One more revenge mission for Socceroos
Roar Guru By apaway, 31 Mar 2011 apaway is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- football, Germany, Germany football, Holger Osieck, international friendly, Italy, Italy football, Socceroos
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After the first-half of the Germany-Australia friendly in Moenchengladbach this morning, my fear was that the Socceroos were on their way to a similar defeat as the ignominious game in Durban at the 2010 World Cup.
What happened in the second-half was as much a surprise to me as it seemed to be to German coach Joachim Loew, for the Socceroos outplayed – yes, damn it outplayed – a team I personally consider the second-best side in world football.
And let’s not hear any nonsense about “second-string German sides” or “they didn’t care about the result.”
They cared, much more than if they’d won.
And the Germans did not underestimate Australia, for it was in Germany in 2006 that the Socceroos won many German admirers, many of whom adopted the side as their “second” team.
That respect has not diminished, even after a 4-0 drubbing 289 days ago.
A positive factor is that Australia are overcoming reliance on the players who are part of the “golden generation” but who may not be around for 2014. Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton were solid without being outstanding.
Tim Cahill wasn’t there. Lucas Neill is an exception.
Much maligned, he was a rock at the back along with Sasa Ognenovski and to steal a topical cricket parlance played a “captain’s knock” to keep the much-vaunted German attack at bay.
The trick for Holger Osieck is to get this side to win these games at the World Cup. Wouldn’t that be nice? Revenge missions to restore lost pride are all well and good. Beating the elite on the biggest stage would be better.
To this end, I went through and figured that the Socceroos had now beaten every nation to win the World Cup (with the exception of Spain who are obviously running scared and haven’t played the Aussies yet).
I forgot one. Italy.
The one nation that every Socceroo fan who was in Kaiserslautern on that June evening in 2006 wants to get back on the park (not to mention the two million or so who watched it on TV back home).
Author and broadcaster Tony Wilson wrote a great book called “Making News”, about a (fictitious) Socceroo who gets caught up in a tabloid sex scandal. In it, Wilson, an avid Socceroos fan, rewrites history and has the Australians beating Italy in that game.
It’s time to turn fiction into fact. Come on FFA, schedule a game against the Italians first chance you get.
And then we’ll go hunting for Spain.
March 31st 2011 @ 9:44am
Brian said | March 31st 2011 @ 9:44am | Report comment
It is embarrassing the way everyone is saying we gained revenge. They flogged us in a world cup game! We will never gain revenge for this defeat.
The cold hard facts are that we scraped past a depleted German side in a friendly thanks to a penalty!
March 31st 2011 @ 10:00am
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 10:00am | Report comment
Brian—Germany could pick 3 capable teams that could win the World Cup at home. there would only be a hairs thickness between each players capabilities. Make no mistake about it—this win by our Australian Football Team was a very good win. The difference on the night was—we wanted the game more than the Germans did; that’s not our fault if the Germans did not turn up on the night.
March 31st 2011 @ 10:05am
floppybottom said | March 31st 2011 @ 10:05am | Report comment
as lyotard suggest in ‘libidinal economy’, when you are winning is when you need to be the most careful…
March 31st 2011 @ 10:59am
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 10:59am | Report comment
Most Aussie Rules supporters have nothing to crow about on the international stage I guess—so don’t understand the significance of beating a World Champion in their own backyard. Think of it as a “Test Match” if you find the term “Friendlies” difficult to understand, or come to terms with. They are one of the same thing in Football, as a Test Match is for Rugby and Rugby League outside of their respective World Cups..
March 31st 2011 @ 3:14pm
Tristan Rayner said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:14pm | Report comment
Enough thanks guys. Some comments removed. Don’t take umbrage with each other, just the issues.
March 31st 2011 @ 3:14pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:14pm | Report comment
Why aren’t friendlies equal to tests—-they serve the same purpose…
April 2nd 2011 @ 6:32am
Tyler said | April 2nd 2011 @ 6:32am | Report comment
Players have to gel on the pitch. Joachim Loew was clearly experimenting with his squad, sort of like a pre-season match in the NFL. Bottom line, the Aussies were not playing the A-team, they were playing fresh call ups. There is a huge margin of quality between Bastian Schweinsteiger and Tony Kroos, not a hair’s thickness as you claim. That margin was very evident in the second half. The penalty given was laughable as the ball was clearly won by the defender before he made contact with the player. The yellow to Klose instead of giving a penalty should end that referees Fifa career, that was an embarrassment.
