A Force To Be Reckoned With

[jackr]

We would play england anywhere in the world I think, you can have the home court advantage, it wouldnt matter.

To what end?

[eddy-ham]

It was a blatant BS call from the ref, We would play england anywhere in the world I think, you can have the home court advantage, it wouldnt matter.

We only have 20mill people, and we are the best in the world at alot of sports. Soccer will be next

1. Its football.

2. 20 million but most of them in other countries.

3. Best in the world at what? Cricket? Aussie rules?Swimming? Rounders?Netball? Inline skating? Surfing?

Boreing everybody to death at the bars about sport?

[Nignoy]

It was a blatant BS call from the ref, We would play england anywhere in the world I think, you can have the home court advantage, it wouldnt matter.

We only have 20mill people, and we are the best in the world at alot of sports. Soccer will be next

But how many Australian teams are dinky di Aussies, Rugby Union national team has more imported islanders and south africans than australian players, how many european olympic gold medallists wore the green and gold in the last olympics, as long as melbourne and sydney dictate the terms in australian soccer, they will never get any where, nobody will ever take them serious,why not send australian teams in the off season to play a series of friendlies in europe, would be good experience, instead of patting themselves on the back when the national team beats the Solomon islands or papua new guinea 10 nil,so what if england are past their prime, that still does not makethe australian soccer team any better, Any good First division european soccer team would give them a flogging, Bayern Munich or Schalke would run them off the park, lets face it ,aussie soccer is still in its nursery phase, once it becomes a countrywide supported sport and it starts to draw on and accept the vast wealth of talent , outside the rabbitproof fence, then it will have a hope of getting recognition in the soccer world. As a sportswriter in the Kaiserslautern Tageblatt, so nicely wrote!! Sorry to say goodbye to our wonderful guests from australia, but the Sunday soccerplayers have run out of luck so its time to go home ,maybe with more training and genuine international experience they will go a lot further in coming world cups . I think that comment sums everything up, Nignoy

[Pink Mist]

I think first grade soccer players in pommyland are hardly sunday afternoon players nig nig

[Old Croc]

Don't feed the troll Bronco

[Prakanong2005]

It was a blatant BS call from the ref, We would play england anywhere in the world I think, you can have the home court advantage, it wouldnt matter.

We only have 20mill people, and we are the best in the world at alot of sports. Soccer will be next

Like I said to an American who said the same in 94

I will wager you 1000USD that you do not win the football World Cup before 2020

[Donz]

It was a blatant BS call from the ref, We would play england anywhere in the world I think, you can have the home court advantage, it wouldnt matter.

We only have 20mill people, and we are the best in the world at alot of sports. Soccer will be next

Like I said to an American who said the same in 94

I will wager you 1000USD that you do not win the football World Cup before 2020

ahhhhh oh kay

how about 1m

[Prakanong2005]

Because neither you nor I have 1 million USD my dear chap

The Aussies like the USA just do not have the league or the structure to produce a world cup winning side in the next 20 years.

[eddy-ham]

Just a little transcript from a Chinese reporter on the last minute penalty.................

In China, it's called self-criticism and you make one when you've done something wrong (or sometimes you're forced to make one when others believe you've done something wrong).

But the apology by CCTV football commentator Huang Jianxiang - who was responsible for the of pro-Italy bias during his call of the Australia-Italy game - falls well short of a proper mea culpa.

Someone else read out the "apology" on TV last night, which you can read in full here

Moreover, it's being speculated that he will be sin binned for his act of unprofessionalism, but not until AFTER the World Cup.

"A penalty kick! A penalty kick! A penalty kick! Grosso has made a great contribution, Grosso has made a great contribution! He doesn't give Australia any chance at all. The Australian team can go home much earlier now! What an amazing Italian left full back! He has inherited Italy's honourable tradition. He has been embodied with Facchetti, Cabrini and Maldini . Grosso himself represents Italy's long history and tradition of soccer. At this moment, he is not fighting by himself, he is not alone!"

[After Totti converted the penalty] "He kicked the goal! The Australian team can go home now. Italy won't lose to Australia again. What an amazing Italian left full back! Happy birthday to Maldini! Long live Italy! How great Italy is! This is what Italians hope for. This penalty kick is an absolute one-off! Absolute one-off! Italy has made the final eight! This victory belongs to Italy, Cannavaro, Buffon, Maldini and all the people who love Italian football! Australia may regret it. It's time for Australia to go home. But maybe they don't need to go back to faraway Australia because most of them are living in Europe. Goodbye! "[at this time, a background voice could be heard saying "You ###### off!" but we're not sure whether it is Huang's voice or not.]

