Reflecting on the Socceroos' 30-man squad

Most suspected that Australia manager Ange Postecoglou would select a young side for the upcoming World Cup, but few perhaps were able to envisage the aspect of the 2014 Socceroos.

There are only a few readily recognizable faces in the squad, with Postecoglou true to his word in selecting ten players of his initial 30 from the A-League. As expected, there was no room for longstanding captain and lightning rod Lucas Neill, while the recent international exiles of Emerton, Holman, Schwarzer and Ognenovski mean the Aussies will fill their gold kits with an almost patriotically green squad.

Five Socceroos survive from Australia’s watershed 2006 campaign – Luke Wilkshire, Joshua Kennedy, Tim Cahill, Mark Milligan and Mark Bresciano – and they will be expected to provide most of the veteran professionalism required to extract the best from a group described best as youthful and perhaps even naïve.

Asia’s brotherhood of ageing bruisers are now no more than a bolded entry in gilt-edged history books. Australia is looking to the future with a special focus not on the 2014 World Cup but on success at next year’s home Asian Cup.

Bresciano, resident Old Man
courtesy: en.wikipedia.org

Pete Smith suggests this squad is nothing if not fresh and links to the Golden era of Socceroo football all but gone. Postecoglou has opted for dynamism and exuberance – especially in defensive positions – and a squad unjaded by long exposure commuting globally to represent a nation with only a passing interest in local football.

This is probably the best squad Postecoglou could select. The team also accurately represents Australia’s standing in the football world – there are big gaps between some numbers in FIFA’s rankings. Locals also seem happier with this lineup of exciting question marks than one highlighting staid veterans.

Featuring only two players from Europe’s big four leagues, whoever comprises the final 23-man roster will hardly be hampered by expectations. These Socceroos are also unscarred by past unrealistic hopes engendered by a wonderful run under Guus Hiddink, the ravages of age on bigger bodies or more recently, thumpings against quality opposition. What they have is pace, a new identity based around Postecoglou’s preferred passing game and a typical Australian passion for the contest.

While mandated by his superiors (and common sense) to empower a new youthful team, Postecoglou’s quick revamp may have hastened the departure of players like Schwarzer and Holman who may have played a key role in Brazil. Without these battle-scarred troops, the coach risks marking another band of younger, more impressionable players in the toughest slate of matches any team will play. With the Asian Cup (and the 2018 World Cup) more realistic targets for Aussie success, failure at the upcoming tournament might have longstanding consequences.

The flip side of callowness is a youthful confidence that serves sportsmen well. While there are only weeks to go until the tournament, Postecoglou must use that time to make sure the coin comes down on the right side for his young Socceroos.

Farewell, Harry Kewell, and thanks

Harry Kewell is soon gone and Australian football will be the poorer for it. His precocious incision single-handedly brought about many of the supreme highlights the sport has offered the Great Southern Land, and he was in 2012 voted the greatest ever Australian player.

He was his nation’s great football enigma: the most talented, technical player his land has produced, yet so different from his peers in both aspect and attitude. No other Australian has won both the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup; in an era in which Australia’s best players all performed in top leagues, Harry Kewell at Leeds United and then Liverpool was the world’s focus point – it was he who boasted to the world that Skippies could play this game.

As Bonita Mersiades tracks excellently in The Guardian, Kewell began his career revered by the Australian common man, a true underdog story that youngster capable of bedazzling older, more cynical men. Then followed something of a symbiotic disdain between him and the nation of his birth – he felt the nation’s expectations too great, we (often unfairly) thought him something of a drama queen.

Australians had never had a player like Harry Kewell before. We’d been involved with several wonderful players – Christian Vieri, Mark Bosnich and Craig Johnston spring to mind – but never a truly elite Socceroo who could win World Cup qualifiers from his own left peg. And an Australia less familiar with the particulars of soccer didn’t exactly know what to expect from a gift completely unlike the blunt but effective objects we were used to.

Sporting a slight British twang that noticeably increased the longer he was in England, Harry played for Australia, but for so long was not truly of Australia. This verisimilitude defined Kewell as a Socceroo – an otherworldly weapon, a blade of valyrian steel available only at great cost. Even repatriated to the antipodean fold in his waning years, Kewell remained easily identifiable by virtue of his talent, temperament and attitude. He remains the best player his country has produced by some margin.

Despite spending his peak years rarely suiting up in gold (13 Australia appearances between 1998 and 2005) the Socceroos have never looked better than when boasting Kewell on the left and Brett Emerton on the right of midfield. Injury permitting – always the caveat with Harry – when the games mattered, he played. And invariably contributed.

The pairing of Kewell and Emerton is not coincidental. The duo were reared within earshot, left Australia to play in England at about the same time and were two of the first picked for any Socceroo manager for over a decade. They are mirror versions of one another – one less talented but hardworking and utterly dependable; the other more fragile yet eminently capable of ripping open any game.

This is the defining Harry Kewell paradox, and his legacy: Emerton, a technically inferior but hardworking player who embraced Australia wholeheartedly wouldn’t lose you a match, is remembered more fondly than Kewell, who would win those games for you amidst hubbub often of his own manufacture.

Thank you, Harry Kewell, for those intricate memories that stretch from Iran to the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium. Your body has earned this break.

Socceroo @HarryKewell announces his retirement from football! #ThanksHarry pic.twitter.com/2SueCftN8P
— The Socceroos (@Socceroos) March 26, 2014

More answers than questions for Socceroos

Usually, surrendering a 4-3 loss to opposition of a similar caliber to yourself throws up more questions than answers. Any answers that prove self-evident are also generally detrimental: player X can’t be trusted in a two-man midfield, tactics Y are ineffective against good teams or striker Z has no business even being considered for competitive international football.

Australia’s 4-3 loss to Ecuador in London on Wednesday actually saw the opposite occur. The three biggest questions facing the Socceroos concerned one of Mat Ryan or Mitch Langerak succeeding Mark Schwarzer, how would the defence would cope without the presence (or spectre) of Lucas Neill, and whether new coach Ange Postecoglu’s rejigged midfield and forward corps could produce goals relying on players so recently of the 99^th-ranked A-League.

Ninety minutes and seven goals revealed enough about Australia’s progress under Postecoglou for football fans in the Antipodes to be excited by the upcoming challenge of Chile, Spain and the Netherlands. Most of this good humour follows the success of players disdained by previous regimes (including Ivan Franjic and Matthew Spiranovic), the faith shown in youngsters Curtis Good and Massimo Luongo, and a gameplan that’s more than “don’t screw up”.

A few extra days of preparation and more game time for the likes of Rogic and Leckie means the also-rans of the late Osieck days may be a thing of the past.