If I were an Aussie fan, I would not be able to take any sort of pride or joy out of this game. The Aussies simply did not play overpowering football, the win was a result of an experimenting opponent and huge match altering calls by the ref. Nothing really to be overjoyed about.
April 2nd 2011 @ 7:03am
punter said | April 2nd 2011 @ 7:03am | Report comment
Get your facts right. There is a huge margin of quality between Bastian Schweinsteiger and any Australianplayer on the pitch that night.
Tony Kroos is a youngster coming thru, 21 years old, playing for Bayern Munich, Germany’s top side (though not at present). Australia’s young star Robbie Kruse, (big hopes on hime) just signed a contract with a German 2nd division club.
Most of the German B side plays for Dortmund a runaway leader in the German League, Australian stars are playing in Turkey. Let’s compare apples with apples. The German B side would be better credentail that most countries top team outside the top 10.
March 31st 2011 @ 12:34pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | March 31st 2011 @ 12:34pm | Report comment
Brian, how was it a “depleted German side”? 6 out of the 10 outfield players were regular 1st team players and the other 4 will, most likely, be part of the German squad for Euro2012.
The cold hard facts are:
a) Germany don’t often lose at home
b) Germany don’t often lose when they are 1-0 up with 1/2hr to play
c) Germany don’t often lose to teams ranked outside the Top 10.
March 31st 2011 @ 2:52pm
Brian said | March 31st 2011 @ 2:52pm | Report comment
d) Germany didn’t give a fig about this game
e) The only way we gain revenge is by beating them 5-0 in the world cup
f) Deplete = to weaken by removing something (i.e four regular first team players)
March 31st 2011 @ 3:03pm
Nathan said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:03pm | Report comment
d) Not before hand, perhaps, but like Australia losing to Bangladesh in the cricket, oooh, they’re stinging now.
March 31st 2011 @ 3:05pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:05pm | Report comment
Have you read the fallout in the German press about Germany’s loss to Australia..? 30k unhappy Germans went home in disbelief…
March 31st 2011 @ 3:05pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:05pm | Report comment
Well, it could be argued that Australia were missing 4 of our 1st team regulars.
I would contend that, if fit, Timmy Cahill, Jason Culina, Josh Kennedy and Rhys Williams would be in our starting line-up.
Germany may, or may not, have given a fig – or any other type of fruit – about this Game … but, if you think the German National Team doesn’t care about losing, I think you’re grossly underestimating their competitiveness.
March 31st 2011 @ 9:25pm
Brian said | March 31st 2011 @ 9:25pm | Report comment
Again I can’t see how we have gained revenge. It is embarrassing to get all boned up about this result. If they cared they would have put the best team out there and beaten us 14 – 0.
March 31st 2011 @ 9:34pm
Chuq said | March 31st 2011 @ 9:34pm | Report comment
The Germans *ARE* going to care about being beaten on home soil for the first time in 5 years.
And they had five players who played in the Aus v Germany game at the World Cup – Australia had six players. So drop the crap about us playing their B team please.
March 31st 2011 @ 9:39pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 9:39pm | Report comment
Lol Brian, are you serous, 14 – 0..? Don’t you think those days are over? It’s 2011 not 1946..
March 31st 2011 @ 9:47pm
punter said | March 31st 2011 @ 9:47pm | Report comment
If you actually knew what you were talking about we’d care to hear from you, but, I suggest you get some facts before sprouting off next time. The German side that lost to Australia had quite afew players from the new team on the block Dortmund & they are leading the competition by 6-8 pts. There are not too many Aussies playing at a higher level currently.
March 31st 2011 @ 9:50pm
apaway said | March 31st 2011 @ 9:50pm | Report comment
Your other comments were OK Brian, but this one is rubbish. They cared, germany cares about every match they play.
April 1st 2011 @ 9:55am
Brian said | April 1st 2011 @ 9:55am | Report comment
Serious? Not really. Should have said 16-1 cos we might have got a penalty.
April 1st 2011 @ 1:30pm
Australian Football said | April 1st 2011 @ 1:30pm | Report comment
But we did Brian—-we did get a penalty and they only got one goal… Btw You’re not of German heritage are you? If you are—then I shall just put your last comment down as bad sportsmanship and forgive you..
