‘Unbelievable Win for the Socceroos’ was how Michael Lynch of the SMH expressed it, and unbelievable was the exact word on my lips too when Tim Cahill’s shot crashed off the post and back into the net, making the score 2-1. We couldn’t find the game on any of our 35 TV chanels, so my sons and I watched it in the Sherlock Holmes Pub (13th District, Budapest). The only other person in the room was Nathan from Mudgeeraba, Qld; I only realised he was Australian when the equaliser was scored and he leapt up and punched the ceiling.
I’ll leave the expert technical analysis to the Stephen Hills of this world, except to note that I was heavily struck by the contrast in the styles of the two sides. Japan had no midfield game. They would launch a terrifying blitzkrieg in the Australian half, and then ten seconds later there they were, all eleven of them, defending their fort like the British riflemen at Rorke’s Drift. The Socceroos, by contrast, were all playing midfield and none of them had time to either defend or attack properly – at least so it seemed, until the unbelievable happened. Hungarian TV didn’t show the stats, but I reckon Australia had 75 percent of possession.
It reminded me of the Clash of the Disciplines between Muhammad Ali and Kannji Antonio Inoki, back in 1976. I half expected the referee to call the game off, on the grounds that the teams were playing different sports. By the end of the match the Australian style was vindicated threefold. But a very short time earlier – in the eighty-third minute – that conclusion hadn’t been so obvious to me. Nor to the hapless girls in the top picture.
Bloody amazing. They lost it and we won it in equal measure. Zico in the papers saying they tried to defend a 1-0 lead. Well, he’s a footballing legend and I’m not but IMHO that is a tactic you don’t want against the Wiley Park Under 12s let alone in the World Cup. Still, you have to have the class to capitalise and Timmy has it in spades.
I hope Ghana get something out of this match.
Well I am glad Zico conceded that was his tactic because that was their downfall. Or should that be collapse.
(Mind you wasn’t too sure what Guus was doing tactically in the first half but hey, we’ll take the result)
We were the better side.
The Japs didn’t look like scoring even when we almost gifted them.
That hard training paid off.
Wiltshire? Why wasn’t Kewell on the left?
Is that Kennedy a good player!!
Ole, ole,ole oleo
I told you so
i was saying unglaublich as well…
japans game was excellent. the difference for australia was the three substitutions…
wooo!
And that Japan goal was suss….
Not sus it was a freekick to us.
I thought most of the game was like watching paint dry, or a pair of AFL cellar dwellers practising the flood and keepy off chip kicking in their back halfs. It got interesting in the last few minutes, but probably not very interesting for Japanese afficionados of the game. No doubt they would have preferred more paint drying.
Schwartzer was flat-footed in the wrong position and outpointed in the goalmouth ‘presence’ department Homer. As a result the goal should be legit, even if the refs often don’t see it that way.
Looking forward to seeing Brazil play. We took a while to capitalise but I agree with Homer’s comment – we outplayed them generally throughout the match.
They had a couple of very good chances that they should have buried.
Obby,
you don’t have to watch. I’m sure there’s a wall in your house somewhere you can add a lick of paint to.