Aussies crucified by prick

[mal]

RIGHT into the net!

[Maddogmike]

Wedgie - By the laws of the game, it was not a penalty. The referee's interpretation of the laws (somewhat misguided) made him give a penalty. You saying it was a blatant penalty is very ignorant in my opinion.

[zipzap]

Guus was well prepared for extra time,

I think this is where we lost it, he was definitely outcoached. Banking a player for extra time doesn't seem a very Guus thing to do. Aloisi should have followed Totti on the ground. We shouldn't have needed to worry about extra time.

[JK]

Guus was well prepared for extra time,

I think this is where we lost it, he was definitely outcoached. Banking a player for extra time doesn't seem a very Guus thing to do. Aloisi should have followed Totti on the ground. We shouldn't have needed to worry about extra time.

Totally agree Zipzap unfortunately ... Think Aloisi or Kennedy needed to come on, as whilst we dominated in the middle we really didn't put them under the pump enough near their goal ... The Italians are experts at defending, often moreso when they are down to 10 men so it was crucial we had the firepower in attack to keep them there at all times.

FWIW I certainly don't think it was a penalty, but imho there's no way they should have been down to 10 players ... Whilst not perfect, it was still the best refereeing in any of our games throughout the Cup

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

Whilst not perfect, it was still the best refereeing in any of our games throughout the Cup

yet it cost us the most.

if it did go to extra time, then it would have been considered a master stroke, and lets not forget, he was only 10 seconds from pulling it off to.

[Dogsbody]

The Socceroos were f**ked up the a*se without a condom.

End of mother-f*@#in' story. This kind of s**t is going to diminish any faith soccer newcomers had in the game and this will affect the A-League. Hopefully I'm wrong about that last bit.

[JK]

Whilst not perfect, it was still the best refereeing in any of our games throughout the Cup

yet it cost us the most.

if it did go to extra time, then it would have been considered a master stroke, and lets not forget, he was only 10 seconds from pulling it off to.

Would the players have been much less fresh by playing the last 10-20 minutes of regulation anyway Sammy?

At the end of the day it's really just a case of "we'll never know" ... I'm not trying to knock Guus because I think he's done an outstanding job with our boys, and without him we wouldn't have achieved anywhere near what we have.

My other half asked me this morning "Who's going to win the Cup" ... I started by suggesting Brazil and then ran with "At this stage ANY remaining team can win it really" such is the quality of all the players and coaches remaining

[zipzap]

if it did go to extra time, then it would have been considered a master stroke, and lets not forget, he was only 10 seconds from pulling it off to.

As soon as we were up against only 10 men, another striker should have been brought on. Super Guus stuffed up.

[ORDoubleBlues]

Very disappointing and while I can see the grounds for a penalty being given, I don't think there would have been any argument, outside of Italian supporters, if a penalty hadn't been given. A very similar incident happened in the Brazil V Ghana game when Adriano fell over the Ghanian goalkeeper and he got yellow carded for diving!. Believe that like Aussie rules, it depends on the umpire/refs view of the incident and to some extent his opinion, on whether or not a decision gets paid.
What hurts for most of us is that we would have been playing against Ukraine in the quarter final (if we had got past Italy) and they are without doubt the easiest matchup in the last 8 and were gifted their place by Switzerland, who performed one of the biggest chokes in World Cup history in the penalty shootout. Ukraine have one or two gun players but they came through the easiest group and they were absolutely atrocious in their game against Spain and were lucky they didn't lose by more than 4-0.
Am proud of the Socceroos though and I hope this propels our young guns to go for broke in regards to higher honours.

[am Bays]

MDM and LD I think this bloke is refering to you.....

From TFF SMH 01/07/2006

SMH letter-to-the-editor of the year: "Just wanted to drop you all a note of condolence on your World Cup exit. Although you were never really good enough to be there in the first place, as one of our foreign outposts we think you did quite well and, most importantly, represented your Queen admirably. So, well done, little colony.

"On the upside, though, now at least your long-haired, scruffy, unclean teenage masses can all return to London to resume their minimum-wage jobs, serving us thirsty English boys warm beer, just in time for the games on Friday and Saturday. Good timing, really, because, as everyone agrees, the real tournament starts now that only the real footballing teams are left.

Well, chin up, anyway, pickpockets, and I suppose it's back to stealing your mothers' ironing boards and heading to the sea to try to dodge those hungry sharks. How sweet. Best regards and God save the Queen."