April 1st 2011 @ 1:47pm
dasilva said | April 1st 2011 @ 1:47pm | Report comment
Give me a break
Nobody is saying that Australia is as strong as a team as Germany
To be honest, I don’t think Australia is as strong as a team as a 2nd or 3rd XI Germany side as well.
Even if Australia defeats Germany in the World cup I would still say that Germany has a stronger group of players than Australia.
Let say this in a League Cup. None of the top sides really take it seriously. They are known for playing the reserve teams during the competition. Now if a lower division team manage to scalp a reserve team of manchester or arsenal. THey wouldn’t celebrate it. Of course they will. Reserve team or not, they are manchester united
Similarly, 2nd xi or not, they are still Germany.
We are just happy defeating Germany. We are not concluding that because we defeat germany in a friendly match therefore we are stronger team than Germany because that is garbage and no one has suggested that.
Let’s look at the flip side. What happened if Australia got thrash in the friendly against Germany. Would people start saying it’s just a friendly, we were missing a few players (resting Cahill) and therefore it doesn’t count. No, Australia would be mercillessly criticised and rightfully so if that occured.
It’s seem to me that Australia is in a lose lose position for certain so called fans. If we lose, Australia gets criticised for a poor performance. If we win, we get criticised for supposedly overstating an importance of a friendly match
April 1st 2011 @ 5:42pm
Titus said | April 1st 2011 @ 5:42pm | Report comment
No team wants to lose a game, ever.
No fans of a team want to lose a game, ever.
The young kids who stepped up are stars of the future, given a chance to represent their country and make claims for the national jersey, I would be suprised if they weren’t taking it seriously.
Don’t make the mistake of over estimating the importance of this result, but don’t make the mistake of underestimating it’s importance either.
If we had of got hammered 5-0 do you think people wouldn’t have made anything of the result?
By the way, do friendlies count towards FIFA rankings?
April 1st 2011 @ 6:02pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | April 1st 2011 @ 6:02pm | Report comment
Well said, Titus.
Imagine the derision and ridicule that would have been heaped upon football, in general, and the National Team & its coach, in particular, if Australia had suffered a significant loss!
And, to answer your question, “yes”, friendlies are counted when calculating the FIFA ranking, however, the “Match status multiplier” is, quite rightly, the lowest for “friendly matches:
Match status multipier:
Friendly match = x 1.0
FIFA World Cup and Continental cup qualifiers = x 2.5
Continental cup and Confederations Cup finals = x 3.0
World Cup finals match = x 4.0
April 1st 2011 @ 6:45pm
Aware said | April 1st 2011 @ 6:45pm | Report comment
Brian needs a reality check. This was a fine German outfit playing at home and with their head coach looking on. Give the socceroos credit for an outstanding effort. Germany are ranked 3 in the world and any team they field is world class. What more can the socceroos do but win? It is in the history book at a sanctioned game. We beat Germany and the record is there for all time.
Further, the socceroos had one poor game at the World Cup, thanks in part to the ridiculous sending off of Tim Cahill and a defeatist game plan by the coach whose name I have already forgotten. They beat the highly credentialled Serbia and would have won the other game had Kewell not been incorrectly penalised for chesting the ball- then sent off. At their second attempt at the Asia Cup they narrowly lost to perennial winners, Japan.
What, Brian, have you got against this team?
March 31st 2011 @ 6:49pm
Chuq said | March 31st 2011 @ 6:49pm | Report comment
g) Germany has NEVER lost to Australia before
h) Germany under their current coach (which they’ve had for 5 years) has never lost a match on home soil.
March 31st 2011 @ 9:52am
floppybottom said | March 31st 2011 @ 9:52am | Report comment
agree completely brian… its entirely pathetic…
March 31st 2011 @ 2:58pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 2:58pm | Report comment
Exactly what is entirely pathetic…? Please explain…
March 31st 2011 @ 3:07pm
floppybottom said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:07pm | Report comment
The idea of taking revenge in a friendly for a world cup hammering smacks of desperation.
March 31st 2011 @ 3:15pm
Nathan said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:15pm | Report comment
Not when its in the bloody Fatherland.
