Rob's Blog

Last night the Socceroos took on arguably the best football team in the world, the Brazilians. Like most Aussies, I woke up in the middle of the night to watch the game.

Australia lost 2-0, but again showed that they deserve to be on the world stage, and with a win or draw next week against Croatia they can make it to the next round. Such a feat would have been unthinkable a few years ago, but not surprising considering Australia’s rich sporting history.

Against Brazil, they matched them in most areas around the field and must have had them worried when the score was still 0-0 at halftime.

The Brazil team is not dominating the tournament as expected, and at this stage don’t look like going all the way.

Related Pages: Soccer, Football World Cup, Brazil at the WC, Australia at the WC

Australia are back on the world Football stage, winning their first ever match in the World Cup. The game started at 11pm Melbourne time, which was not too late, made easier by a mid-afternoon power nap in preparation.

The game was played at Kaiserslauternin Stadium in 30-degree heat, and despite Australia’s dominance for much of the game looked like it was going to fall Japan’s way. Japan was awarded a lucky goal in the first half when one of Japan’s strikers blocked the Australia goalkeeper Schwarzer and should have been penalized.

The score remained at 1-0 until less than 10 minutes to go in the match, at a time when most viewers would have given up on the Socceroos, as I had. I was thinking that a draw would be our best chance, and considering the situation that would not be too bad a result. Finally, the Australians’ pressure up front paid off, with Tim Cahill slotting one through to draw level with Japan at the 84th minute.

A short time later he put Australia ahead with his second goal, a well-placed kick into the corner of the net. To make it Australia’s day, in the final minutes John Aloisi scored the third goal for Australia after some aggressive forward play to make it 3-1.

It was a fantastic comeback. It was the first win for Australia in a World Cup game, actually the first time they had ever scored a goal at the World Cup. After that performance, I don’t think it will be our last. If luck goes our way, we may even be able to upset the Brazilians, in our next match.

Related Pages: soccer, Football World Cup, Tim Cahill profile, Australia at the WC, Japan at the WC

Australia’s national football (soccer) team played a match against the Netherlands last night – a warm-up game for each team before the World Cup tournament starts next week.

I stayed up to watch it (starting at 10.30pm). It was a tightly marked game, and Australia did not seem as comfortable as they have appeared in their last couple of internationals – and rightly so as the Dutch team is ranked third in the world.

Australia went one down in the first half, and tiredness caught up with me and I did not stay up for the second half. I woke expecting to hear of a 3-0 loss, but was pleasantly surprised to hear it ended up 1-1, with Australia playing one short for most of the second half.

It is a good result leading up to the World Cup games – they have shown they deserve their place in the finals. Hopefully, I can adjust my internal clock and be able to stay up and watch the games when they are on. Win or lose, I think most Australians just want to be a part of it and show the world we are good enough to be there.

Related Pages: soccer, Football World Cup, Holland at the WC, Australia at the WC