Farewell Game Against Greece

I flew to Melbourne on Thursday 25 June to watch the game against Greece, joined by 95,000 other fanatics, at least half wearing the blue and white of the visitors. What an inspirational choice of opponent for the 'farewell' game, played in a city full of Greeks, billed as a game against the European Champions, who were willing to fly across the world because they have nothing else to do at the moment. It is doubtful that any team in the World Cup would have bothered.

There was much to enjoy about the way Australia played. Passing was crisp and players moved around freely to give create opportunities. The team looked fit, confident and relaxed. Highlights were the calmness of Moore and Neill in defence, where Neill has slotted in well despite never playing there at a club level. We can only hope Moore stays fit because Plan B is not exciting. The unusual positions on Chipperfield and Emerton as fullbacks come wing backs worked well, although they may be forced to play more defensively against a better team. And Culina and Grella pairing in midfield is an unspoken success story, as they also shone against Uruguay. This is a good combination of hard working, reliable players who are quick to get behind the ball.

I have never liked to lone attacker structure, but Hiddink seems committed to it. Viduka hangs around up field looking very lonely, and when he receives the ball, he has to hold up play while he waits for someone to arrive. The team misses Kewell when this happens, as he looms large on the left when he is at his attacking best.

Australia won 1-0 in a game which was more about the celebration of qualifying and a bit of a kickaround, rather than creating any tension or emotion. Unlike most comments in the media, I don't think Sterjovski played well. He had a lot of possession, but did not do much with it, and blew a couple of good openings. Similarly, except for his fantastic strike for the only goal, Skoko was busy but no threat to Cahill or Kewell.

Next day, I attended the farewell lunch for the team, courtesy of my hosts, National Bank. Andy Harper gave the rugby and AFL fans quite a spray, but everyone took it well. When the Socceroos entered the room, there was a spontaneous standing ovation from the hundreds of people present. Harper interviewed Skoko, who could only say, "Some of them end up in the grandstand and some of them go in the goal," which was a bit of a putdown to a wonderful piece of skill.

Players were awarded their 'caps', emblazoned with their official numbers in the sequence of all players who have represented Australia in a full international. This is a great move, although copying a well-established path used in cricket which has added to the mystique of the 'baggy green'. Strangely, Hiddink was given an official number in the sequence of players, as an honourary Socceroo. I was also surprised to hear that Andy Harper had never played for Australia, given his distinguished NFL career, not even against Samoa or the Solomon Islands - and he showed more than a hint of regret when he admitted this to the audience.

Had a chat to John O'Neill, and his Chief of Staff, Peter Friend, and John asked me whether FFA had supplied me with my tickets for Germany. I didn't tell him that the offer received a few weeks before the start of the World Cup was very kind but about six months too late. Could have saved me a few thousand dollars.

The AFL fan next to me, only attending to host someone, was quite taken aback by the game and the lunch. "I didn't relaise this was so serious," she said, well on her way to becoming another convert. She grabbed the soccer ball off the table for her sons.

And then it was off to Germany via Holland for the players, who were left in no doubt that Australia is desperate for them to succeed.

Football's Instant Experts

Oh dear, that time has come around again. Once every four years, journalists who would rather go to the ballet in tights than watch a football (soccer) game are asked by their editors to cover Football World Cup stories. What their editors ignore is that it takes decades of accumulated knowledge to write knowledgeably about a sport, and the mistakes are already rampant. We are given references to umpires rather than referees, players are sent to the 'sin bin', which does not exist in football, and goals are 'kicked', when they should be 'scored'.

But Paul Kent's article in today's Sunday Telegraph is an early candidate for journalistic stuff-up of the tournament. We are told about a movie called 'The Third Goal', when 'a German goal was disallowed despite no certain evidence that it had not crossed the England goal line.' No wonder Paul needed a convoluted double-negative. The third goal in the 1966 World Cup final was disputed because of the doubt whether a shot from England's Geoff Hurst crossed the line. A German disallowed goal? Could be a very short movie.

Hand at the Football

This Blog will follow my trip to the 2006 World Cup in Germany to watch all Australia's first round matches (Japan, Brazil, Croatia) plus Engalnd's first game against Paraguay.

My schedule is to leave Sydney on 8 June for Frankfurt via Dubai, for the England game on 10 June. Then on to Kaiserslautern for Australia's first game against Japan on 12 June. From 14 to 17 June I will be in London on business, and to sit in a pub for England's second game versus Trinadad & Tobago (captained my mate Dwight Yorke) on 15 June.

Back to Munich for Australia versus Brazil on 18 June, and after a few days with friends at a place called Bayerisch Eisenstein, on to Stuttgart (also home of the Mercedes Benz factory) for Australia and Croatia on 22 June.

Returning to Munich, I spend a couple of days in Dubai before flying back to Sydney, and the Coldplay concert on 27 June.

Now, if Australia reaches the second round, I might be tempted to ... let's worry about that if it happens.