More obviously, the Socceroos appear to have a vision for the future under a long-term coach, rather than the aspect of a team managed purely to embellish a resume.

The talent gap between Australian and their groupmates means that World Cup progression will be almost impossible. However, using that tournament to prepare for more accessible fish to fry – specifically, the Asian Cup at home in 2015. A result for Postecoglou in Brazil would be a return to the Australian teams of the past that were tough to beat and an inspired showing against class opponents.

The team are unquestionably in better shape than at the time of Holger Osieck’s departure late last year. The team now plays with a vision for future success rather than a fear of current failure.

Lucas Neill is the new Harry Kewell

Pick one: Sydney Olympic of the New South Wales Premier League, or Watford, promotion contenders in England’s League Championship.

Yup, Lucas Neill has landed on his feet.

Maybe.

Ageing Australia captain Neill needed a club in the worst way in order to lead the Socceroos to this year’s World Cup. There are zero bones about this – seventy-four games for six teams in four years since the last Cup is a telling statistic. Neill was, and perhaps still is, in serious danger of missing Ange Postecoglu’s squad after vehemently criticizing Australia’s young players following ex-manager Holger Osieck’s departure in October.

This week, he has been cut by manager Ange Postecoglu from the Socceroos’ squad for a warm-up game against Ecuador while simultaneously batting seemly eyelashes towards former club Blackburn Rovers and hometown Olympic.

Only in Australian gold does he still command respect for his abilities, if not for his personally-vaunted natural leadership. If he places so much currency in that leadership, it speaks ill of his stocks in this trait that each of his last four teams have not seen the same value. Many younger Socceroos would not share his own lofty opinions of his charisma.

After long stints at Millwall – a club with a long fondness for Aussies – and similarly-inclined Blackburn Rovers, Neill has become a shiftless free agent, roaming the globe in search of game time and ready coin. In the eight years since his defining day in the gold and green, Australia’s most publicized player has played for nine clubs with declining influence. Such has been his difficulty settling down that there have been few stories reporting on-field performance and many on possible landing spots, dressing-shed schisms and how – or if – he fits into a new generation of Socceroos.

Since the South Africa 2010, the defender has only managed over twenty games at one club, rocking up to 39 matches alongside compatriot Harry Kewell at Galatasaray during 2010-11. There is no coincidence that Cimbom’s assistant manager at the time was Guus Hiddink’s sidearm and noted Neill fan Johan Neeskens.

There’s an odd symmetry to the link-up with Kewell, for Lucas has now replaced Kewell as Australian football’s story-for-hire.

Kewell, the captain’s contemporary for Australia, Galatasaray (and nearly Liverpool), has a reputation for making the game all about Harry: overblown and poorly-timed injuries, startling recoveries, a soap-star wife, will-he-play-in-Australia questions, will-he-play-for-Australia questions, an ego with its own gravitational pull and, buried beneath those B-list celebrity trappings, sublime talent.

After making a name for himself as a hard-bitten defender capable of playing both on the right and centrally, Neill has become a similar figure of parody. His presence in the game is now less about his times on the pitch than when he is removed from it. The questions surrounding him are not as lurid as those flung at Kewell, but instead wonder if Neill can successfully contribute to a dressing room, if his inflated opinion of his leadership abilities are to his (and others’) detriment and if he even demands a place on merit in a Socceroo backfield.

Amidst all this, if he is match-fit, Neill probably still has a role to play. With Rhys Williams missing the tournament, Neill may be the best central defender Australia has to offer to a terrifying group in Brazil. He has an amount of that chest-out, chin-up defiance made so popular by John Terry that if not encumbered with egotism might prove invaluable in an Australian squad likely to include several players at their first Cup.

Watford will provide fourteen potential opportunities to prove to Postecoglu that he can contribute tactically and physically rather than solely with his Spartan brand of leadership.

Kruse and Williams to miss World Cup; Socceroos further taunted by Satan

Australians are used to the heat, but even those enduring eternal damnation in the fires of Hades might posit that this January has been atypically warm. While the Australian wilderness bakes, new Socceroos manager Ange Postecoglu must be sadly regarding his kitchen’s increasing temperature: first, he was dealt a truly petrifying group and in the past ten days, he has lost two key players for the onrushing World Cup.

en.wikipedia.org

Striker Robbie Kruse and midfielder/defender Rhys Williams have both suffered with season-ending injuries, blows which may perhaps define the World Cup for their countrymen.

The pair, Australia’s most eligible leaders, were the fresh faces of Postecoglu’s new Socceroos. The manager’s initial remit was to overhaul a staid national setup, with the two players most liable to benefit most from a divestment of “leadership” were Kruse and Williams. Mainstream Australia could identify with the pair – good players in excellent competitions, with the bonus of representing the Socceroos for long enough to be recognizable while not being members of the burnished Golden Generation.

The enforced withdrawals remove a vast element of class from any potential World Cup squad. While the A-League – and, indeed, most Asian football leagues – are improving in quality, there’s little question that the cream of Australian footballers ply their trade in Europe, and are regarded by Skippies with a certain amount of expectation. With Kruse and Williams sidelined, more of that responsibility sits awkwardly on the shoulders of unproven midfielders Tommy Oar, Tom Rogic and James Holland.

There is likely one silver lining from a dark week in Australian football: the squad that Postecoglu will select for Brazil will likely be comprised of very familiar names – old ones yukking up proto-retirement in the Emirati leagues (you’re excluded, Mark Bresciano), and younger players who appear in local competitions. That group includes interesting names such as left-back Ivan Franjic, Robbie Cornthwaite, Aaron Mooy and “Viduka-lite” Tomi Juric.

The post-World Cup boost Australian soccer received in 2006 was palpable around the then-nascent A-League, even though only one local made the squad. With half the squad in the general vicinity and a more unified outlook brought about by Postecoglu’s share-the-wealth game plan, Australian football can look upon the past week’s terror as an opportunity – albeit a sad one – to expand its brand and showcase the talent on display at home.

Farewell, Mark Schwarzer, and thanks.

I still get goosebumps.

It’s been nearly eight years since the greatest moment in Australian football, and whenever that shining, glorious shootout against Uruguay crosses my mind, I allow my mind to wander fondly around the memories.

Last night I watched that video again.

First came the goosebumps, prickling as if to reinforce the importance of what I was witnessing. Then, even though I’ve watched that film ten times or more, my temperature rose and my heart began thumping louder and faster.

As Marcelo Zalayeta strode to the spot, my eyes began to water.

Again.

No sporting event has left such an imprint on me as that shootout. It might be the most important Australian sporting moment this century, fuelling an Australian interest in soccer only Jonny Warren thought possible. The strength of the A-League and the Socceroos’ prominence in the Asian Confederation are thanks to that one Australian team and the feats of Marc Bresciano, John Aloisi and Mark Schwarzer.

