For the Socceroos’ three World Cup matches I made my way down to Birrarung Marr with my fellow fans to show my support for our national team. Here are some of the sights and sounds of my experiences in the wee small hours, including this bit of audio.
Whilst everyone has been sinking their collective boots into the Socceroos and Pim Verbeek (myself included) after their poor performance against Germany maybe we should put some perspective on things. We should spare a thought for the fans of Chile, a football mad nation (unlike ourselves) who have had to wait 48 years between wins at the World Cup. For us it has only been four years since our one and only World Cup win, that’s right four years. For what’s it worth, I was pretty impressed with the performance of my second team in the World Cup and it is the subject of my latest blog for 442. Also one must spare a thought for the fans of Greece, a country and football nation that has contributed much to the Australian footballing landscape, have had to wait until 2010 to see their team pick up their first ever point and win and score their first ever goal at a World Cup. Certainly, puts thing into perspective doesn’t it.
As part of my application to be part of The Guardian’s Fans’ Network for the World Cup I had two write two pieces and I thought it would be an opportune time to share them with you. The first piece was a short explanation in 150 words or less of why you would be the right person to be in the Guardian Fans’ Network. My response below took inspiration from Christiano Ronaldo’s efforts in that Castrol advertisement that always cracks me up.
Football takes me many places, hot places, cold places … But I prepare for it all. Those are the words of Cristiano Ronaldo in an advertisement for Castrol. Football also takes me many places but unlike Cristiano it is not through any sort of footballing ability. I have to make do with living vicariously through watching others play the game I love. And that means watching football in many places, from the comfort of large stadiums in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to the outer suburbs of Melbourne in the death of winter supporting my local team with only a scarf and jacket to keep me warm. There also have been ventures overseas to the rickety stadiums of Santiago and Buenos Aires that were only slightly less dangerous than some of the pubs I have to make do with when I couldn’t be at a game. Football takes me many places.
Here is that ad just for a laugh.
The second piece was a more analytical piece in 300 words or less on how you think your country will do in South Africa. This was slightly more difficult but this is what I had to say.
Whilst Australia qualified for the 2010 World Cup for the first time through Asia by only losing two out of fourteen matches and conceding only four goals it was hardly the stuff that inspired the Australian footballing public and has many worried going into this year’s tournament.
In a group alongside Germany, Ghana and Serbia, the Socceroos may find it very difficult to match the feats of 2006. Under the tutelage of Pim Verbeek, Australia has essentially played a 4-5-1 formation that is meant to be 4-3-3. It’s a style useful for suited for qualifying not so much for progressing through tournaments.
Of most concern is Verbeek’s rigidity to this formation and his inability to change it not matter the situation or opponent and could very well Australia’s undoing in South Africa. Tournaments are all about making that game changing decision and in Verbeek we don’t have someone with that quality.
Another reason for my pessimism is Socceroos’ over reliance on ‘keeper Mark Schwarzer and midfielder Tim Cahill. Throughout the qualifying campaign, Schwarzer was often Australia’s saviour and the fact he had so many clean sheets was mostly down to his own efforts rather than that of the defence in front of him.
With a number of Socceroos’ strikers finding it difficult to find the back of the net, it was the goals of Tim Cahill that played a huge part in Australia’s qualification. If he were to come under any injury cloud in the lead up to the tournament it would have many fans worried.
It is therefore my conclusion that Australia will find it difficult to progress past the group stages in South Africa and if they do I will be pleasantly surprised.
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.
The roar that erupted in the Charles Dickens Tavern when Mark Schwarzer made his penalty save was as loud as any I have heard within its walls. I wanted to yell out: “That one’s for Tibet!” but I kept my mouth shut. I did say to the two guys in front of me on the noise generated: “Its like we’ve scored.” Their response: “Its even better than that!” And I think that most people in the extremely crowded pub agreed. A pub so crowded that my late arriving girlfriend almost didn’t make it inside. Many people obviously finishing their working day early, as I had done, to take in the game.
I would have to agree with The Football Tragic that we were pretty luck to get away with a point in Kumming. It was clear early on that the Chinese had set out to frustrate a clearly undermanned Australian outfit by packing their defensive half. This seemed an odd tactic considering that the Socceroos were clearly lacking an out an out striker, particularly after the injury to Thompson and probably showed the lack of confidence within the Chinese team in front of their home crowd.
I think Verbeek got his tactics right on the night (or day as it was) with our lack of firepower that was available for the game. As said above it was helped that the Chinese played into his hands. The combination of Grella and Valeri as two holding midfielders was excellent and provided perfect foils for each other. Tactially, it was almost Capello-esque. For this combination to work in other situations a more creative midfielder is required rather than having Cullina in there as well. Myself along with the masses that were crammed into the bar, let out a groan as they realised that possibly Thompson would probably miss upcoming ACL games and that his replacement would be Brett Holman. I have never really been a big fan of Holman. Too often he appears to run around like a chicken sans head. Although at times he did appear to reverting to old habits he did his thankless job well, although not quite as well as a lot of pundits would make out.
A lot of credit for the point must also go to our defence with both North and Neill putting in outstanding performances ably assisted by Beauchamp after a slow start. Their only mistake was the failure to cover the long ball that resulted in the referee pointing to the spot. North looked really comfortable in the team and if the rumours are true he will be soon heading overseas in order to gain more game time in order to maintain his position within the squad. Newcastle’s loss, but the Socceroos gain. Of concern would be the lack of width provided by both Carney and Wilkshire on their respective sides of the park.
