The Official Football Thread 2005/2006 (3 Viewers)

[johnny_87]

I think the $5.10 and $9 betandwin.com are offering for us to make the 2nd rd or 1/4s looks good! Croatia and Japan seem to be struggling for confidence, and hopefully their morale will be low. Apart from Japan's draw with Germany, the other recent results for these teams have been poor (Croatia - 1-1 with Iran, 0-1 to Poland, Japan 1-0 over Malta)

 

[copious]

u guys using sportstab?

 

[stazi]

centrebet is much better than sportstab for ads (and you can use direct deposit)

 

[copious]

sweet thanks for the heads up, time for me to open an account.

 

[johnny_87]

Sportstab have awful odds. betandwin.com are still offering 3.65 for Brazil to win compared to just 2.90 for Sportstab. Betandwin.com also have much more options.

 

[johnny_87]

I'm about to join both centrebet and betandwin. Do you just sign up and use your credit card?

 

[- L1n -]

Umm No. If you think that we played to the best of our ability then you must have just started watching football. We were flat. Add to that our passing and marking wasn't that great and we didn't have a first team on. So not only did we not play to the best of our ability with those players, but once we get our first team all together (yeah I cant stand the bloke but Kewell makes a huge difference) I think we can be a force to be reckoned with, and I don't see why I can't expect us to advance quite far in the tournament. I'm not being blinded from reality, I am just optimistic and I find that if you don't expect to compete with the best, then you won't. And believe me Guus and the boys will expect to compete with the best. This can be evidenced in Guus pre game interview when he said he wanted us to control the game. Against Holland. In Rotterdam with a few 2nd string players against their fulll strength ranked 3rd in the world team. So Guus expects something out of this team also. Or are you one of those aim low and then you'll better your expectation type of people?? How many champions (in all sports) have ever done that (I realise Golfers don't count)?

Also no good Holland being the better team if they can't convert their opportunities.

No i'm being realistic i don't aim low but be realistic here Brazil wasn't made in 1 night. Theres a reason why we played flat, it was because the dutch put tremendous pressure on our plays what do u expect, us to perform like we did agianst Greece? a less techinically gifted side, no offence to the greeks. Having no Kewell is no excuse Netherlands did'nt have Van der Vaart, and to me Van Der Vaart brings holland that extra spark in Midfield.

 

[theone123]

Fair effort by the Aussies, hopefully all the jitters are now out of the system and the team can really focus towards Japan.

oh and btw....Brazil beat New Zealand 4-0

in my honest opinion, australia will not stand a chance to Brazil like what the papers had been saying

i think australia may have a chance surpassing to the next stage, but its going to the real hard against the 3 heavyweights.

 

[matt#1]

in my honest opinion, australia will not stand a chance to Brazil like what the papers had been saying

i think australia may have a chance surpassing to the next stage, but its going to the real hard against the 3 heavyweights.

You sound disappointed by the fact that the Aussies might not be able to compete with Brazil. If so, you are obviously blinded from the reality that Brazil are the best team in the world. The live and breathe football over there....whereas it isn't even really one of our major sports over here yet (the A-League is going some way to fixing that though).

I'm not one of those "aim low and exceed your expectations" type of people, but I really think that making it to the group stage will be a fantastic achievement by us.

...and who are the '3 heavyweights' that we are supposedly going to have a hard time against? I would say that there are about 10 heavyweight sides in terms of overall talent and depth competing in this world cup.

 

[my sharona]

Hi all! *waves* nice to see most of you guys are still here.

There's a lot written about how it doesn't matter about the outcome, as long as Australia plays well. Interestingly enough last night Australia didn't play well at all, and still got a draw.

Although i find it mildly amusing that Australia manages to thoroughly piss off every team it plays - how angry was Ruud towards the end?

Even though Holland completely dominated, the moments where Aus did have possession of the ball were quite impressive and i think being ranked 39 places below them, having one less player and being away from home, we did quite well.

And shut up about Brazil, no one is expecting Australia to beat Brazil.

 

[copious]

Also keep in mind, we managed to beat Uruguay who live and breath football also, its a remarkable achievement already. Savour the moment we get to witness this crop of players on the world stage fellas,it's probaly our most talented bunch to date

 

[bazookajoe]

in my honest opinion, australia will not stand a chance to Brazil like what the papers had been saying

i think australia may have a chance surpassing to the next stage, but its going to the real hard against the 3 heavyweights.

Japan and Croatia are hardly heavyweights

 

[Jimmy_B]

Having no Kewell is no excuse Netherlands did'nt have Van der Vaart, and to me Van Der Vaart brings holland that extra spark in Midfield.

if rafa was fit, who's place would he take in the starting lineup?

 

[johnny_87]

Probably Sneijder Jimmy.

 

[dilroy]

Australia is the Team of Pain! :evil: Very aggresive football, I like it!... only if we can pull it off though.

 

[matt#1]

Australia is the Team of Pain! :evil: Very aggresive football, I like it!... only if we can pull it off though.