When the maudlin mood takes me, the first and defining image I come to isn’t of Aloisi’s bare-chested sprint around the Sydney Olympic Stadium but Schwarzer, eyes closed, torso extended and fists pumping, howling in inarticulate elation.

Looking back, these seven minutes of footage completely represent the Socceroos involved. Tony Vidmar, rock solid and no fuss, perhaps the guy most integral to Australia’s 2006 qualification, did precisely what was required but fades into the background (he never played for the Socceroos again). Mark Viduka’s career is summed up by his near miss. Harry Kewell returned from an overstated injury to provide an element of sublime talent that Uruguayan goalkeeper Fabian Carini barely saw. Lucas Neill doesn’t care what anyone thinks. Aloisi, always the last forward used but forever effective, delivered the final blow as he would seven months later against Japan.

And Schwarzer, the man on whom that ultimate triumph was built. Longtime rival for the gloves Mark Bosnich might have saved one of those two penalties; contemporary Zeljko Kalac would have been lucky just to get near one. But Schwarzer, ever unflappable, ever uncompromising, simply outwilled his Uruguayan opponents.

That magical night cemented Mark Schwarzer as my favourite Socceroo; chances are he will never be replaced. And now, in the shadows of his third World Cup, he’s gone.

While too much is made of Australia’s Golden Generation, it is true that the nation has never had more talented teams than those in which Mark Schwarzer played. It is testament to the man that for the majority of his career, he was the first player picked; the player around whom his country's best were assembled. No matter how intimidating the opposition, there was a certain surety Australians felt with the big guy between the posts. More importantly, his teammates felt the same way.

Mark Schwarzer was the single most important (and approachable) Socceroo of his generation; honest, hardworking and, by dint confidence in him, capable of inspiring teammates into greater performances. He is, without question, the best goalkeeper – and perhaps the greatest player – Australia has ever produced. Certainly no other shot-stopper will be boast his resume, nor be remembered as fondly.

Thank you, Mark Schwarzer. Australian football wouldn’t be what it is without you.

Osieck not long for Socceroos' top job

With Australian football trying to regain its feet after a 6-0 pasting against Brazil last month, speculation has intensified over the future of Socceroo coach Holger Osieck. The German manager has appeared a man unable to take forward steps in the past twelve months, with his players effectively playing according to inconsistent tactics; even his greatest moment in 2013 was tarnished by a poorly-timed sexist joke. The only thing Osieck has definitively delivered for Australia has been PR calamity: perfunctory football run by a quasi-unlikable boss.

The only things in Osieck's favor - significant though they may be - include a truncated lead-in time for any new manager and the $1 million he's still owed by the Football Federation of Australia Frank Lowy. Although he remains unpopular, it still remains more likely than not that the manager incumbent will lead the likes of Brett Holman, Tommy Oar and Archie Thompson (!) to South America and, ultimately, disappointment.

Strangely, the single greatest reason for the appointment of a new boss might be a limited talent pool. With Australia's best 20 players almost set in stone, the only way a new gaffer might impact the side during the year-til-Brazil would be to engage players and encourage tactical buy-in. This is an aspect of management Osieck has found difficult, because his iteration of Australia simply hasn't had the identity of past sides. For years, Australia was a burly, physical outfit capable of controlling games through brute strength. As players like Oar and Tom Rogic replaced the Mark Vidukas and Scott Chipperfields of the world, the Socceroos lost some of that identity and therefore Osieck has settled for an inconsistent style.

A new manager - Leo Beenhakker, perhaps? Or Johan Neeskens? - might help develop a national team with an identity and a definite idea of how to play to type. However, with Lowy burnt twice by international bosses (neither Osieck nor his predecessor Pim Verbeek have been a real success), the inclination is that Osieck will retain his post for the Fiesta World Cup, but only that long.

FFA optimistic to a fault, wants World Cup refund from FIFA

Since missing out on the 2022 World Cup in December 2010, the Football Federation of Australia and has remained almost piously silent.  Despite changing chief executives, boasting one of Asia’s best teams, a domestic league that continues to grow and the impending rollout of the new FFA Cup, a knockout competition involving clubs from the A-League and various lower-tier leagues across the country, the Federation’s mantra since late 2010 has been “don’t mention the war”.

Today the war got mentioned like Basil Fawlty. 

This morning, via major benefactor and Chairman Frank Lowy, the FFA requested FIFA pay back the the $43 million spent by the nation on their failed 2022 World Cup bid.  The move results from FIFA tacitly acknowledging that the tournament to be staged in Qatar will almost certainly be played in the northern winter to avoid local temperatures in excess of 40° Celsius.  This understanding is also a significant backtrack on prior statements made by executives both from FIFA and the Qatari bid commission.

With a  new Cup tournament beginning in 2014 and hopes of replacing coach Holger Osieck with someone more personable/charismatic/nurturing – and therefore more expensive – either before or after next year’s Big Dance, that $43 million would really help Australian football.  That half-a-latte chipped in by every Australian constitutes more ready cash than the FFA could ever hope to see again and so would be very handy – especially if Guus Hiddink’s back in the frame (which he’s not).

The reparation request suggests that the FFA wouldn’t have placed the bid had they known that changing tournament dates was possible.  The request is also framed by a particularly murky bid process which is still being “investigated” by FIFA’s ethics committee. 

Even with the obtuse and confused selection method, Chairman Frank Lowy’s position is both optimistic and curious.  Despite – because of? – widespread misgivings as to the integrity behind the bid process, some of the blame for the loss must be placed at the callow nature of Australian football administration.  The FFA entered a competitive bid situation against powers like USA, Qatar and Japan administered by a body with only one hard and fast guiding tenet – money usually talks.  And the Australians’ $43 million is a whisper when compared with what Gulf States are able to bawl.

In retrospect, it’s tough to work out why the FFA ever thought they were anywhere near pole position.

FIFA will not grant the request – why should they?  If they were to recompense their irritated Aussies, then they open themselves up to the lawyer’s best frenemy, precedent.  Any club who felt irked by a hosting decision (and Australia had reasons to be very annoyed indeed) could then expect to request – or sue – the governing body and pocket all or part of what they spent.  This puts the Australian party line on a par with the Ireland requesting to be a 33^rd team at the 2010 World Cup.

It’s somewhat comforting to know that the FFA hasn’t abandoned all of its resentment towards the FIFA executive: Australia was (now, perhaps naïvely) seen as one of the frontrunners to host the tournament yet received only one vote.  But the manifestation of that resentment now makes the FFA an object of footballing derision.  While the sentiments of the FFA represent those of the greater Australian populace, they are far from realistic expectation and have only tenuous legal basis.