A comment must be made about the poor performance put in by the referee, only moments after Holman received a soft yellow card for a minor shirt tug, Sun Ji Hai puts in a studs up, ankle destroying type tackle on Wilkshire and walks away without even a yellow card. It should have been a straight red and it had the patrons incensed. Although they were appeased somewhat when Valeri put in a strong tackle only moments before full time. There was also a number of dodgy calls that appeared to go against the Australians - but they always seem to do for the away team
With Qatar pulling off a surprising 2-0 victory over Asian Champions, Iraq, the Socceroos are now in a good position to progress to the next stage of the qualification process. The two games against the Iraqis, both home and away will more than likely decide who will be advancing from the group. June will also provide a feast of international football with the last four games of this qualification stage occurring in a torrid three weeks. It also provides a great opportunity for all European-based members of our squad to play regularly together in high quality games as it will be their off-season.
A more comprehensive analysis of the game can also be found here, here and here.
The end has almost come on what I said earlier would be a big week of football and I have finally got round to write and muse about it.
The footballing week started off with a visit to the Telstra Dome to see Australia vs Qatar. As everyone knows the result went out our way and we all went awat very happy except maybe for the contingent of Qatari fans that were in attendance. There has much analysis from my fellow bloggers, so I will only add a small analysis of my own. The first half was great with the home team playing free-flowing, attacking football and were duly rewarded with three goals. Second half wasn’t as great as the first and it was something to be expected as the jet lag kicked in for our overseas players. Standout players for me for the Socceroos in no particular order were McDonald, Emerton, Wilkshire, Carney and Moore. Was disappointed to see Thompson not get a run. I think his pace and trickery would have been useful against a tiring Qatari team in the second half, although maybe that is my Melbourne bias showing.
I was a little disappointed with the crowd, not the numbers, but the atmosphere. There was little or no atmosphere and I could barely hear the Green and Gold Army from my position on the third level. Maybe it was to do with the fact that the lure of an international game brought out a lot of non-footballing people. If Melbourne is to host more qualifying games we need to create a more intimidating atmosphere for opposition teams. We have the numbers but not the noise and atmosphere - something that is quite prevalent at Victory games. Anyway I went home happy and that’s the main thing. Sad to here after the game that Craig Moore had retired from the international arena but now is a good a time as any and we thank him for his efforts for the national team.
In other news, it was disappointing to hear that Adrian Caceres would be leaving the Victory after our ACL campaign and heading north to Gosford to join the Central Coast Mariners. Obviously, he believes he is not getting the game time that he deserves under Merrick and its time to move on. It will be also disappointing for my girlfriend’s dad, with whom I watch most home games, who won’t get to see a player that reminded him of himself in his playing days back in Chile. On the plus side we have gained the services of Billy Celeski, who returns to his home town after a stint with Perth Glory. It will be interesting to see how he will fit into the squad. Now that Caceres is leaving will that mean more game time for players such as Berger and Patafta (that’s if he stays after the loan period), let’s hope so.
Finally, my indoor soccer team, Max Power made its debut during the week and we lost 14-2 in a grading match. The less said about the game is probably best although we were complimented on our team name and shirts. I did score one of our two goals and it was a bit of a golazo if I do say so myself.
This week promises to be a big week of football. You may think that taking in the spectacle of Australia vs Qatar on Wednesday night at the Telstra Dome would be enough to make it a big week of football. But no, there is another big football event this week. My new indoor mixed football team, “Max Power” will be making its debut on Thursday night in some grading matches all kitted out in our Barcelona “knock off” away shirts (the blue ones). In fact that night I will be playing three matches as an outdoor five-a-side team I play with will be also playing that night.
In truth this Wednesday night’s match for the Socceroos vs Qatar is definitely the big football story of the week. Everyone is waiting with baited breath to see how the team will perform in their first match under new coach, Pim Verbeek. With concerns raised after their 1-1 draw with a Melbourne team that was missing a lot of its stars, will the gamble to rely on our overseas-based players pay off, even though most will only be here 48 hours before the game. This will be the first World Cup qualifying match I have attended and am looking forward to it immensely. With the likelihood that roof will be closed due to forecast rain here’s hoping that the atmosphere and noise generated by a crowd close to 50,000 will both inspire the home team and intimidate the visitors.
Let’s hope that this week there is victories for both the Socceroos and “Max Power”.
Whilst Kevin Muscat, Rodrigo Vargas and Archie Thompson all are in camp hoping for an international call-up against Qatar next Wednesday night, Melbourne Victory’s very own Carlos Hernandez is already on international duty with Costa Rica. Los Ticos took on a coachless Iran in an empty Azadi Stadium (a stadium I would very much like to visit) and by all accounts the match was a rather drab affair finishing 0-0. For match reports click here and here. It is good to hear that Hernandez’s choice of playing in Australia hasn’t harmed his chances of international selection. Game time in this match and in an upcoming match against Jamaica will keep him match-fit for our upcoming ACL campaign.
It is also interesting to note that fellow AFC heavyweights, Iran, are only to gain the services of their new coach, Javier Clemente, days before their first World Cup qualifier against Syria. Certainly interesting times for Team Melli.
Image “borrowed” from the Tehran Times.