March 31st 2011 @ 3:19pm
floppybottom said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:19pm | Report comment
nathan, whats on telly tonight?
March 31st 2011 @ 4:44pm
Nathan said | March 31st 2011 @ 4:44pm | Report comment
Home & Away? Neighbours? Whats your poison?
March 31st 2011 @ 5:12pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 5:12pm | Report comment
Floppy—-SBS on Friday night have some good stuff on “As It Happened” covers a lot to do with the Fatherland during the war.. It really is compelling viewing for history’s sake..
March 31st 2011 @ 3:23pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:23pm | Report comment
That’s ridiculous—-when you are hammered 4 zip in a cup tie—-the first thing you want to do is even the score the first chance you get…
March 31st 2011 @ 3:34pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:34pm | Report comment
Totally agree with AF.
I have no doubt that the lads, who were involved in that humiliation in Durban last year, would have gained immense “satisfaction”, “joy”, “contentment” – call it what you like, but they would all have felt something after that win; it would not have been indifference.
Or, to put it another way … the German players and coach would be far more embarrassed by that loss than would have the Aussie players and coach if we had lost.
In the 2011 Asian Cup final, our loss to Japan was “simply a loss in a final” – it would have hurt just as much if it had been Sth Korea, Uzbekistan or anyone else.
But, perhaps, for Japan, beating Australia – as opposed to any other team – provided some type of “revenge” for THAT afternoon in Kaiserslautern in June 2006.
March 31st 2011 @ 4:04pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 4:04pm | Report comment
Agreed Fuss…
March 31st 2011 @ 10:00am
alan nicolea said | March 31st 2011 @ 10:00am | Report comment
Brian – I agree. The media are really making a big deal out of this result. Estonia beat Uruguay 2-0 in a friendly recently and Ghana and USA drew with England and Argentina respectively. These are just friendly matches and do not define the Socceroos, or any nation for that matter as a soccer powerhouse. I remember Australia beating the Netherlands 2-1 in 2008, only to get knocked out in the group stages of the World Cup two years later. If you make too much of a friendly result, it can set a country up for severe dissapointment.
March 31st 2011 @ 10:02am
MyLeftFoot said | March 31st 2011 @ 10:02am | Report comment
Australian soccer fans have every right to be pleased by such a result, as long as they understand the proper context and appreciate that it doesn’t really mean all that much.
March 31st 2011 @ 10:36am
Roger said | March 31st 2011 @ 10:36am | Report comment
Enjoyed the read, but the only we’re going to get revenge is to beat Germany at the World Cup.
Wins like this are both morale boosting and awesome, but they are not revenge.
March 31st 2011 @ 3:44pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:44pm | Report comment
Roger—-revenge in a sporting context is OK. It’s not as if we want to pillage and burn their villages.. If you saw the scenes in the Australian dressing room after the match with Osie’s address to the team—he thank them from the bottom of his heart. This is international Football—it’s sporting revenge—a face saving performance that has the Australian Sporting Public believing again in the Australian National Football Team. Especially all of those non-Football types in main stream media who bash Australian Football to no end.. It’s a good timely PR exercise that Demetriou can only dream of.
March 31st 2011 @ 3:54pm
Nathan said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:54pm | Report comment
“It’s not as if we want to pillage and burn their villages.”
Exception: Italian national team.
March 31st 2011 @ 3:59pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:59pm | Report comment
Ah yes—they’re next… This time no more Mr nice guys
March 31st 2011 @ 5:29pm
Roger said | March 31st 2011 @ 5:29pm | Report comment
Agreed! Lol
March 31st 2011 @ 5:29pm
Roger said | March 31st 2011 @ 5:29pm | Report comment
Fair enough AF. Let me re-phrase – it will not feel to me like we have exacted revenge until we beat them in a tournament.
March 31st 2011 @ 9:55pm
apaway said | March 31st 2011 @ 9:55pm | Report comment
I did write “the trick for Holger Osiek is to get these results at a World Cup.” But until that time occurs, this is what we’ve got. When Uruguay came and played a “friendly” here in 2008 (I think) do you reckon they didn’t care what the result was?
March 31st 2011 @ 10:39am
dasilva said | March 31st 2011 @ 10:39am | Report comment
There is no such as thing as a intercontinental world cup qualifiers where australia gets to readily pit its talent against teams of different confederation to qualify to the World Cup (I truly wish one day that will occur but I doubt that will happen in any forseeable future)
So the only way Australia can test themselves against the top rank nations in the world ioutside the world cup is in a friendly match.
