Victory in Melbourne 

Qualifying for a tournament is one thing, but actually performing in a tournament is a completely different thing. And that’s what we learned last night as the Socceroos crashed to a 4-0 defeat in Durban at the hands of Germany.

In a similar situation four years ago against an opponent of a similar stature to Germany (namely Brazil) the Socceroos probably played their best game of the tournament despite going down 2-0. The reason why we did so well is because we took the game to our opposition on the day and didn’t take a backward step.

Contrast that to the game against Germany earlier this morning where Pim Verbeek telegraphed his intention from the time he announced that the Socceroos would be starting their match without a recognised striker. He may have called it a 4-4-2 but in all reality it was a 4-6-0 with both Garcia and Cahill playing as advanced midfielders/strikers.

So without a ball being kicked we had already handed the advantage to our opposition. If you are playing the best team in the group shouldn’t you be playing your best team in response and the decision not to give either Kewell or Kennedy a run was truly mindboggling.

The decision to play Tim Cahill and Richard Garcia as ’strikers’ smacked of tactical naivety by Verbeek at worst and clutching at straws at best. Both players are ill-suited to the role and Verbeek should have known this from Cahill’s performance in that role against Japan during qualification. Why take your best player and play him out of position?

Two of our better performers were the returning Brett Emerton and the ever dependable Luke Wilkshire who both patrolled the right-hand side of the pitch. However, a lot of their efforts were wasted as when they got into good positions to get the ball into the box there were never enough bodies to really take advantage of their good work.

Credit has been and should be given to the Germans for their performance with Mesut Ozil being outstanding as he ran the show from the midfield. He appeared to have heaps of space in which to display his considerable talent despite the fact that the Socceroos were playing with five in their midfield.

So with that out of the way let’s hope Pim reverts to the formula that provided much success during qualification. There’s that old adage, if it broke . . .

Welcome to Victory In Melbourne’s minute by minute coverage of the 2010 World Cup draw in South Africa. We will be covering it all right from the start, keeping you up to date with all that is happening in the lead-up to and including the drawing of the balls themselves. As we count down the minutes, here’s a reminder of who’s in what pot.

Pot 1 (the seeds & South Africa)

Brazil
Spain
Netherlands
Italy
Germany
Argentina
England
South Africa

Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania & Central America)

Australia
Japan
North Korea
South Korea
Honduras
Mexico
USA
New Zealand

Pot 3 (Africa & South America)

Algeria
Cameroon
Ivory Coast
Ghana
Nigeria
Chile
Paraguay
Uruguay

Pot 4 (the rest of the Europeans)

Denmark
France
Greece
Portugal
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Switzerland

3:57am - Currently sitting bleary eyed in front of the TV as Craig Foster and co. go through the teams they would like Australia to have or have not in their group. Word is that in rehearsals, Australia got England in their group three times.

4:06am - The host roll out old favourite, Nelson Mandela early on in the proceedings. I just hope that song isn’t the theme for the World Cup itself.

4:08am - Sepp Blatter and Jacob Zuma now up on stage making small talk with the host.

4:12am - That’s right Italy, give back that trophy and would someone tell Blatter to give it a rest.

4:14am - KRudd obviously make a good impression on Blatter, with him being referred to as Kevin Rude. Doesn’t bode well for our World Cup bid.

4:16am - Might be a good idea for Blatter to actually remember where the World Cup is actually going to be held. Hopefully he remembers by the time it actually starts next year.

4:26am - Now watching FIFA promotional video telling us how much they are doing in Africa.

4:33am - Thanks very much SBS for not letting us see Angelique Kidjo perform. Now for the real star of the show, Charlize Theron.

4:38am - Was wondering when the mascot was going making an appearance. Cue African animals playing football.

4:56am - Charlize Theron is such a good actress - she is actually feigning proper interest in how the draw actually works

5:04am - The draw has started.

5:05am - The seeds and their groups Group A - South Africa, Group B - Argentina, Group C - England, Group D - Germany, Group E - Netherlands, Group F - Italy Group G - Brazil, Group H - Spain

5:08am - It’s our pot. I’m a bit nervous. Damn, Mexico got South Africa.

5:10am - Australia in Group D with Germany, reminiscent of 1974 as the host reminds us. We get the Germans first up. To quote Montgomery Burns, “Oooh, the Germans!

5:11am - The Kiwis get Group F and Italy.

5:15am - Brazil and Ivory Coast in the same group. We have our potential Group of Death.

5:17am - Ghana is the third team in our group. Damn I was hoping for Chile.

5:19am - Going on the draw so far, I’m tipping Greece to be the last team in our group.

5:21am - My tip was wrong, Greece go into Group B.

5:23am - Serbia is the final team in our group. This is going to be one tough group to get out of but I guess they all are.

5:25am - It’s official, we have our Group of Death. Brazil, Ivory Coast, Portugal and North Korea.

5:26am - My second favourite team, Chile gets a good group with Spain, Honduras and Switzerland. They are definitely good chance to get through that group.

5:30am - Now I am back to bed, to now dream of Germans, Ghananians and Serbians.

5:35am - Sorry Fozzie, but I reckon Group G is tougher than ours. We can’t always be in the Group of Death. Now I am definitely going back to bed.