When Ireland requested a trip to South Africa, FIFA probably laughed privately before responding with a courteous negative.  Watch them do the same with Australia.

Socceroos bound for Rio despite managerial misgivings

After cutting it far too fine for comfort, the Socceroos can finally begin to prepare for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. An eighty-third minute headed goal from Joshua Kennedy sealed a 1-0 victory against old rivals Iraq and progression from the final round of Asian Qualifying. While the display against essentially a second-string side was hardly awe-inspiring, it was enough and the antipodeans now take their place alongside Japan, South Korea and Iran as AFC representatives at the Big Dance.

Uzbekistan and Jordan will compete in a two-legged playoff in early September for the final available Asian qualifying position. Whichever squad that makes it to Brazil will certainly prove a fillip to their nation, but may not impact the makeup of the second round: of the Asian clubs bound for Rio, Betfair.com has Japan the shortest of the long-odds at 126:1.

While it's taken nearly three years, Australia coach Holger Osieck seems to have finally hit upon the best makeup for his side.  Over his tenure, Osieck has dithered through an extensive playing roster without ever tipping his hand towards pragmatism (and continued appearances by the likes of Sasa Ognenovski and Alex Brosque) or an attempt at an exciting future featuring Tomas Rogic, Tommy Oar and Robbie Kruse. This has hurt the team, as players both young and old never seem to know whether they had roles to play in attaining a World Cup berth. Had the Socceroos not won last night, this lack of clear vision - and a penchant for sexist jokes - would have thrust the German onto perilously thin ice.

The lineups deployed in these past two crucial qualifiers suggest Osieck believes - as do the majority of the Green and Gold Army - that success lies not in wholesale youth or experience, but somewhere firmly betwixt. The crucial players in Tuesday evening's win were Oar, Rogic and resurrected thirtysomethings Ognenovski, Neill, Kennedy and Mark Bresciano. Had the Socceroos been without Al-Gharafa's Bresciano over the past six months, they would be - at best - face a nerve-racking playoff to cement next summer's Samba Tour.

After two years of curious selections, it may be that Osieck has happened luckily upon his best lineup at the critical time.  The alternate viewpoint states that Australia's mixed results are a function of rarely having an entire squad available due to the travel involved in representing Australia.

Educated onlookers favour the former, especially based on the teams Osieck selected during turgid losses to Jordan and a draw with Oman: the Socceroos relied too heavily upon a square, lateral gameplan that lacked in fluidity and impetus. The re-emergence of Oar and the boost Rogic and Kruse obtained from transfers has thrust a more joyful approach upon the men in gold, resulting in a 4-0 thumping of Jordan (the nation's biggest win in a match that mattered since their 6-0 thrashing of Uzbekistan in the 2011 Asian Cup) and now, ultimately, acceptance not just as the Socceroos' future, but also their present.

To paraphrase Napoleon: it's better to be lucky than good, and Osieck appears to have stumbled upon his most fruitful combination.

Despite the pressure of expectation, Osieck has recently displayed a happy recognition of when to make the correct substitutions at the most important moments. Last night, he got it right again - removing Australia's most effective forwards this decade (Tim Cahill and Brett Holman) and inserting forgotten man Kennedy - a man built to dominate Asian football - who scored only minutes after arriving on the pitch for the 'Roos for the first time since 2011

That he has finally, finally, seemingly integrated the talented youth into the cadre of hard-bitten vets and finally exemplified his once-vaunted game-management skills, the future looks brighter for Australian football than it did only a fortnight ago.

With the pressure now off and Australia hoping for an improvement from Pim Verbeek's ill-begotten 2010 World Cup.

Pim Verbeek finally shows he has balls by criticising mess he left

Former Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek has been quoted in Qatari media as saying Australian football faces a bleak period as the brightest stars in Australian football history are slowly extinguished.

Well, you'd know, Pim.

His Aussie tenure was marked by Viking-style honesty. Did you ever meet someone so honest that every conversation you had with them ended up revolving around your faults? That's honesty to a fault, and that's Pim Verbeek. And despite their limitations, players like Danny Allsopp and Archie Thompson were hardly likely to produce positive results after such brutal “encouragement”.

How's that "promotion" to Morocco's U-21s working out, Pim?
Courtesy dohasportsplusqatar.com

While his latest assertions verge towards the correct – developing Australian footballers aren't of the same quality as those of fifteen years hence – Australia should still qualify for Brazil if their squad is managed adeptly.

Part of the blame for this dearth of top-end talent can be laid at Verbeek's size twelves. The Dutchman controlled Australia for three years, culminating in a morbid showing in the group of terminal illness at the Big Dance in 2010. During that time, he was relentless in his beliefs: not living in Australia, playing defensive formations and deploying far-flung experience at the expense of A-League promise.

The defining moment of his tenure in Australia wasn't a match, result or player evolution but a formation. In the Socceroos' ignominious defeat to Germany in their first match in South Africa, the team lined up in a 4-6-0 with untested Richard Garcia leading the line from the centre of midfield (and playing hideously out of position).

The Green and Gold Army was not only content but joyful at his departure. His time at the top left football in Australia without a legacy; in a period in which Australian soccer should have been building on the wonderful success of their 2006 World Cup campaign, his refusal to integrate local youth into an aging team was not only short-sighted but almost wilfully negligent.

His half-hidden attempt to parlay short-term Socceroo success into a bigger job was hardly surprising, but still disappointing because he was bequeathed a good team with a chance to establish something of real substance.

Perhaps Verbeek now feels able to comment because he recognises some of the same traits in Australian football as he, it's one-time figurehead, displayed as boss.  Yes, the country's footballing stocks are going through a changing phase, but as a smaller football nation that's the norm.  It's also a phase that was delayed nearly four years during his time in charge.

Tim Cahill joins New York Red Bulls

Courtesy: montrealgazette.com

The New York Red Bulls have (all-but) signed Australian Tim Cahill from English Premier League side Everton. He joins MLS after eight successful years on Merseyside as a attacking-minded midfielder. He's the kind of player who can – and will – succeed enormously in MLS.

The time was right for him to move on. As one of the youngest members of the the Socceroo Golden Generation, it was time for him to follow his ageing brethren in leaving a major league for a more fiscally rewarding one. Already this summer, his head was turned by enticements from Al-Nasr of the Saudi Professional league, among others. After a down 2011-12, Everton manager David Moyes obviously thought it best to sanction the move.

Other factors play into Cahill's eagerness to shift continents. Meaningful minutes – despite his stature, not guaranteed as a Toffee – should cement his spot in the Aussie midfield at the World Cup in Brazil in two years' time; any impact he makes will also be the first any Australian has had on MLS, hopefully making Cahill a trail blazer for Aussies chasing a step up from the A-League.