Now teams from Europe who readily play against European powerhouse sides may not care much for friendly but they do mean a fair amount for sides outside Europe and South america who don’t play against the likes of the brazil, argentina, spain, germany, italy on a regular basis.
So for me, I take the victory and Australia has every right to prideful about this result.
If people say it’s just a friendly, well I hope World Football would one day unite the confederation into a singular world cup qualification campaign so we can at least try to do this in a competitive match but until then, a friendly victory is the best we can hope for until 2014.
March 31st 2011 @ 3:17pm
ItsCalledFootball said | March 31st 2011 @ 3:17pm | Report comment
Haven’t we ever played Italy before in an international – apart from Germany 06?
March 31st 2011 @ 4:37pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 4:37pm | Report comment
ICF—-I think Amanda Vanstone was suppose to arrange a friendly between the Socceroos and Italy when she left for Rome as Howard’s representative, but she fell in love with Grosso and nothing ever came of it…
March 31st 2011 @ 9:58pm
apaway said | March 31st 2011 @ 9:58pm | Report comment
ICF
Except for Kaiserslautern ’06, the only international I recall Australia playing against Italy was the opening game of the 2000 Olympics at the MCG.
March 31st 2011 @ 4:26pm
Davstar said | March 31st 2011 @ 4:26pm | Report comment
Ok Australia beating Germany yesterday was a massive boost of confidence and a great achievement. Aussie fans should be proud of the boys, however it was not revenge they are the main reason why Aus didn’t make it out of the group stage, we beat Holland under Verbeek well before the WC and they made it to the finals we went home in the group stage. Friendlies don’t mean much especially considering Özil was missing and he is a key part to German teams game its like Australia playing without Mackay atm.
Main reason why im proud but essentially think this result doesn’t do anything but give us a bit of confidence is:
1. The 50%< of the team that beat Ger will not being lining up for Brazil 2014 most likely.
2. Besides a short stint for Brent McGrath and Kruse we did nothing to help develop new players which is what is essentially friendlies are about and why Germany continue to use them to develop new players for the national team and they have won 3 world cups and have been in the top 4 many times.
3. Germany had most of here original squad missing there team chemistry was clearly off in there back line, resulting it looking highly disjointed at times due to the lack of team cohesion.
So yes we won but we are no better for it, Sasa, Neil Schwarzer, Emerton and Kewell will almost likely not be there in 4 years time. Add Cahill too (even if he didn't play) we essentially have a team of bench warmers, reserves players and lower division/league boys.
No one for Australia has played UEFA Champions League in 2 years now *not inc play-offs i mean the actually group/knock out phases* that's what worries me. We barely have players playing in Europa league at the moment.
It was nice to win it always is, i would of rather of lost and given Sarota, Rukavytsya, Langerak and Herd a start see how they went. Essentially this result doesn't even promote the game much because the game was so late at night here, if friendlies are played aren't played at home we shouldn't be looking to win but looking to grow and improve our squad.
So yes im proud we won but essentially all it is was a Victory so calm down close the champagne we have bigger problems right now. We will qualify for the 2014 WC but if we want to actually make it out of the Group stage it will require some new players at a very high level.
March 31st 2011 @ 5:05pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 5:05pm | Report comment
Davstar—Both countries will field totally different squads by 2014. You don’t just field the Olyroos against the Germans first up—we had train on squads in Germany; a total of 22 players were on hand, this has to be a gradual transition—it was a good start and the next friendly is in June against Serbia (I think). Osie, will introduce a few more younger players who have proven themselves in the next camp. I wish we would all stop with this bull about throwing out all the experienced players and replacing them with the inexperienced youngsters—their time will come, when Osie feels the time is right and that time will be in June with a few more.
March 31st 2011 @ 7:22pm
dasilva said | March 31st 2011 @ 7:22pm | Report comment
I agree
The manager don’t have to play young players to see how they would go. They see how they go by watching them train and Osieck made the call that they won’t be as effective as the senior players at this time. Even club managers don’t pick young players when they know they are not ready.
