Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 8:31 amOI OI OI
Congrats to the Aussies on their 3-1 win over Japan. It was certainly a great match with the temperatures being around 38degC on the stadium pitch. The Australian team did very well to claw back from a 1-0 deficiet and I guess most people thought they were down and out. However with Gus bringing on Tim and John I thought maybe they stood a chance as I remember these guys certainly did wonders during their qualifying. The last 10 minutes of this match have probably been the most exciting I've watched so far in a WC match so far, and I've watched everyone of them. One thing I did notice and I think Australia really need to improve on is passing and going for the ball when nobody has clear possesion. There were many a times when the Australian players did some silly passes that were very dangerous (eg. not enough power in the pass or the other player not reading what his team mate was doing) and resulted in the ball falling short and sometimes being picked up by the Japanese. I believe against better teams such as Brazil they will make a meal of such opportunities and annihilate them. Which I'd like not to happen, anyway it was a great opening match for the Aussies (in the end), and the most goals scored since the Germany match where they scored 4-2.
Asides from that this World Cup so far has been really affected by the heat. I'm not sure what the temperatures were at the 1998 French World Cup but this one seems very hot. I'm not sure how the other teams are going but from the news the English team were pretty much getting unofficially warned by FIFA officials for stopping for water. Some of the players lost around 8-10lb in a match, even though taking on around 70lt of water per player. The decision sounds like a stupid one, and from what I've seen since they're now allowing the players to take on water. They even have tactics where players if tackled badly will stay down so the rest of the team can go to the sidelines and take on water. Why they don't just allow for a 15-30sec water break ever 15min I don't know. I think if this heat keeps up the South Americans might do well this WC. Not sure if the Ozzies will be used to playing in this weather seeing as seven of them play Premier League and so are probably climatized to the English conditions. Which are finished before summer anyway so they're most likely socializing/holidaying/sinking piss in the off season. Anyway that's pretty much so far, can't wait until tomorrow night. It's Brazil's first game and I'm interested to see how they start their WC effort.
Congrats to the Aussies on their 3-1 win over Japan. It was certainly a great match with the temperatures being around 38degC on the stadium pitch. The Australian team did very well to claw back from a 1-0 deficiet and I guess most people thought they were down and out. However with Gus bringing on Tim and John I thought maybe they stood a chance as I remember these guys certainly did wonders during their qualifying. The last 10 minutes of this match have probably been the most exciting I've watched so far in a WC match so far, and I've watched everyone of them. One thing I did notice and I think Australia really need to improve on is passing and going for the ball when nobody has clear possesion. There were many a times when the Australian players did some silly passes that were very dangerous (eg. not enough power in the pass or the other player not reading what his team mate was doing) and resulted in the ball falling short and sometimes being picked up by the Japanese. I believe against better teams such as Brazil they will make a meal of such opportunities and annihilate them. Which I'd like not to happen, anyway it was a great opening match for the Aussies (in the end), and the most goals scored since the Germany match where they scored 4-2.
Asides from that this World Cup so far has been really affected by the heat. I'm not sure what the temperatures were at the 1998 French World Cup but this one seems very hot. I'm not sure how the other teams are going but from the news the English team were pretty much getting unofficially warned by FIFA officials for stopping for water. Some of the players lost around 8-10lb in a match, even though taking on around 70lt of water per player. The decision sounds like a stupid one, and from what I've seen since they're now allowing the players to take on water. They even have tactics where players if tackled badly will stay down so the rest of the team can go to the sidelines and take on water. Why they don't just allow for a 15-30sec water break ever 15min I don't know. I think if this heat keeps up the South Americans might do well this WC. Not sure if the Ozzies will be used to playing in this weather seeing as seven of them play Premier League and so are probably climatized to the English conditions. Which are finished before summer anyway so they're most likely socializing/holidaying/sinking piss in the off season. Anyway that's pretty much so far, can't wait until tomorrow night. It's Brazil's first game and I'm interested to see how they start their WC effort.
Most pleasingly, the poor quality of refereeing didn't adversely affect the outcome of the game.