Despite this move suggesting Cahill sees himself more as a big fish in a smaller pond, RBNY secured a major bargain with the acquisition. He remains one of the best headers of the ball in world football, and still ghosts into the box like he trademarked the phrase. These traits should combine well with the silk of Thierry Henry and further strengthen New York's MLS Cup push. Cahill's relative youth and a move back into the midfield (he's played out of position as a striker for much of the past two seasons) make him not only a bargain but potentially a league-wide star.

Book Review: Sheilas, Wogs & Poofters - Johnny Warren

by Ben Roberts

This is my second foray into Australian football literature, the first having been spectacularly less than impressive. The good news is that the now decade-old 'Sheilas, Wogs and Poofters', a seminal work by the late and revered Johnny Warren is far better.   The bad news is that Warren fell into the standard traps of all passionate Australian soccer figures.

Cover image thanks to amazon.com.au

Warren had an amazing playing career, as he grew up in 1950s Australia where soccer was third or fourth on the list of sporting priorities for most - particularly "Anglos" such as Warren.  As is obviously - but fairly - portrayed by the title, a fair amount of tasteless stigma was also cast at those who played the sport.

Given the options available, Warren managed to forge a club and international career that deserves celebration. Representing the St George (Budapest) club with great distinction, Johnny Warren had to prove himself able to transcend ethnic boundaries; this culminated in 40-odd matches for Australia (including the 1974 World Cup) and showed bagfuls of dedication in an era where football hardly provided a glamourous lifestyle.

The matches played by the late-60's and early-70's Socceroos deserve legendary status, not just for the achievements of the team but also due to the scenarios in which they played. 


The Friendly Nations cup was played as an olive branch to the Vietnamese by Western anti-communist forces and is an amazing tale for the conditions (warfare) that the tournament was played within. As well, Warren eulogises some of his contemporaries who should receive more credit for their skills by those who believe that legendary status in Australian soccer began with Viduka and Kewell et al.

For the non-devoted supporter of soccer in Australia, there are two general criticisms that are aimed at the sport in this country. Firstly, the sport is constantly racked with infighting and controversy. Secondly, that the sport needs to stand on its own two feet and fight for its place in the recreational landscape; rather, it constantly complains about the level of media coverage afforded Australian Football or Rugby League. In the last third of the book, Warren spirals violently into into these two criticisms and his argument never recovers. If those in charge of the sport (ed: I'm looking at you, Ben Buckley) believe it is the best sport, they need to rise above internal strife and complaints about the competition and simply generate a product that engages and attracts the masses.

This book is recommended for a good summary history of the sport in Australia and an interesting life story that is at the same time stereotypically Australian.  It  is, however, very different from your usual sporting heroes.   

Three stars.

Hiddink's Anzhi choice says it all

They say you should never meet your heroes.

Or see them sign for Anzhi Makhachkala.

When Guus Hiddink last week signed on to manage the pseudo-Dagestan-based club, it opened the eyes of several admirers to the single greatest driving factor behind his choice of clubs.

Hiddink is held in lofty esteem across most of Australia, the greater part of Holland, significant chunks of Russia, the entirety of South Korea and certain isolated boroughs in West London.  His reputation stretches far further.  He tolerates lesser esteem in Madrid and Turkey.

Since a late-career-defining spell in charge of home nation South Korea at the 2002 World Cup, there have been certain threads which have emerged from his plethora of management appointments.  At his success stories, his charges have been unified and played fluid football true to his football education where his professors were Johans Cruyff and Neeskens.

His managerial stock-in-trade is simple, yet effective: empowerment without toadying.  This took a spirited Australia within minutes of the quarter-finals at Germany 2006 and empowered a fractious Russia unit at Euro 2008.  At club level, his mid-decade PSV Eindhoven units were an Eredivisie power while he’s the only manager this side of Mourinho to coax consistency from the Chelsea cabal.

But with his last half-dozen assignments, the most striking aspect has not been the customary “Hiddink effect” – though that has been there.  What’s most conspicuous is how devoted Guus Hiddink has been to obeying Deep Throat.

Hiddink, like no other manager of the past decade, has been utterly beguiled by cash.  His continued “close” association with Abramovich – and now Suleyman Kerimov – has once and for all exemplified Guus’ priorities beyond the doubts of even his most ardent supporters.  His choice of clubs isn’t predicated upon the “project”, challenge, lifestyle or ambition but purely money.  A reported 12 million pounds can assuage a lot of doubts.

Where others, like Sven-Goran Eriksson, may be opportunistic, dating back to his lucrative Australia deal, Hiddink has specifically chosen positions which offer the highest remuneration.  Especially given his stoush with the Dutch tax agency, he is well within his rights to do so, but such a decision shears away some of the charm that’s made him loved in so many countries. 

A player, coach or administrator is robbed of much of their appeal by a mercenary nature; and despite the patently vast/unresistable/ridiculous sums of money involved in this deal the same is true with Hiddink – a man whose easygoing manner has seen him generally avoid any muck slung his direction.

Accepting the position in charge of Anzhi doesn’t discredit his redoubtable coaching skills, tactical ingenuity or personal integrity.  It just throws his decision-making process into the public eye and lays bare latent reasons that romantic sports fans would prefer remained obscure.  He will be lauded in Australia – also in South Korea, Russia, Chelsea and Holland – but his walk-on-water act has been proven not as the works of the apostle Paul but of Paul Daniels.

In fact, while many or most will wish him well in Dagestan – or Moscow, as the case may be – there is only likely to be one person actively excited for him in his new job.  That’s the man whose own job security was inherently tied to Hiddink’s availability, Chelsea boss and former Abramovich paramour, Andre Villas-Boas.  Villas-Boas, who now displays the same clear thinking that marked Phil Brown’s period as part-time Samaritan.

Since his adroit patch-up job in 2008, Hiddink has been the nominal successor to any floundering Chelsea boss.  Only purest naievete would suggest his acceptance of Dagestani employment was an act of altruism aimed at shoring up Villas-Boas' faltering reign - Guus Hiddink may be many things, but tends to pragmatism, not philanthropy.

To the outsider, there is something unsavoury about the close relationships he enjoys with Russian billionaires.  If clubs such as Chelsea and Anzhi are often seen as playthings, Guus Hiddink becomes by association nothing more than a well-paid Ken doll brought in to complete Kerimov’s brand-new Barbie set.  One can only hope he is content in such a role.

Remembering Unthanked Socceroo heroes

November 15, 2005.

