A Force To Be Reckoned With

[Nignoy]

After such a great and skilful performance for 92 minutes!! to be knocked out of the cup by a last minute penalty, was indeed a disappointing end to the Roo,s cup run, Myself as a well known partaker of the mickey out of my colonial friends and neighbours as old croc and Udon will verify,I can hear the protests and outcry how the Roo,s were robbed how the ref was blind or biased, but as Gerd Muller stated in a discussion after the match in great detail,a sliding tackle from behind in the penalty area does not have to contact the rival player, just cause him to stumble and thus remove his chance of a shot at goal, even the intent or attempt to tackle an attacking playerfrom behind in the penalty area, is enough to warrant a penalty.But if it had happened at the other end the theatrical performance would have been just as good !!bad luck australia, you have a great platform to build on for the next world cup, and 350.000dollars per player is not a bad wage for a month Nignoy

[Donz]

Its BS, we would have won the cup.

The refs were against us in every game.

[Gary A]

What can we say? It's easy to be against the Aussies. I'm always against the Aussies unless there happens to be a Brit around. We then join forces to make the Brit as miserable as possible. It's pretty easy to make a Brit more miserable because they are normally already miserable.

Its BS, we would have won the cup.

The refs were against us in every game.

[Scott]

I am sorry for the die-hard Aussie fans. May you live to win another day!

[Ulysses G.]

I'm American and know nothing about real football, but it seems to be more luck than skill that determines who wins the World Cup.

Am I wrong?

[Pink Mist]

I'd say as far as this comp goes th Aussies were pretty unlucky not to get a decent ref in all their games, but having said that they should have beaten the Iti's when down to 10 men

[leftcross]

australia did well to get that far. im pleased italy won, they deserved it.

[percy2]

What can we say? It's easy to be against the Aussies. I'm always against the Aussies unless there happens to be a Brit around. We then join forces to make the Brit as miserable as possible. It's pretty easy to make a Brit more miserable because they are normally already miserable.

Its BS, we would have won the cup.

The refs were against us in every game.

Its so sad that the Aussies and the Septics are both out and England are through to the 1/4 finals.

We're terribly miserable that your out

Cheers

[tourleadersi]

What can we say? It's easy to be against the Aussies. I'm always against the Aussies unless there happens to be a Brit around. We then join forces to make the Brit as miserable as possible. It's pretty easy to make a Brit more miserable because they are normally already miserable.

Its BS, we would have won the cup.

The refs were against us in every game.

Thats true on occassions when we are around our Antipodean cousins. You guys make us miss home so much you see!

[Donz]

Well I guess we cant win every sport

[Pink Mist]

we can and will you see

[ProfessorFart]

Beware. Don't hail a false dawn.

There have been a few sides in recent years who have done well at World Cups and then faded away into obscurity. Cameroon, Bulgaria and Nigeria spring to mind. OK Aus have played well as did the aforementioned teams but it could well be a case of having 22 good players around at the right time as opposed to any real change in the quality of Australian football.

What Australian football needs to do, or rather must do, is to capitalise on this success and build up the domestic league into a marketable product.

Once this is done you will start to retain some of your talent in Australia and improve the quality of your home league even more, instead of allowing all of your promising young talent being snapped up by big European clubs as is the case now.

OK, the cream of the crop is always going to be snapped up by Europe but if you can build a domestic league which can generate enough income to tempt some top level players to stay, and even tempt in top players from Europe who may be nearing the end of their careers, you'll then have the infrastructure in place to be producing top level players consistently at International level.

Edited June 27, 2006 by ProfessorFart

[jackr]

What can we say? It's easy to be against the Aussies. I'm always against the Aussies unless there happens to be a Brit around. We then join forces to make the Brit as miserable as possible. It's pretty easy to make a Brit more miserable because they are normally already miserable.

What a strange person.

[Pink Mist]

they are doing exactly that Farty and will be entering the asian league this year I believe

[thankuverybig]

who'd have thought it an italian player diving.

i was having a drink with an ozzie the other night & he recons footbal is going to really take off in oz.

i hope so,ive give up watching the international cricket,its too painful.

Edited June 27, 2006 by thankuverybig

[Nignoy]

they are doing exactly that Farty and will be entering the asian league this year I believe

pleased with all the comments ,once the football powers that be in Oz decide to permit players from other parts of the country to play professionally, or even to admit that soccer exists outside of Melbourne and Sydney maybe then soccer will become more popular, back in the dark ages we had a young aussie lodger in our pub in Bootle,he left australia because nobody would even give him a trial for a team, his name was craig johnstone he was good enough to be snapped up by liverpool,it was a valiant effort from the socceroo,s , better luck next time nignoy

[tourleadersi]

What can we say? It's easy to be against the Aussies. I'm always against the Aussies unless there happens to be a Brit around. We then join forces to make the Brit as miserable as possible. It's pretty easy to make a Brit more miserable because they are normally already miserable.

What a strange person.

Its one thing I've never figured out. In rugby if the Northern Hemisphere is playing the Southern, I always support the team from the North, be they Scotland, Ireland, Wales and on occasion France. Yet most of them seem to support whoever is against England. It never really made sense.

A few years ago England was beating everyone. If I was a Scotsman, I would have thought that cheering for England to beat everyone else after defeating us would help to elevate their position in the order. "They beat us, but hey, they beat everyone...."

Is the hate for the English based in personal experience or is it something that is just handed down and followed blindly. I don't recall any English lords claiming prima nocturna recently, or burning down any dwellings on the Glens....