[jackr]

Just a little transcript from a Chinese reporter on the last minute penalty.................

In China, it's called self-criticism and you make one when you've done something wrong (or sometimes you're forced to make one when others believe you've done something wrong).

But the apology by CCTV football commentator Huang Jianxiang - who was responsible for the of pro-Italy bias during his call of the Australia-Italy game - falls well short of a proper mea culpa.

Someone else read out the "apology" on TV last night, which you can read in full here

Moreover, it's being speculated that he will be sin binned for his act of unprofessionalism, but not until AFTER the World Cup.

"A penalty kick! A penalty kick! A penalty kick! Grosso has made a great contribution, Grosso has made a great contribution! He doesn't give Australia any chance at all. The Australian team can go home much earlier now! What an amazing Italian left full back! He has inherited Italy's honourable tradition. He has been embodied with Facchetti, Cabrini and Maldini . Grosso himself represents Italy's long history and tradition of soccer. At this moment, he is not fighting by himself, he is not alone!"

[After Totti converted the penalty] "He kicked the goal! The Australian team can go home now. Italy won't lose to Australia again. What an amazing Italian left full back! Happy birthday to Maldini! Long live Italy! How great Italy is! This is what Italians hope for. This penalty kick is an absolute one-off! Absolute one-off! Italy has made the final eight! This victory belongs to Italy, Cannavaro, Buffon, Maldini and all the people who love Italian football! Australia may regret it. It's time for Australia to go home. But maybe they don't need to go back to faraway Australia because most of them are living in Europe. Goodbye! "[at this time, a background voice could be heard saying "You ###### off!" but we're not sure whether it is Huang's voice or not.]

[Greer]

It was good to see Australia do as well as it did. I was impressed!

Not surprisngly they did not get much further - I am not denigrating my own country's team, but being really honest, they still have a way to go before they could consider challenging the big names of European or UK football - but credit where it is due - good on you guys - you tried hard - excellent work.

I was surprised to hear on Radio 2 the othe day that America is rated number 5 in the world team rankings ahead of the UK at 11....OK... that really is the stuff of fantasy...I think maybe they started the list at the wrong end or something...or maybe they just made it up based on which side of bed they got out of on the day...

[wamberal]

It was a blatant BS call from the ref, We would play england anywhere in the world I think, you can have the home court advantage, it wouldnt matter.

We only have 20mill people, and we are the best in the world at alot of sports. Soccer will be next

But how many Australian teams are dinky di Aussies, Rugby Union national team has more imported islanders and south africans than australian players

I hate to bring facts into a colourful debate, but the Australian rugby squad to play the All Blacks next weekend contains one former South African (Dan Vickerman) who attended High School in Australia. He has settled down here, married locally, and to all intents and purposes is an Aussie.

There are no "imported" islanders in the squad.

Compare and contrast the number of South Africans who play rugby and cricket for England.

[Donz]

It was a blatant BS call from the ref, We would play england anywhere in the world I think, you can have the home court advantage, it wouldnt matter.

We only have 20mill people, and we are the best in the world at alot of sports. Soccer will be next

But how many Australian teams are dinky di Aussies, Rugby Union national team has more imported islanders and south africans than australian players

I hate to bring facts into a colourful debate, but the Australian rugby squad to play the All Blacks next weekend contains one former South African (Dan Vickerman) who attended High School in Australia. He has settled down here, married locally, and to all intents and purposes is an Aussie.

There are no "imported" islanders in the squad.

Compare and contrast the number of South Africans who play rugby and cricket for England.

Cant blame people for wanting to play for us, I mean they want to be part of the best sporting nation in the world

[jackr]

I was surprised to hear on Radio 2 the othe day that America is rated number 5 in the world team rankings ahead of the UK at 11....OK... that really is the stuff of fantasy...I think maybe they started the list at the wrong end or something...or maybe they just made it up based on which side of bed they got out of on the day...

Don't take too much notice of those FIFA rankings. It's based on who they've played in the season and loads of other little irregularities. If England won the world cup they'd probably still be behind the US even though they stuffed them earlier on in the year.