Six years ago Australian football changed forever. It was on that night that Guus Hiddink's Socceroos upset Uruguay to claim their first World Cup berth since 1974.

The team featured the best collection of footballing talent Australia had produced to that point, led by Mark Viduka and the genius Dutchman who inspired almost single-handedly an antipodean worship of the principles of Total Football. Many still speak in hushed tones of Hiddink's regard for Australia and his "constant contact" with the Socceroos he befriended during their star-cross'd '06 campaign.

SBS commentator Craig Foster tweeted about the that incredible evening yesterday, reminding us that the national anthem was booed, of Mark Bresciano's levelling goal, how much we feared Alvaro Recoba and finally, Mark Schwarzer's saves and John Aloisi's incredible penalty. It ranks as one of my top three sporting memories of all time - I can remember the friends I watched it with, how many beers I drank and ever half-cut scream of delight at Schwarzer's heroics.

Source: Twitter.com

 That wonderful night - friends and I ran down the main street of our town in our underwear, so happy were we - was one of the highest points in Australian football, rivalled by the 1997 Confederations Cup and matches against Japan, Brazil, Croatia and Italy at the 2006 Big Dance.

Though that evening at the Sydney Olympic Stadium was wonderful, the administration that went into November 15, 2005 was perhaps more surprising that a Socceroo upset victory. For so long split by infighting, the FFA had reached a turning point in the years prior. If Cahill, Kewell, Viduka and Moore was our "Golden Generation", then Australian football's dream management team backed that talent.

They may even rival Aloisi and Schwarzer as the real heroes of that night.

Chairman Frank Lowy and CEO John O'Neill were installed in the years before and it was Lowy's hefty billfold that funded the temporary acquisition of Hiddink, who was then managing PSV Eindhoven. Though he brought a World Cup to Australian Rugby Union, O'Neill has never administrated more masterfully than over that World Cup campaign. As any business entity goes, let alone the a race-torn and struggling sports administration, it worked superbly: Lowy provided the gift of vision, O'Neill got things done. This all allowed Hiddink to do what he was paid for: get the most out of his men.

After Lowy and O'Neill took office, they began by disbanding the ailing, nationalistic NSL and replaced it with the A-League. A complete re-boot was needed and the domestic game - while hardly thriving - is in much calmer (and less violent, except when Kevin Muscat and John Kosmina are involved) waters than ever before. The model ascended to such prominence in the next two years that the National Basketball League has recently followed suit in attempting to re-brand.

courtesy: free-football.tv

The pair also spearheaded Australia's move into the Asian Football Confederation. This was aimed at giving Australian domestic competition the chance to thrive in a stronger, more well-funded sphere of influence. Qualification wouldn't ride on a head-to-head versus New Zealand and then playing the fifth-placed Asian or South American team. As in business and politics, Australia now looks towards their nearest - rather than most phenotypically similar - relations.

This move brought about Adelaide FC's march to the 2008 Asian Champions' League final and empowered several fringe Socceroos to move to Qatar, China, Japan or South Korea for better remuneration than the nascent A-League could afford. Qualification for the World Cup is desirable; actually having a strong football fraternity is actually more crucial.

While we remember that wonderful night, it's also time to pay tribute to the visionaries behind it. If Hiddink is thought alongside Rale Rasic as as Australia's greatest coach, then O'Neill and Lowy deserve to be thought of with similar fondness.

Socceroos balanced in defeating Wales

The Socceroos' upcoming World Cup campaign looks on firm ground. This morning's friendly against Wales showed the evident class of both sides' top players, but a workmanlike Australia were the superior team against a side whose Premier League pedigree belies it's FIFA ranking of 119.

courtesy: soccerwallpaper.mackafe.com

Up front, Tim Cahill and Scott McDonald (remember him?) pulled the strings for the Socceroos, while for extended periods the Aussies were able to nullify Wales' influential wide men Craig Bellamy and Gareth Bale.

McDonald, who still hasn't scored after 26 Socceroo caps, has never been faulted for effort in Australian gold and this was again the case today. He was busy up front and with Tim Cahill had a role to play in both goals. Given his 5'9 frame, leading the line in what amounted to a 4-4-1-1 hardly accentuated his gifts, but he regularly puts in Tevez-like endeavour, if without the pursuant goals.

More encouragement took the form of the central midfield matchup, where Neil Kilkenny of local Bristol City and Serie B's best bargain, Carl Valeri, more than matched the talent and experience of Aaron Ramsey and David Vaughn respectively.

It was hardly an exquisite spectacle - more an unkempt tussle in which the Australians collected themselves more quickly than their opposition. They pulled away when perpetually underrated right-back Luke Wilkshire first thundered a long-range shot against Wayne Hennessey's upright and minutes later delivered a pinpoint cross that Cahill powered into the bottom right corner.

He also curtailed Welsh WMD Bale, while the less experienced combination of Matt McKay and Michael Zullo were able to somewhat negate Bellamy's influence on the left. When Wilkshire was pulled at half time, the opposition flankers were far more able to shape the game.

As The Age's Michael Lynch has pointed out on Twitter, the blend of youth and experience should hearten the Green and Gold army.

The team is defensively sound, with Michael Zullo, Matthew Spiranovic and Rhys Williams all impressing. Williams' presence was impressive, while Spiranovic made a habit of being in the right place at the right time. McKay, though unlikely to have damaged his prospects of moving to Rangers, showed again some David Carney-esque tendencies at left back: good going forward, but was often beaten for pace and lateral movement by (very good 'uns) Craig Bellamy and Bale.

It was after Zullo, Wilkshire and Neill had all been withdrawn that a miscommunication at a set piece left Wales right-back Darcy Blake alone to score.

All appears positive for the Socceroos behind the ball. The midfield, though for the meantime shorn of the class of Bresciano and Kewell, is bustling, harrying and athletic. It is only going forward that the Socceroos don't have a good mix of experience and exuberance. When Robbie Kruse put home the rebound from a McDonald's shot, it served to contrast his fortunes with those of McDonald: when the Middlesbrough man scores his first Socceroo goal, it must be written that the earth will open and swallow him whole.

There is hope in Kruse's ability to find the net and McDonald's endeavour can begin to capitalise on delivery which has improved markedly since Osieck took over from Pim Verbeek. The team is still disconcertingly reliant on attacking midfielders Cahill and Holman to score. But this, after the Germany matches and a valiant Asian Cup, is encouragement enough for now.

A new coach, a new beginning

Australia under Holger Osieck are proving a very different proposition than their time under the overly-watchful eye of Pim Verbeek. Where the Dutchman was cautious to a (large) fault, the German has endowed Australia with sensible selection policy, good play from his A-League complement and even the occasional 4-4-2 formation. He is the Anti-Pim and the players seem to be responding.

