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What an effort. It was a victory and an extremely good one. The Socceroos may be out of the World Cup and we all love a winner, but we couldn’t have asked for more from Pim Verbeek’s men in the final group game against Serbia.
Outplayed in a technical way by a large margin, the Socceroos outfit came out of their shell in the second half.
Unfortunately, German didn’t hold up its part of the deal that would have seen Australia progress to the round of 16.
It was another Luke Wilkshire cross from the right that appeared to be headed home by substitute Scott Chipperfield, but rather it was Socceroo favourite Tim Cahill.
Who else did we expect it to be?
He popped up, outdoing Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic to give the Socceroos some energy.
Then, it was another substitute, Brett Holman, who is quickly becoming a fan favourite, who made an enormous impact with his second goal of the tournament.
He moved into space with the ball before unleashing a wonderful 30-yard strike into the corner of the net.
It was a superb strike and one of the better goals seen in South Africa.
A late error from Mark Schwarzer gave Marko Pantelic what proved to be a consolation goal.
The Serbians appealed for a late penalty for a Cahill handball, but it wasn’t to be – and nor should it have been.
If the tournament had been officiated in this way throughout, some common sense, the Socceroos may have been better off.
Meanwhile, German captain Philipp Lahm escaped without punishment for committing the same crime as Harry Kewell against Ghana.
The opening 4-0 loss to Germany has cost the Socceroos, but the effort, spirit and desire from then on has been exceptional.
It cannot be questioned.
It’s a shame it went horribly wrong first up, but the players have been superb since.
The 10-man effort against Ghana should have brought three points, but unfortunately it didn’t.
A win against Serbia was an exceptional effort and with a bit of luck, something the Socceroos have not had this tournament, it could have been better.
But to finish the tournament, we couldn’t have asked for more.
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