I thought Mourinho's press conference yesterday was quite interesting.

A year ago he was advocating a squad of at least 23 outfield players for all the seasons campagins. Now he has cut that to; 20 outfield players and of those, four (minimum) should be sub-21 year olds.

On the man himself, Does he look 'ill' to some people at the moment? He doesn't look well at all IMO.

You are confusing Australia with Madagascar.

an easy mistake....

very easy...

Or, after the Italian stock market closes

Thats exactly the reason, stuwilky.

I do wonder were the games would be played though. Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisvagus but then..... 95% of international sport is in Melbourne and I can see the ozzies wanting to hold about 50% of the whole tornument at the MCG.

Errr right..

Sydney - Sydney Football Stadium 46k, Olympic Stadium 83k, SCG 44k

Brisbane - Gabba 42k

Melbourne - Telstra Dome 57k, MCG 95k

Adelaide - AAMI Stadium 52k

Perth - Subiaco Oval 43k

Thats 8 stadiums..

Why is Australia in the mix?

We didn't bid to be world cup host did we?

If the South Africans can't handle it then FIFA would probably opt for another backward , "emerging" nation .

Yep , Australia is as good a choice as any ......

Not going to bite,

I will say it first a think he will get between 10-15 goals next season what does everyone else think that he will get

9 goals

I think he will do 'okay', as long as he gets the time.

I think what Aussie is referring to is Clive Thomas famously disallowing a crucial goal in the World Cup by blowing the final whistle.

Corner is taken, Thomas blows whistle, a fraction of a second later, the ball is volleyed into the net.

Not sure as to the two sides but seem to think the unlucky ones were Brazil.

Debate raged for ages afterwards as to whether a ref should allow the ball to go dead before blowing up.

Thats the one! Thank you Rev.

Throw-in's I dont mind. Free kicks from set plays (corners and the like) is different, as anything can happen. Wasn't there a famous incident in the 80's ( ), when a ref called time on a game when crucial goal was scored from a corner?

*goes away to check*

We might get a decent ref for the Italia game

Not if Mr Moggi has been anywhere near him!

Cards, red or otherwise can be given at any point, before, in, or immediately after a game. In fact, if player came out of the sheds after a game and abused a ref, then he/she could(just could) be given a card.

I can see your point Dave, but why not just add the name to the report for after the game?

I cant see why he blew his whistle straight after the free-kick? It was part of the same play...

Its like allowing a final coner-kick and blowing the whistle while the ball is in mid air..

EDIT: Like the "Tie me Kangaroo down" tune.

Poll is awful.

He reminds me of a certain journalist.

Classic SAR! Spot on!

Poll is a complete numpty! IMO, he was horrible the whole game. Totally inconsistent in his decisions and again, he thought 50K+ people in attendance were there to see him!

Let's look at what he did, or didn't do as the case may be...

1. Viduka is 'tackled' in the box, the linesman misses the obvious penalty (as too does Poll) - How?

2. Tomazs(sp?) handballed again in the box and no penalty is given. How could this be miseed? This was the same Croatian player and same action, that awarded the Australians the first penalty scored by Moore. Tomasz wasn't even given a yellow card on either occasion, yet Brett Emerton received his second yellow and his marching orders for his handball (clearly ball to arm IMO). Why?

3. Didn't book the player Srna when he tugged Poll's shirt, clearly a bookable offence.

4. Gave three yellow's to one player and when questioned by Australian players, said clearly "He has one yellow card". (probably will be the only ref in WC history to do this - Absolute diabolical idiot!)

5. Gave the offside goal to Kewell (Okay -more the linesman's fault and very close)

6. After the Brescaino free-kick, disallowed the Cahill goal (on the final whistle), but gave a yellow card to Simunic (His third) after the whistle had blown. - Why?

In my book that is shocking! I hope the moron/numpty (doesn't really describe him) never goes near an international again let alone ref it! The whole game he looked out of his depth. I hope Sepp Blatter uses him as a 'good example' of bad refing.

On the game itself, Australia played well, but the defensive lapses are the big problem. At critical times Australia lost their shape far too easily.

For the game against Italy, Guus has got to stop playing with the team! Brescaino has to start - no doubt.

