Official Football/Soccer Thread

[wotdoiput]

Well I went to my mates place last night and I was able to check out some Asian Cup action that didnt involve Australia.

First match was Malaysia against Uzbekistan. Wow what a crap match. Malaysia suck and I mean suck big time. At times it didnt look like the Uzbeki's were overly interested and you could easily see why, jus no competition here. The Malaysian goalkeeper made some ok savs. But they back up their 5-1 loss to China with a 5-0 loss to Uzbekistan.

Onto the next game, played in Indonesia in front of 90,000. Indonesia against Saudi Arabia. This was a very good game, a very good game indeed. A lot of fast paced action, the game was very open. At one stage I thought so much had happened in the first half that the halftime whistle must be close. Looked at the clock, 20 minutes gone.

Saudi Arabia were first on the board, but only a couple of minutes later Indonesia equalised and the stadium went ballistic. The match ebbed and flowed from there with both teams having chances, some were wasted. But both Goalkeepers made some good saves.

Indonesia dominated play at the start of the second half but couldnt make it count. The Saudi Arabia hit back and started to dominate and wasted some chances. The when it looked headed for a 1-1 draw. In the 3rd minute of stoppagge time Saudi Arabia score from a freekick to take the match 2-1. Felt sorry for the Indonesians they deserved better.

 

[wotdoiput]

Well for all out that care, not many id reckon, the Australians made it through to the quarter finals of the Asian Cup. A 4-0 victory over Thailand saw them through. But despite the scoreline were far from impressive imo. After scoring the first goal, the Aussies struggled as the Thia's dominated for large periods, and again Schwarzer was very good in goals. The spate of goals at the end came from when the Thai's pushed forward, looking for the equaliser that would of seen them through to the next round.

So Japan are the team that lies ahead for Australia. A rematch of the World Cup group match, which the Aussies won 3-1, thatnks to two goals from super sub Tim Cahill.

Apprently again Cahill and Kewell will start on the bench, while Lucas Neill will return to the starting XI for the suspended Luke Wilkshire, while Brett Emerton will move into midfield.

 

[wotdoiput]

Well Australis Asian Cup dream is now over. Beaten in the Quarter Finals by Japan. 4-3 on Penalties.

Australia had taken the lead through John Aloisi after 69 minutes, only for Japan to equalise minutes later. Then Vince Grella was sent off. Leaving Australia to play the last 15 minutes of normal tim and extra time one man down.

Despite this they still made it to penalties. Were Lucas Neill and Harry Kewell had their shots saved.

Ends a disappointing tournament for Australia, they were lucky to get thru the group, and will need to think about their approach to Asia when it comes time to qualify for the world cup.

Good news is that Graham Arnold is set to get the shaft. Those in the running include Gerard Houiller and Dick Advoocat.

 

[Lee]

How's Viduka been doing? He's just signed for my club, hope he does well.

 

[wotdoiput]

How's Viduka been doing? He's just signed for my club, hope he does well.

Viduka actually played pretty well in the Asian Cup. He scored 3 or 4 goals. Nearly doubling his international output for the Soccerroos. Granted on of the big reasons was the small defences of some of the Asian teams. But Dukes did his job and it was pleasing to see.

I think he will be a good pickup for Newcastle. Especially if Owen can come back withe Obefami Martins.

Just for info. The Asian Cup final is Saudi Arabia against the huge surprise packet in Iraq. I would expect the Saudi's to win but Iraq has had a dream run. The playoff for 3rd and 4th is Japan vs Korea.