Of course the Socceroos have since the days of Terry Venables been able to compete - and sometimes win - against good opposition. Under Verbeek they managed several creditable results but it was obvious to fans that Verbeek's skill lay not in winning matches, but saving them. It seemed he thought success came not through craftsmanship but took the opposite, utilitarian direction. Perhaps, like Roy Hodgson's alleged Liverpool crimes, he is better at producing draws than either wins or losses.

As a manager, there isn't a better opportunity infuse your breed of football into a team than to prove it's efficacy against a bogey-side. Yesterday's win in Moenchengladbach was just that - further validation of Osieck's appointment and Australian management's insistence on a manger who could nurture growth in the Socceroo squad.

When Australia lined up against Germany in Durban for their first World Cup match, they fielded a 4-6-0 formation with the main intent being damage control. In that formation both Richard Garcia - in his first competitive international - and Tim Cahill played out of position and turned in almost career-worst nights. The Socceroos were soundly defeated 4-0 and any hopes of making the second round from the Group of Terminal Illness were quashed. The Green and Gold army scoffed at an obvious lack of trust - and received a performance, hamstrung by a complete absence of forwards, could be read one of two ways. The cautious would suggest the inoffensive formation actually prevented even more of a mauling; those favouring a more balanced lineup would just suggest players don't perform when they're not trusted.

Yesterday - in enemy, rather than neutral, territory - the Socceroos stayed with a 4-4-2 the entire match, having both the resilience and chutzpah to absorb German forays and then return the attack. The result was 2-1 and only the most miserly would deny Australia's achievement against a strong Teutonic team. Osieck's stock is rising after an impressive Asian Cup campaign and should he continue to drink from Guus Hiddink's "You can do anything" juice, the Socceroos will continue to remain challenging for a Top-20 berth in the FIFA World Rankings.

Asian Cup Semi Final Diary: Australia vs. Uzbekistan

The Asian Cup nears it's culmination this week as the Semi-Finals and Finals are played. Traditional powers contested one semi, Japan and South Korea; while two of the region's newer tyros are to fight out the second - still new-to-region Australia and the wealthy Uzbekistan, their FFA's pockets filled by natural resource money. This morning's first semi-final had the Blue Samurai progressing on penalties after a goal each in extra time - South Korea levelled right on 120 minutes. The shootout a bit anticlimactic as none of the first three South Koreans converted their spot-kicks.

The Uzbeks got here by defeating Jordan in the Quarter-Finals while Australia have been troubled only rarely in the tournament so far but needed extra time to beat Iraq in the round previous. While we talk about this year's Asian Cup, I'll intersperse it with what's happening in Qatar.

Kick off. No surprises in the Australia lineup. Honestly don't know enough about the Uzbeks to say if their team has any major changes.

There's no coincidence that it's these four in the Semi-Finals. The leagues in Japan, Korea and Australia, while unable to compete for cash with the excessively wealthy Arabic and Emirati leagues, so don't have necessarily the most high-end talent but rather deepest leagues from top team to bottom.

GOOAALLL! Harry Kewell, you little beauty! After only five minutes, what a way to start! Played in beautifully by David Carney, he slots it low to the left of the Uzbek goalie Juraev. Silky smooth, just as you'd expect of a player with his talents. He scored the winner in the quarter-final too - repaying the Australian nation's public with his performances.

The South Koreans have been led by the usual suspects - Park Ji-Sung and striker Koo Ja-Cheol who scored in all their group games. For Japan it's been Dortmund's Shiniji Kagawa and CSKA Moscow's Keisuke Honda fronting their attack. For the Uzbeks, well, who knows? Almost their entire squad plays at home in the petro-funded Uzbek league.

Like against Iraq in the 2007 Asian Cup Finals, Australia are bossing any physical encounters only to be outmanoeuvred by their lighter-footed opponents. Younis Mahmoud was just outstanding that day, today it seems to be the stupendously named Ulugbek Bakaev.

Australia have been led by another old stager - Harry Kewell. A figure who prompts both derision and admiration back home, the average Aussie is certain Kewell's our most gifted footballer ever. Sadly though, Harry's struggled to repay his country on the largest stages as injury robbed him of his physical gifts and a possible lack of desire means he's turned out for the 'Roos less than we'd like.

Unusually Wilkshire's been beaten for pace a few times on the right and has fouled his man in dangerous positions. It's Uzbek captain Server Djeparov and defender Viktor Kaprenko causing the problems.

Kewell's only turned it on for the Green and Gold army early on where he scored home and away against Iran in the World Cup Playoffs 1997. Then and his memorable goal in the 2006 World Cup. Aside from that, his time in the national setup has been largely disappointing and for the most part nonexistent. Since he joined Galatasary he's been somewhat revitalised . Perhaps Australia's most famous footballing export and his Golden Generation comrades may yet win a trophy to back up all the hype over the years.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!

Ognenovski, too. What a player, it's probably Pim Verbeek's largest legacy that he decided time and again against picking this guy. From a set piece, headed by Cahill (who else?) into the path of the big man who calmly finished it off. Kisses all round - teammates, wedding band alike. 35min in.

Uzbekistan's more famous footballing moments of late have been high-profile mistakes, really. Aside from the goal that wasn't at the Asian Games in November - their keeper was almost as palpably culpable as the immortal Khalfan Fahad - Uzbekistan football last hit the headlines when their largest club Bunyudkor, one of the Asian Champions' League's usual suspects employed Big Phil, Luis Felipe Scolari ...

Geez, that was close. Carney chests down to Schwarzer in the box with an Uzbek striker not far away. Carney going forward is a great threat for Australia. Carney defending is also a great threat for Australia, and not in a good way.

... As I was saying, Bunyudkor must've paid through the nose for Big Phil, who then promptly brought Rivaldo to the club. They played one Champions' League game in Adelaide and lost, Rivaldo was still there but Big Phil had gone back to Brazil by then. Rivaldo's back there now, too.

One minute of extra time in the first half. Uzbekistan creates down the left again - Wilkshire's man, strange, he's usually the best of our defenders - and the cross finds an open man at the top of the box. His drive goes well wide though.

Half Time.

Ready to go in the second half.

Oooh, that was a real cahnce for Harry. Long through ball from Matt McKay, right on the money and Kewell didn't control it to his satisfaction, cleared for a coner, which Australia wins the header and it goes wide. They've really got the best of the air.

Taking a glance through the stats at half time and you've got to feel for Walid Abbas of the UAE. He managed to score two own goals in one tournament which could be some sort of record. The UAE only managed three games too. The goalscorers are interesting, South Korea's Koo Ja-Cheol and Bahrain's Ismael Abdullatif have four, and Our Harry has three, crucial ones too.

