i found a stream to watch, and i enjoyed it.
the horse might have bolted re development of attacking talent. if it was gonna happen, i think it would have happened throughout the campaign, in rounds 1 and 2. i think we can be happy with the slight alterations that have come along the way. jesus is older and wiser. valeri and wilkshire are useful contributers now. macca can contribute when called upon (did a decent enough job in the game before i thought).
i also don`t see any change in style coming either. why change what works?
clayton
i ventured through the rain up to the tradies and had a look at the game and was pretty impressed with the hosts as well as our play. the heat wasn't a factor, which says a lot about our fitness levels, and we were let down by losing the ball to often in the midfield through not attacking the ball. we have to change this; if we do we will make more chances and be more likely to look more attacking than we currently do.
it isn't a lack of creativity up front for mine, more it is an inability to often enough get the ball up front without losing it in the final third as we do too often now. defence was solid, and the strikers did well with the limited service they had (another night from the qataris, esp the 'keeper, might have yielded two or three goals - and i think if we'd got one we might have broken their spirit and got more...)
culina is strong in the right back spot but needs to be able to play more like portugal's bosingwa and get forward more, which would happen if we weren't turning possession over so often. and valeri was solid and grella had a pretty average night.
with wilkshire in the line-up and scott mcdonald likely to break his drought in the next game or two (surely he'll get a lot of game time?) i think we'll have some potency up front to match our solidity at the back and be a dangerous opponent in serth effrika...
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