[ProfessorFart]

I must admit its great hearing these Aussies talking about 'Diving, cheating Italians' and sounding like proper football fans at last!

[Pink Mist]

I must admit its great hearing these Aussies talking about 'Diving, cheating Italians' and sounding like proper football fans at last!

glad you are happy farty

it has done the game a lot of good here with the WC results.

the game has been well managed and marketed here for a while now and i guess the results are coming along slowly but are there.

the national league was (is) a real success story and has involved a lot of new previously non soccer type people.

The way the game is being promoted here now its difficult not to see results TV hilites, talkback Ozzie rules programs are discussing issues etc.

I think the long running fear (paranoia)of soccer taking over from Ozzie rules and league has dissapeared and they now realise there is room for all codes.

Basketball and baseball are also doing OK providing the seppos with a few recruits for their NBL

[Hermano Lobo]

Harry Kewell has gout ! Painful indeed.

He may have made the difference.

The Italians are overrated.

Very sorry the Aussies went out.

Good team, great manager.

[Youbloodybeauty]

I'm American and know nothing about real football, but it seems to be more luck than skill that determines who wins the World Cup.

Am I wrong?

football SOCCER!

[britmaveric]

Beware. Don't hail a false dawn.

What Australian football needs to do, or rather must do, is:

Actually have Australians playing instead of Croats!!

[steveromagnino]

I'm American and know nothing about real football, but it seems to be more luck than skill that determines who wins the World Cup.

Am I wrong?

football SOCCER!

There is some football in USA, it just seems like it is a minority interest, with most people prefering to eat fast food and watch sport or something; pity because even though it is a bit soft compared to rugby, it is a great game.

I will take the point though, football is a low scoring game, so luck comes into it in refereeing decisions more than say rugby or basketball, where a few bad decisions get evened out over the course of a game since there is more scoring; one harsh decision and that was it for Aussie, and a few other teams have been given the same treatment. However, no one has consistent luck except Korea last time round so you win some and lose some; Italy arguably should have been playing with 11 if you listen to the pasta/espresso crew around here.

I don't think you can win the WC in rugby or in soccer without a decent dose of skill, but the luck can overcome a bit; e.g. SA beating the All Blacks in 95 due to food poisoning wiping out the team.

Enjoy football for what it is; a useful way to spend time with a few outstanding highlights on the way, leading up to the Rugger WC.

Edited June 27, 2006 by steveromagnino

[Prakanong2005]

Well I guess we cant win every sport

Yeah - who currently has the Ashes and the Rugby World Cup?

We will not retain them of course but we have them in our sweaty mitts right now

[jackr]

Well I guess we cant win every sport

Yeah - who currently has the Ashes and the Rugby World Cup?

We will not retain them of course but we have them in our sweaty mitts right now

We always have had The Ashes even when we lost. Can't let the ole bread thieves get their hands on the real ones.

[techie]

I think they have been lucky to get as far as they did...

Maybe the italian player dived, but what top flight team wouldnt be looking for a spot kick in extra time..

The aussie player who went in knew this and what did he do.....go to ground...what an idiot, to slide in to a player asks for trouble...and thats why they are going home..

Italy outplayed the aussies in every respect and the right team are going on to the next stage..

[eddy-ham]

Well I guess we cant win every sport

Yeah - who currently has the Ashes and the Rugby World Cup?

We will not retain them of course but we have them in our sweaty mitts right now

We always have had The Ashes even when we lost. Can't let the ole bread thieves get their hands on the real ones.

You just knew it, as soon as they (Aussies) start thinking they are world beaters in football the rest of the sporting comunity will have to listen to their continual chat through out the sporting world about how great they are and how poor the rest of the world are at any sport.They should be banned form the next World Cup on the grounds that half their team is Croatian, none if any play in thier home competion, most of their home international matches are played in other countries and if you can't beat a team with 10 men then who are you going to beat............

[Donz]

WHo won the commonwealth games. enough said

[wamberal]

I must admit its great hearing these Aussies talking about 'Diving, cheating Italians' and sounding like proper football fans at last!

glad you are happy farty

it has done the game a lot of good here with the WC results.

the game has been well managed and marketed here for a while now and i guess the results are coming along slowly but are there.

the national league was (is) a real success story and has involved a lot of new previously non soccer type people.

The way the game is being promoted here now its difficult not to see results TV hilites, talkback Ozzie rules programs are discussing issues etc.

I think the long running fear (paranoia)of soccer taking over from Ozzie rules and league has dissapeared and they now realise there is room for all codes.

Basketball and baseball are also doing OK providing the seppos with a few recruits for their NBL

The A-League has had ONE season only. Most of the franchises, if not all, are running at a loss.

Because of the age-old politics of the game, there is only one franchise in each of Sydney and Melbourne (to get rid of the ethnic rivalries which would otherwise exist), which means that Sydney will dominate the A-League forever. I think most fans will quickly get tired of a competition dominated in perpetuity by one team (subsidised by Frank Lowy, as well, so Sydney will always be the richest).

Australians generally are used to genuine body contact sports: the two rugby codes, and Australian Rules. While we can watch soccer from time to time, and are happy for kids to play it until they are big and strong enough to play the more manly games, we will never, ever, adopt a game where grown men play-act as our national sport.

We know how to tell the difference between a genuine hard hit, and the sort of ducking and diving that happens in soccer. How the hel_l does a player manage to roll along the ground four or five times if he is really hurt?

[Donz]

I think there should only be a penalty in soccer if there is a head high tackle.