December 31, 2006 by Dave Earley
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Goodbye, 2006.
I entered the year with a 14-day-old marriage, and exit having experienced the joys and trials that come with those most important first 12 months of wedlock.
Some other things happened during the year, including university, the FIFA World Cup, and others, but they were all pretty much woven into those joys and trials already mentioned.
Speaking of trials, Saddam Hussein managed to steal the headlines to memorably finish off 2006 – his face plastered across New Year’s Eve newspapers the world over.
So farewell, 2006.
August 31, 2006 by Dave Earley
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Good news, Liverpool fans! Lucas Neill is rumoured to be heading to Liverpool. As potentially the best defender (scientifically proven) at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Liverpool could be getting him for the bargain basement price of £2million. Neill’s club, Blackburn, have rejected the initial offer from Liverpool, who will have to pay more if they want him before the transfer window closes in the next 24 hours or so.
In other soccer-related news, our team drew 0-0 on the weekend. To go through to the finals we had to equal or better the sixth-placed team’s result on Saturday. We found out early in the week that they won their match, taking fifth spot and the finals berth. That sucked.
Yet more soccer news. Three of us from the team banded together for 24 tickets to the upcoming Australia v Paraguay friendly in October. It should be a good night, with European-based Socceroos said to be returning for the match.
August 15, 2006 by Dave Earley
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It’s Ekka Holiday tomorrow in Brisbane, otherwise known as the Royal Exhibition. Kate and I are off to the coast right now to see my new niece. My sister-in-law had baby number five on Sunday, Gemma.
I’m coming back tomorrow for our must-win rescheduled soccer game. With only three games left in the season we may not make the finals. Shock!
To keep you all occupied until such time as we meet again, here is a little online game that was sent to me after the World Cup final. I put together a big long post about Zidane’s sending off for a headbutt, but never bothered finishing it. This link was down for a while because of huge traffic, but it’s up again now.
You’re Zidane, see how many Materazzi’s you can headbutt before being shown the red card.
Play here.
Following our achievements at the World Cup, Australia has risen only 9 places in the world rankings, from 42 to 33. Japan, on the other hand, have dropped from 18th all the way to 49. Italy goes to number two, while Brazil are still number one, despite their quarter-final loss to France.
Compare world rankings at the FIFA site.
I know that previous post was supposed to be my last, but rather than editing it again I just decided to do one last one for Australia.
I thought it worth mentioning that (and repeating myself just a little), of our only two losses in the World Cup, both were to the world champions. Australia outplayed Brazil, the defending world champions, and were unlucky to go down 2-0. And we matched Italy, now current world champions, for 94 minutes before that penalty. We can be proud.
Italy 1 – 1 France
Italy win 5-4 on penalties after second period of extra time.
France played the better football throughout the match, also scoring first in the 7th minute with Zinedine Zidane converting an early penalty. Only 12 minutes later Materazzi put in a header from a Pirlo corner to even it up. France were in danger from Pirlo’s well-placed corners, with another header hitting the bar as Italy owned the ball in the air. After the early pressure both teams settled in and chances dried up.
France had to play with only 10 men after Zidane, one of the best players of all time and best player in this World Cup, was sent off in extra time. Zizou, as he’s known, headbutted Marco Materazzi in the chest in backplay during extra time. He was shown a straight red card for his apparentlly unprovoked brain explosion, finishing his last game for France in disgrace.
So Italy, who only went through the second round thanks to a dubious penalty against Australia in the 94th minute of that match, have won the World Cup.
And that, of course, finishes my posts on the 2006 FIFA World Cup. I have to congratulate the Australian team, who really played some fantastic football against both Japan and Brazil. Yes, they played well enough against Croatia to go through to the second round, and well enough against the World Champions, Italy, to keep them scoreless for 94 minutes, but those first two games showed off some of the best football of the entire tournament. Am I biased? Of course I am! I look forward to football taking off in Australia, and seeing the next generation of talent come through to replace the ageing and retiring stars of this World Cup campaign. Bring on 2010, and let’s hope we can see the World Cup hosted in Australia sometime in the next 12 years.
Next event? Rugby World Cup 2007 – France.
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Germany 3 – 1 Portugal
Germany were playing for pride in front of their final home crowd of this tournament, and turned out a good performance against Portugal. Bastian Schweinsteiger (sp?) was the hero for Germany, with two spectacular long-range goals. The third for Germany was an own-goal by Portugal’s Petit, but even that was from a kick whipped in by Schweinsteiger.
Germany were pretty happy at the end of the game, so it was good to see them pleased with a winning performance to end their journey as hosts of the 2006 World Cup.
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Germany 0 – 2 Italy
France 1 – 0 Portugal
Probably the most surprising thing about these two games is that neither of them were decided by penalties.
Italy’s two goals against Germany were good, but didn’t come until extra time when both teams were exhausted. Fabio Grosso scored a beautiful left footed curl from the edge of the 6-yard box and Alessandro del Piero scored their second, a nice chip into the top right corner after he was played into acres of space on the left-hand side of the penalty box.
France played a solid game against Portugal but neither team was particularly impressive. After Brazil and Argentina (my predictions for the final) were knocked out in the quarter finals it’s been an all-European affair.
Now it’s Italy and France in the 2006 World Cup Final in Germany, and Germany will play Portugal for the third place position.