The role of Osieck isn’t exactly to develop players because that is the role of the clubs. However it is role is to pick the young players and drop the senior players once the young players become better than the senior players.
I have confidance that if any young players develop enough where there performance would be superior to any of the aging players (Neill, Kewell, Schwarzer, Emerton) than Osieck is able to make the tough call and drop the senior players.
However we shouldn’t expect Osieck to engage in some sort of youth affirmative action.
March 31st 2011 @ 7:23pm
Davstar said | March 31st 2011 @ 7:23pm | Report comment
Fair enough but we could of given say herd a shot over Sasa or put Sarota in cuz Cahill was injured im not saying completely revamp the squad but if we dont start slowly doing it now its never going to happen!!
March 31st 2011 @ 7:25pm
Davstar said | March 31st 2011 @ 7:25pm | Report comment
I also think we’re getting carried away and as for Germany most of there starting 2010 IX will Mirror there IX in 2014 they had a very young squad.
Too many talking about revenge and what not and i think we are getting ahead of our selves.
March 31st 2011 @ 7:37pm
Nathan said | March 31st 2011 @ 7:37pm | Report comment
Revenge in this case isn’t really about scorelines or tournaments.
Its about embarrassment. When we went down 4-0 after having had high hopes, Australia as a nation was embarrassed. To level the ledgers what was needed was to embarrass Germany. And 2:1 *in Germany* in front of 30,000 screaming Germans, in a match that no self-respecting German would have given us a chance in, first-string or second-string team or whatever, did just that.
The match-geld is paid.
March 31st 2011 @ 7:38pm
Nathan said | March 31st 2011 @ 7:38pm | Report comment
Especially considering Low’s previously undefeated five-year home record.
March 31st 2011 @ 7:40pm
Davstar said | March 31st 2011 @ 7:40pm | Report comment
When we beat Germany in the world cup i will say this is revenge as when we beat Italy! but until then i will never truly be over what happened!
March 31st 2011 @ 5:49pm
Fussball ist unser leben said | March 31st 2011 @ 5:49pm | Report comment
The game yesterday morning is also, for me, further proof that – apart from neglecting the A-league during the past 2 seasons – the FFA has done a remarkable job to resurrect Football in Australia.
Everything else about Football in Australia is moving along brilliantly: all National Teams – men, women, youth – are performing well at the highest levels; the FFA’s development programmes are already producing technically gifted young players; participation in the Game – indoor, outdoor – makes Football the most popular participation team sport in Australia.
Now, it’s time for the FFA to focus its attention on the domestic professional competition and find ways to entice the Football family to embrace the A-League.
If the FFA does this, then the final piece of the puzzle is in place and the picture of The Beautiful Game in Australia will be complete
March 31st 2011 @ 7:05pm
Nathan said | March 31st 2011 @ 7:05pm | Report comment
Having a coach that supports the A-League, i.e., Holger, as opposed to a coach that thought it was a joke, i.e., Pim, is a big step and good sign.
March 31st 2011 @ 10:09pm
apaway said | March 31st 2011 @ 10:09pm | Report comment
AF
Maybe every time the Socceroos play a “friendly”, someone can invent a cup to play for and in the eyes of those who dismiss such contests as “meaningless”, this might give it some meaning.
Or maybe not.
In essence, part of the article was pointing towards winning against the likes of Germany “when it really matters” but until fate gives the Socceroos a draw at a World Cup for them to be able to do that, this will have to do.
March 31st 2011 @ 10:34pm
Australian Football said | March 31st 2011 @ 10:34pm | Report comment
No need Apaway there will always be anti-football writers in the press and websites telling us that Friendlies/Tests are meaningless. You just have to shoot them down when they mouth off. The truth is 30K Germans who bought tickets to the “Test” are probably demanding their deutschmarks back. That is the how seriously they take their football over in Germany. I’ll take the win now, because we may never meet them again, not in the next 4 years or maybe not in he next 8 years they may get knocked out of the WC qualifiers, nothing in this world is for certain. England has not played in ever world cup since they won in 1966.
April 1st 2011 @ 4:14pm
floppybottom said | April 1st 2011 @ 4:14pm | Report comment
aussie aussie aussie – bang bang bang
April 2nd 2011 @ 11:49am
Australian Football said | April 2nd 2011 @ 11:49am | Report comment
Yep I agree, you shot yourself in the foot…