Looks like a sub's going to come on for Australia, 22yo Robbie Kruse of the Melbourne Victory seems to be warming up. Maybe coach Holger Osieck wants to keep Cahill or Kewell fresh for the final if we make it. Neither have a card so it's not to ensure discipline. Turns out Harry Kewell's coming off for the in-form Victory striker.

The Asian Champions League and Asian Cup really seems to have benefited from Australia's involvement. I don't think the smaller nations are necessarily going to lose out by having anthoer top-30 ranked team ....

Really nice move by Kruse - wrong-foots a defender from the left and challenges the goalkeeper with a fizzing shot. Uzbekistan have made a substitution, with Hasanov coming off for Bikmaev.

Anyway, I think Australia involved in Asia adds to the lustre and considering this tournament was won by war-torn Iraq last time and Uzbekistan have made it to the semis this time around there shouldn't be too much of a debate about the detrimental effects to smaller nations. Both countries have good footballing traditions but lesser repute.

Holger Osieck is up off the bench now, chatting to the referee. There really have been some dubious calls go against Australia. A little bit too much razzle-dazzle attempted by the Uzbeks as their buildup work is shorted out by Australian defenders.

Another Uzbek substitution now as Tursinov is sent on by coach Vadim Abramov.

Abramov, who sports the archetypal Eastern European mullet and simply enormous 'tache which makes him look the spitting image of the Paddle Pop Lion.

Australia are doing better now, controlling possession well as Kruse and Cahill hold the ball up well. Emerton on now for Holman as Bikmaev's free kick deflects off the wall for a corner. The Uzbeks really are going down very easily - they're aware the Aussies have a reputation for physical play and as such may be trying to exploit any preconceived ideas the referees may have.

What is a strength for Australia in Asia can also be a weakness. Typically our defenders are big strong strapping types - Craig Moore and Ognenovski are perfect examples - who are able to mix it up in the box and also...

Good looking movement ... Carney SCORES!!!! 3-0 Australia, we're going to the Asian Cup Final!! Carney received it from Matt McKay - an A-League guy who's played extremely well today - down the left as he nutmegs the goalkeeper. Tim Cahill signalling to the bench, he may be done for the day. Great play by no. 9, going around four Australian defenders only to shoot straight at Schwarzer. Ognenovski and Bakaev get into it -

And Bakaev picks up his second yellow! He's off! Clattered Luke Wilkshire - horrible tackle. Coach Abramov looks distinctly unimpressed.

Yeah, Aussie defenders - and midfielders too, to be honest - tend to physically dominate Asian midfields because Indonesian and (great chance goes begging as Cahill beats three, crosses to a beautifully-positioned Kruse who takes one touch too many and scuffs his shot into the keeper) Thai squads don't have the muscle to compete in the contest. It also, however, means that when exposed to the low-centre-of-gravity dribblers of which Asian has a multitude, they can be wound in circles.

Karpamov off for Ibragimamov; Leeds United's Neil Kilkenny - the perpetual Next Big Thing of Australian football - on for Tim Cahill. Another forward thrust by the Socceroos, they're really starting to put the foot on the throat. Emerton gets the ball from Kruse and the Uzbek keeper saves.

Still on the size differential, that inability to deal with the tricksters could be the reason that a right-back, Lucas Neill, has been our most effective centre-half for half a decade. It's probably also that the former Soviet Republics are a much easier proposition for Australia because their lienups have a little more si ... -

GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL! Robbie Kruse finds Brett Emerton and surely Australia can't be stopped. Long ball from Wilkshire to Kruse who beat the last defender for pace, got inside the area and squared it for Emerton who finished under pressure. Kruse has looked really good)

... size. The Uzbeks are big, physically impressive players up front and down back, who, though while creative aren't of the same agility as a Honda or Kagawa of Japan.

Australia are starting to exploit a tired Uzbek side. Golden Chance as it's a 4 on 2 fast break and Kruse, searching for his first international goal, has his shot saved by the keeper. With quite a bit of time to go, this could get ugly for the Uzbeks. They're not at the races so far this half and have been sliced open time and again by Kruse, Kewell, Cahill and the like.

Australia's chief concern now has to be preserving discipline and ensuring they don't lose any players for a Japan side against whom the Socceroos have only a middling record. Since the 2006 World Cup match where we came back to win 3-1 in the last fifteen minutes, I've been hooked on football, so this game will have some special significance. We lost (on penalties I think) against them in the 2007 Asian Cup so there's a little bit of major tournament rivalry going on between the two. Add to that a few of Australia's best play in the J-League and we could have a real hum-dinger of a final on Sunday.

GOOOOAAAALL!! Valeri this time, after great build up and hustle from the Australians. Abramov has resigned himself to taking this pantsing as the Uzbeks couldn't clear the ball, Kruse flicks it on with delicious skills to Matt McKay, who crosses for Valeri in the centre of the penalty box who slams it home. Emphatic performance by the Socceroos.

ANOTHER ONE!!!!!! GOOOOALLL! Kruse this time, as he takes the ball from the kick off, skirts four defenders, proceeds to the edge of the area and fires it past the hapless Uzbek keeper Juraev. 6-0!!! He deserves that, he's been brilliant since coming on and his teammates tell him so. Mark Schwarzer has even come up from goal to congratulate him. Perhaps one of the most celebrated sixth goals ever, they're happy for the lad.

Abramov looks like he's been told he has only days to live. He's already at stage 5 of the seven stages of grief by now.

Uzbekistan muster one final attack and Tursunov's attempt is deflected over by Schwarzer. The corner and it's re-take is cleared. Uzbekistan has barely approached their penalty area this half, it's been a dominant Socceroo performance. Three minutes of added time and it can't go quickly enough for the luckless Uzbeks, who talk in defence about as often as Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie do now.

As good as this performance has been by the Aussies, the Uzbeks really have dropped their heads here in the second half.

WHISTLE! Aurelio Vidmar congratulates Holger Osieck as the German makes the rounds of his players. Uzbekistan will have to regroup in the most startling way and cope without their best striker Bakaev on Saturday when they take on South Korea for third place. I'd back them to play much better than they did here today - after half time they were insipid.

Australia v. Japan? Well, a different story. Japan may have "played their final already" with today's penalty victory against their arch-rival, where Australia may have wanted a more thorough hit out before such a big match which easily rates as one of the largest in our history. No injuries, no suspensions it seems and only a fool would underestimate the Japanese on Sunday.

It was good to see that it was younger guys like Matt McKay and Robbie Kruse who led the team with Kewell rather than the guys we've relied on in the past like Luke Wilkshire, Lucas Neill and Tim Cahill. Bring on Sunday's final!