you are extremely pessimistic. We should have won tonight before extra time even began I'm not too upset as I thought we were the better side but sometimes that's how soccer goes. we'll only get better as the sport grows.
Personally, I find it more upsetting when my team loses after putting on a good performance than if the team deserves to lose for playing poorly. Anyhow, I hope we learn from our mistakes and kick-start something special in 2015. Who knows, it could be similar to the story of how Japan rose to supremacy in Asian Football.
One day we might produce a decent striker, then we can stop playing midfielders up there. Credit to Japan, they took one of their chances, we didn't.
"Don't worry guys, I'll cover the near post! Whoopsies, I overshot it a little bit... Oh, I forgot about that guy." We should have recalled Dukes for this tournament.
He refereed a good match for us (relatively relaxed and loose, similar to what you get in the EPL) but Japan will probably be a bit frustrated. International matches are usually called a lot tighter than domestic games, and we were given more scope to bully them physically than we would have had in a tournament like the World Cup. Technically pretty good though. No major mistakes. The yellow card on Valeri was a strict decision but a lot of referees like to clamp down on that stuff pretty early to set a tone.
We did. His name was Mark Viduka, and we'll be extremely lucky to get another of that talent in the next 10 years...
The thing is, Viduka was pretty rubbish for Australia for most of his international career. It's testament to how poor our stocks are right now that we look back at him with fondness. We don't need a worldbeater. Guys like Damien Mori, Paul Agostino and even John Aloisi were all average-to-good players who did very well in the national team setup. Right now we're struggling but someone will come along soon enough - finding a decent striker is much easier than finding a decent defender.
Really REALLY way off. In my humble opinion he has been our best striker by a long way. The system our coaches chose denied him shining like he did at major European clubs. You put any decent striker in that system and they too would be "pretty rubbish". Dukes was the man. Sorely missed. Ok... Im off topic here. Well done Aussies. You were the better side. And lay off Carney. He had a decent game and tournament and considering the amount of game time he gets at club level, I think he did his job. We don't have a decent left back option. Chippers was not an option. Overall its the most positive I have felt about our football for a while, but I am scared when there is no Schwarz, Arry, Timmy, Emo n Lucas. I feel sorry for the media attacking Pim now. Losers!!! Our defence kept us in this tournament. Our attack did not click at a high enough level.... apart for one game. And there were only A league inclusions because of the injured Euro players. Otherwise they would not have been given a chance. Aussie football writers and commentators with the exception of Bozza and Simon Hill and sometimes Fozzie have no f'en idea. We still do not have a good enough strike force to score goals at a decent international level ... A fact that Pim was well aware of. Timmy and Harry get my thumbs up, but Tim is an attacking midfielder and Harry is our other best option, but as this tournament proved still not good enough.
Hopefully Viduka will make a comeback in the ALeague soon, he would look very good running out in Melbourne Heart colours.
Yeah, and Kaz Patafta could be playing Champions League football next year, Muscat could feel genuine remorse and Mohammed Bin Hammam could be caught singing 'Slice of Heaven' in a Kiwi gay bar wearing nothing but an 'I <3 NZ' g-string.
Now your being pessimistic and silly. Viduka should and probably will make a comeback into the ALeague in the next few seasons.
Uh, we're talking about a guy who limped out of Newcastle with ankle knack and hasn't played competitive football for two years. He turned down Hodgson at Fulham, turned down the World Cup and when Heart came to visit him in Melbourne last year he mumbled at them in his high carbohydrate root vegetable-headed way and nothing happened. Whenever he and friends/family/agents/small pets have been asked about this its the same story everytime: 'Mark is happy with his podgy potato-headed non-footballing life'. The guy has retired. There is no there there.
After scrolling through the main Asian Cup Final thread along with the Japanese thread i am very surprised at the way they have talked themselves up. All kudos to them for sticking in there and their GK had a blinder, but to make out they are "world champions" in some sections after the way they were dominated was very funny to read. If i was them i would be thanking their rice gods or whale gods or whomever they worship for Kennedy not being fit and for the way they won the Final.