Paul Kaynes, West Sussex.

pretty funny really, let the countries that care most about soccer compete in the World cup, we'll get excited about footy, Rugby (Union) and cricket...

[ORDoubleBlues]

MDM and LD I think this bloke is refering to you.....

From TFF SMH 01/07/2006

SMH letter-to-the-editor of the year: "Just wanted to drop you all a note of condolence on your World Cup exit. Although you were never really good enough to be there in the first place, as one of our foreign outposts we think you did quite well and, most importantly, represented your Queen admirably. So, well done, little colony.

"On the upside, though, now at least your long-haired, scruffy, unclean teenage masses can all return to London to resume their minimum-wage jobs, serving us thirsty English boys warm beer, just in time for the games on Friday and Saturday. Good timing, really, because, as everyone agrees, the real tournament starts now that only the real footballing teams are left.

Well, chin up, anyway, pickpockets, and I suppose it's back to stealing your mothers' ironing boards and heading to the sea to try to dodge those hungry sharks. How sweet. Best regards and God save the Queen."

Paul Kaynes, West Sussex.

pretty funny really, let the countries that care most about soccer compete in the World cup, we'll get excited about footy, Rugby (Union) and cricket...

While this may be only tongue in cheek, I laugh when you hear reports about "England dissappointing once again". In reality they just aren't good enough to be considered amongst the elite 5 or 6 teams in the world and that's not sour grapes, it's a fact.

[Sam_goUUUdogs]

MDM and LD I think this bloke is refering to you.....

From TFF SMH 01/07/2006

SMH letter-to-the-editor of the year: "Just wanted to drop you all a note of condolence on your World Cup exit. Although you were never really good enough to be there in the first place, as one of our foreign outposts we think you did quite well and, most importantly, represented your Queen admirably. So, well done, little colony.

"On the upside, though, now at least your long-haired, scruffy, unclean teenage masses can all return to London to resume their minimum-wage jobs, serving us thirsty English boys warm beer, just in time for the games on Friday and Saturday. Good timing, really, because, as everyone agrees, the real tournament starts now that only the real footballing teams are left.

Well, chin up, anyway, pickpockets, and I suppose it's back to stealing your mothers' ironing boards and heading to the sea to try to dodge those hungry sharks. How sweet. Best regards and God save the Queen."

Paul Kaynes, West Sussex.

pretty funny really, let the countries that care most about soccer compete in the World cup, we'll get excited about footy, Rugby (Union) and cricket...

While this may be only tongue in cheek, I laugh when you hear reports about "England dissappointing once again". In reality they just aren't good enough to be considered amongst the elite 5 or 6 teams in the world and that's not sour grapes, it's a fact.

they are one of the elite top 5 sides, problem is they just dont show it, they clearly have the players, arguable the best side on paper this world cup, they just dont put it in to action, with other results this world cup ie Brazil out, England could have ahd the world cup all wrap up by now, its just a matter of time before England gets it together one world cup, maybe the next one with Stevie G leading them.

[Maddogmike]

His column would be refering to me if I wasnt teaching over here and getting $300 Aust a day for teaching pommy kids sport and if his country had not forked out $2400 for my airfares to fly over here. It is the slummy Poms who are having to serve me beer every sat night, not vice versa haha
They all end up wishing they lived in Australia anyway - The amount of people that want to migrate is staggering (well not really considering how crap the weather is in the UK).

[Magpiespower]

They all end up wishing they lived in Australia anyway - The amount of people that want to migrate is staggering (well not really considering how crap the weather is in the UK).

Never forget when I (briefly) lived in London and worked in my cousin's pub.

Punters would always pick my accent.

"You Australian?" they'd ask.

"Yes," I'd reply.

"Well, what the f@$% are you doing here?"

[JK]

they are one of the elite top 5 sides, problem is they just dont show it, they clearly have the players, arguable the best side on paper this world cup, they just dont put it in to action, with other results this world cup ie Brazil out, England could have ahd the world cup all wrap up by now, its just a matter of time before England gets it together one world cup, maybe the next one with Stevie G leading them.

There was a time when I used to think this too Sammy, but sadly it's not the case ... The team has some great players, but clearly lack the technical prowess of many other countries, and don't have the mental fibre required to be in the elite (given the quality of teams at this level, thats a massive requirement), so unfortunately I don't think they are in the top 5.

There were no doubt some poor selections for the squad with regard to injury, form and age, but unfortunately I think what I've said holds true ...