Anyway, C'MON AUSTRALIA!

Well, the Aussies ground out a great win, but realistically there's a lot to do.

Hopefully against Brazil they will be able to nullify some of the true stars of world football, it is just a hope; but I can't see any points coming our way. It will need a result in their last game.

Dave, totally agree - theres alot to be done. I think the starting formation will need to be 'tinkered' with. Start with Cahill (for wilkshire) and put Kalac in goal (as he works with Dida).

Also, I think we can safely say Ronaldo (on tonights pedestrian-like performance) wont be starting next game.

but you can be certain that Prso and pals will have sussed the Aussie keeper's weakness- just as well for the socceroos that Prso is 100% rubbish.

Totally agree on your Gus Hiddink point.

Philipl, Im not too worried about Croatia, I think Australia will have Croatia pretty sussed - They have three Australians in their team!!!

EDIT: I thought Prso was Croatia's best player tonight, against Brazil..

Just had dinner at the Australian team hotel. Gus Hiddinck is very nice to talk to. And the food there is excellent. (the team were all having a card school or something similar after dinner I saw one very tall one that I couldn't identify- as it had short hair and the only outfield beanpole doesn't, my guess is one of the two reserve goalies and one very small and weedy one with a tattoo on his calf- who I think might be Luke Wilkshire)

Actually have a ticket to Australia v Brazil. Go Aussie go!

I hate you too now..

By the way, your obsession with Lucas Neill is definately unhealthy.

I understand that you Aussie's are excited to get your first world cup win and all but i think you're getting a bit carried away. You were very, very lucky to get anything from the game....

Carried away? First game in 32 years and 3 vital points and you say carrried away?

We dominated possesion and play.. yes, we were lucky to score 3 goals in eight minutes, but thats football.

Aus V Japan

shots on target : 9 - 2

shots off target : 10 - 5

possession : 56 - 44

corner kicks : 5 - 3

offsides : 4 - 3

fouls : 23 - 12

yellow cards : 4 - 3

red cards : 0 - 0

Great Win - Can't we merge the two topics on OZ world cup, admin?

Chipperfield ....... showed that lower division players cannot operate at this level.

Lower Division? WTF? He plays for FC Basle (Swiss champion League regulars)

Anyway on the game - I thought we completely deserved the win and bring on Brazil!

Something to be proud of then...............

Lets face it, that will be last win for some time i guess

You cheeky bugger!

Bring on the World Cup!

looking good for the aussies! Holding Liechtenstein!!

eerrr no greggyk

Ended 3 -1 to the Aussies

M. Sterjovski

J. Kennedy

J. Aloisi

Australia 1 - 1 Liechtenstein at HT

Lucas Neill own goal - 8min

M. Sterjovski - 20min

Iran 1 - 2 Mexico

My first XI, for the game against Japan on the 10th (this is based on the friendlies so far and assuming all are fit). I think this is one of Austalia's stongest teams in quite a while and has a fair amount of depth.

On the team; I wouldn't include Wilkshire - reminds too much off Flitcroft. Schwarzer gets the 'nod' in goal over Kalac (looks alot more confident). It's a shame Vidmar couldn't play, as I would include him over Lazaridis as defence cover. Personally, I would be surprised if Kennedy, Miligan make the substitutes bench.

----------------Schwarzer

Emerton - Neill - Moore - Chipperfield

------------------ Grella

Brescaino - Culina - Cahill - Kewell

----------------- Viduka

Subs;

Kalac

Popovic

Lazaridis

Thompson

Sterjovski

Skoko

Alosi

Sweden to romp this one 3-0

Shouldn't this be pinned?

I'll defineatley be watching this one.

2-1 to Ukraine.

Looks as though Sjneider is really struggling.

The v.bronkhurst injury looked alot worse Eddie. IMO, I don't think either player will start in the first game.. Interesting now, with Holand playing S&M first on the 11th! I think this could be when the 'Dark Horse' gets up!

Personally, I think Group C will end as;

1. Argentina

2. S&M

3. Holland

4. Ivory Coast

This is a very tricky game, could go either way.

2-2 draw.

2-0 to the French.