Our agressive style of play is definitely one of our strengths. It should unsettle some of the more skillful but less aggressive sides. I still can't help but think that we were just a bit too agressive last night in what was supposed to be a friendly match on the eve of the world cup. It was encouraging though .

 

[bazookajoe]

I think Van Bommel was played instead of van der Vaart, I could be wrong though

 

[LMF^^]

Japan and Croatia are hardly heavyweights

Japan are Asian heavyweightz, but will hardly make any side twitch.

South Korea lost 1-3 to Ghana, and Cote d'Ivoire had an impressive 3-0 victory over Slovenia. Tunisia also won recent warm up matchez. It lookz like the African teamz may again make a major impact on the tournament. Togo though, shouldn't be there.

 

[DRAGONZ]

Just had to read about six pages of stuff since last night

Lots of interesting comments, I think Komit's was just about the best one.

Those complaining about ball retention and distribution don't realise the effect of another team's pressure. Anyone who has played the game before (I feel adequately qualified, playing every year since six years of age) would understand just how hard it becomes to maintain pinpoint accuracy with passes when the opposition is constantly in your face. It's just a *SPLIT* second difference between missing the intended recipient by five metres and hitting them on their instep. If you haven't played before, then believe me. Seriously. That's one of the major differences between Holland and Greece + Uruguay.

However, the marking at the back is something that we can control, and this was a disappointing result from last night's match. Rale Rasic correctly pointed out at half-time that Van Bommel's chance in the first half (when he ran behind Grella) can only be stopped through the ability to read the game, and unfortunately Australia just isn't technically apt enough to do this effectively. It's very worrying for the match against Brazil, but who cares about them, because that much is just about minimising damage and not conceding more than two goals, hopefully.

The collective effort of Moore and Neill in central defence was poor; mainly attributable to a lack of communication and understanding. They have only *just* re-started their relationship in central defence, it takes time. Cannavaro and Nesta didn't say hello to each other for the first time two weeks ago.

Without Kewell, Viduka cut a lonely figure up front. I have an agenda against Sterjovski, he's a nuffie and shouldn't be allowed near the Australian team. Don't stick up for the Macedonian, Komit

Kewell + Cahill + Bresciano + Viduka + Culina .. it looks enticing IMO.

Some very encouraging signs for the Aussies last night, and a few worrying ones. Guus was very happy with the match, which means we should all be happy with the match too. He'll work on the frailties in the next week, and Australia should produce much better performances in the World Cup proper.

GO YOU AUSSIES!!





P.S. I saw the ad for Fat Pizza's Da Vinci Code of Football .. or something like that .. it's on tonight at 9pm, SBS .. watch it, it looks funny!

 

[otay]

Just had to read about six pages of stuff since last night

Lots of interesting comments, I think Komit's was just about the best one.

Those complaining about ball retention and distribution don't realise the effect of another team's pressure. Anyone who has played the game before (I feel adequately qualified, playing every year since six years of age) would understand just how hard it becomes to maintain pinpoint accuracy with passes when the opposition is constantly in your face. It's just a *SPLIT* second difference between missing the intended recipient by five metres and hitting them on their instep. If you haven't played before, then believe me. Seriously. That's one of the major differences between Holland and Greece + Uruguay.

However, the marking at the back is something that we can control, and this was a disappointing result from last night's match. Rale Rasic correctly pointed out at half-time that Van Bommel's chance in the first half (when he ran behind Grella) can only be stopped through the ability to read the game, and unfortunately Australia just isn't technically apt enough to do this effectively. It's very worrying for the match against Brazil, but who cares about them, because that much is just about minimising damage and not conceding more than two goals, hopefully.

The collective effort of Moore and Neill in central defence was poor; mainly attributable to a lack of communication and understanding. They have only *just* re-started their relationship in central defence, it takes time. Cannavaro and Nesta didn't say hello to each other for the first time two weeks ago.

Without Kewell, Viduka cut a lonely figure up front. I have an agenda against Sterjovski, he's a nuffie and shouldn't be allowed near the Australian team. Don't stick up for the Macedonian, Komit

Kewell + Cahill + Bresciano + Viduka + Culina .. it looks enticing IMO.

Some very encouraging signs for the Aussies last night, and a few worrying ones. Guus was very happy with the match, which means we should all be happy with the match too. He'll work on the frailties in the next week, and Australia should produce much better performances in the World Cup proper.

GO YOU AUSSIES!!





P.S. I saw the ad for Fat Pizza's Da Vinci Code of Football .. or something like that .. it's on tonight at 9pm, SBS .. watch it, it looks funny!

Good analysis dude. I agree with everything you said. I was maybe one of those people who criticised the passing and like I've said before I agree that it is much much harder against a quality side, but I still don't like it was as good as we can do. I don't expect it to be like against Greece or what not, but it still could have been better (especially getting it out of defence, Moore and Neill made some horrid passes when they werent being closed down and went straight to the dutch, not even an aussie nearby). But yeah agree with what you've said. The Da Vinci Cup : Fat Pizza btw is fucking great. But your only gettin the last of the 3 episode series, hope a dvd comes out, its fuckn good