Australia V Japan

[Dream34]

is it just me or does anyone else think brett emerton is absolutly useless he doesnt attack and coughs up the ball the majority of the time

Mate the bloke was playing out of position the whole game(usally plays left and right wing) playing at center mid and right back. You can't expect the world of him playing in his first worldcup game ever out of position.

Neil was the unsung hero. Solid defence on many a play.

 

[Fishy]

mate he was playing right wing the entire first half only did he switch to defense when kennedy and cahill came on

 

[MetallicA']

He did make some bad mistakes that could of cost us
that pass back to a defender that was off line in the middle was terrible
Think it was just first game jitters

 

[Hennessy]

IMO, big inconsistency & giving away possession too much/easily as Brett Emerton biggest weaknesses.

I also don't like how he takes a shot from 25-30 yards almost everytime, when he receive the ball in the center midfield. It frustrates me when he does this because he doesn't or wont pass the ball or to use the flanks; shoot first, pass second mentality - not so bad mentality if you're quite a flairy, lots of power, bend it like Beckham type of player, which unfortunately, he isn't.

I admit that I've seen some good games in the past from Emerton but again, there are more bad or average games surrounding Emerton more than his excellent, WOW type of game.

He was quite good when he was with Feyenoord but after he moved to Blackburn, his club career is going downhill, maybe that plays a part of it.

Cheers~

 

[MetallicA']

LOL i am suprised their hasnt been a USA bagging thread lol
the Czeh team destroyed them but at a cost with an injured hamstring to Kollier.

 

[Hennessy]

I don't think they deserve a thread LOL!

Not after what they said about us Aussie, apparently.

USA got blitz and educated on that game. Again though, I'm not suprised as Czech is a super team and I can see them going quite far onto this comp.

I hope Koller will recover speedily because I feel bad for the old fella. This could be his last World Cup.

6'8 - He is standing tall and have the height to play basketball.

 

[Fishy]

they were just saying koller should be good to go if the checks get to the next stage

 

[Hennessy]

I had the same strategy. I had some sleep after I got home from work today.

World Cup, here we come.

GO THIERRY HENRY!!! LET'S GET A FIRST GAME VICTORY!!!

I can't wait 'till Brazil play too. Should be awesome watching them this morning.

 

[Fishy]

wat did the yanks say about us aussies and how they hell are the yanks ranked at 5 the fifa rankings must be messed up

 

[Hennessy]

wat did the yanks say about us aussies and how they hell are the yanks ranked at 5 the fifa rankings must be messed up

Well I heard from the commentator that they said that we didn't belong in the World Cup and it is laughable that we made it etc etc etc.

They, I'm not sure who *they* are. I only heard it from the commentator.

Who knows if it's true or not.

 

[Lippo]

Well I heard from the commentator that they said that we didn't belong in the World Cup and it is laughable that we made it etc etc etc.

They, I'm not sure who *they* are. I only heard it from the commentator.

Who knows if it's true or not.

I think the US coach (Arena) was saying how he would have loved an easy team such as Australia in his group about a month before the World Cup.

I loved seeing him during that match. Just sitting there with no emotion on his face while his team was down 0-2 and getting owned! Great tactician Arena!!

 

[justdabestcards]

Still got the shivers.. what a game!! Great call Jase

They pulled an "Eagles"! Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOAL...GOAL...GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[justdabestcards]

IMO Emerton was in best form 18 months-2 years ago. His season with Blackburn was very ordinary. Still a handy player but definately gone downhill by his standards recently.

The Czechs were most impressive, probably the best performance so far.

 

[ljandkg]

Just like to say that in good ANZAC spirit a lot of kiwis are rooting for u guys. They've been showing a doco here about the All Whites 1982 campaign to get to the WC in Spain. First of all we won the oceania gp - beat oz 3-1 and 2-0 then were put in another gp with china, saudi, kuwait, and a few others. We were doing ok. Ended up we had to go to kuwait and win - we drew 2-2 - that meant we had to win in Saudi by 6! - At halftime it was 5-0!!! No shit!

Then it ended up 5-0, so there was a playoff between us (3 million) and China (1 billion) in Singapore. We won 2-1 in front of 90,000! We had to play 24 games to qualify!!!
Anyway we went to the WC were we drew Brazil (sound familiar!) Poland and Scotland - we lost 4-0, 3-0 and 5-2!! A classic story!!!!!

 

[reign40]

How good would a draw with brasil for the Aussies be!!

Croatia looked solid today, they will be a tough matchup for what will probably be an elimination final against the socceroos.

Let's hope the Japanese can upset Croatia

 

[Hennessy]

I loved seeing him during that match. Just sitting there with no emotion on his face while his team was down 0-2 and getting owned! Great tactician Arena!!

I saw that when they played Czech and I find his emotion-less face quite funny too. It cracked me up when the commentator said something about the game is more like a practice game for the Czech or something like that and quite instantly after the mocking, they switch to his emotion-less face.

 

[Hennessy]

How good would a draw with brasil for the Aussies be!!

Croatia looked solid today, they will be a tough matchup for what will probably be an elimination final against the socceroos.

Let's hope the Japanese can upset Croatia

I completely agree with you.

The way I see it, we have got to hope that either the Jap or Croats will victor against each other or at least battle out a 0-0 draw, which will be a nice present for the Aussie.

However, we have to make sure that we can handle and match or beat the Croats because realistically speaking, I can't see us beating Brazil on Monday morning. Brazil isn't a World Cup 2002 champions for nothing and IMO, their squad this year looks stronger than 2002.

Even if their performance was below average against the Croats last night, you have got to consider that they have been impatiently waiting to play a game, but they had to wait until the 5th day, meaning we most likely won't see their perfection on their first game.

Anyway, as you said, the Croats look quite solid on the game against Brazil. IMO, they deserved a point on that game but oh well, that's football.

Losing their captain, Niko Kovac, who is a great player himself will be a big blow for them though so that's a big advantage for us.

We'll see what happens. Take one game at a time.

Cheers~

 

[Rayallenfanau]

the US said that the Aussies were just making up the numbers and how we just wouldnt win. well me are 3 on top. they are -3 on the bottom..lol

 

[ljandkg]

By the way - I meant NZ drew Brazil in our pool like u have - NOT we drew with Brazil - we got burned 4-0 with Zico and Socrates etc running us round like muppets!!!!

 

[Dream34]

the US said that the Aussies were just making up the numbers

Yeah he was asked about it and he said that and that we would be the best for them to face (easy win)
Pitty they ran into the #2 rank CR and got smoked.
Funny him saying that cause I reckon the only way they have that ranking and made the WC is they must have paid their way in.

Croatia(23) is ranked lower than Japan (18)but they played very well against Brazil. Hopefully they can pick up some more Yellows and be forced to miss the Australia match. Touch wood that none of our boys have to sit out thru suspention.

Don't be a Emerton hater, you watch all he needs to do is score 1 goal and you'se will be all back on the bandwagon

Oh yeah and france are still goal less over 2 WC's talk about a massive fall from Grace, (although they scored less goals out of any other team in qualifing)