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Germany 1 – 1 Argentina (Germany wins 5-3 on penalties)
England 0 – 0 Portugal (Portugal wins 3-1 on penalties)
Italy 3 – 0 Ukraine
Brazil 0 – 1 France
After having said France are useless, they are now the team I am supporting. They’ve played some great football in their last two games and I hope for more. I’m also hoping Germany thump Italy…
So tomorrow morning Australian time it’s Germany v Italy, then Thursday morning it’s France v Portugal.
Wednesday night is also the deciding State of Origin Rugby League match in Melbourne.
Are you going along to that Mr Bren Carlill?
Brazil 3 – 0 Ghana
France 3 – 1 Spain
The highlight of the Brazil v Ghana game was seeing Ronaldo score his record-breaking 15th World Cup goal. He’s now the highest ever scorer in World Cup finals football, equalling Gerd Muller’s record in the game against Japan, and now overtaking the total which has stood since 1974. Muller scored his 14 in only two world cups, while this is Ronaldo’s fourth visit to the tournament. Nonetheless, the record is now his, and is likely to remain that way for a time to come.
France, listless on the international stage since their World Cup win in 1998, finally found their touch against Spain. France gave away an early penalty and went 1-0 down, but fought back with an inspirational performance from perhaps the ugliest man in soccer, Frank Ribery. With the high proportion of the precious, precocious, and pretty metrosexuals prancing and diving across football fields all across the world, it’s a breath of fresh air to see a man who looks like he does his own hair, dentistry and cosmetic surgery. But perhaps that’s unfair. There was a Scot, whose name I can’t remember, and after much fruitless searching have still not been able to dredge up – who probably would have taken out that award, so to Ribery I apologise.
The quarter finals then will see every World Cup winning country competing, except of course for Uruguay, who Australia so graciously dumped last November.
First there’s Germany (winners in 1954, 1974 and 1990) against Argentina (1978, 1986). Then Italy (1934, 1938, 1982) take on Ukraine, England (1966) meet Portugal and lastly Brazil (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002) come up against France (1998) in a replay of the 1998 World Cup final.
As an aside, it’s quite amazing how quickly photos get on the web. After Zidane scored for France and was mobbed right in front of the gangs of photographers behind the goal, I wondered if they would get a good shot because the group was in their faces. Sure enough, a picture from the exact perspective I had been imagining was on the BBC site within 15 minutes of the end of the match.
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Germany 2 – 0 Sweden
Argentina 2 – 1 Mexico
England 1 – 0 Ecuador
Portugal 2 – 1 Netherlands
Italy 1 – 0 Australia
Switzerland 0 – 3 Ukraine (on penalties)
What’s on tonight?
Um. I don’t want to say much about any of these games. I was gutted by Australia’s loss to Italy. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they had scored earlier in the game and we just couldn’t pull one back. But in the 94th minute, with literally seconds left before the referee would blow full time and the game went into extra time, an Italian essentially took a dive in the penalty box.
Francesco Totti scored the penalty, the referee blew the full-time whistle, and Italy won. I felt sick to my stomach – to go out like that is wrong.
I hope Italy loses badly to Ukraine. I’m not a good loser.
In other games, the two tonight are quite interesting. Brazil v Ghana and Spain v France should both be really good.
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Togo 0 – 2 France
Switzerland 2 – 0 Korea Republic
Saudia Arabia 0 – 1 Spain
Ukraine 1 – 0 Tunisia
What’s on tonight? SECOND ROUND!
I watched most of the Ukraine and Tunisia game, but was mostly unimpressed. Maybe Spain also only won by a single goal because they fielded an under strength side. I don’t know, but neither of those results look convincing against what would have seemed much weaker opposition.
In the other matches, at least France makes it through to the second round on their win, although Switzerland has topped that group. In the second round Switzerland will play the Ukraine, while France and Spain meet in what, on paper at least, would be a great game. As I’ve said before, France fairly well sucks, so while I’ll watch the game I won’t be expecting fireworks.
And so it’s second round time, starting tonight!
Germany v Sweden and Argentina v Mexico.
On Monday night/Tuesday morning it’s Italy v Australia and Switzerland v Ukraine. If we manage to beat Italy, I also like our chances against either Switzerland or Ukraine in a Quarter final… Perhaps I’m being a little too optimistic, but I’m at least realistic about the fact that Argentina would be a bit beyond anyone, even Australia, in the semi-final.
I don’t see anything to change my prediction of an Argentina v Brazil final.
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Italy 2 – 0 Czech Republic
Ghana 2 – 1 USA
Japan 1 – 4 Brazil
Australia 2 – 2 Croatia
UPDATED POST
What’s on tonight?
Guus Hiddink will be thanking me again, along with every other Australian, after we endured the heart-attack-inducing game against Croatia. In what was arguably Australia’s worst performance in their three games so far in this World Cup, we shot ourselves in the foot several times but, somehow, managed to still come away with the draw which will take us into the second round.
I’m not sure why Hiddink chose Kalac over Mark Schwarzer in goal for Australia. Kalac may be a Croatian-Australian, but sentimentality should have played no part in his selection for this most important match. He wasn’t good against Greece in Melbourne earlier this year, and he conspired to lose the game for us against Croatia today. Apart from the near-attempt to bobble the ball into his own net when picking it up, the second Croatian goal was comic in its ineptitude. Fortunately, for Kalac and Australia, Kewell managed to get a second goal for Australia with 10 minutes left, despite a hint of offside against him.
One of the bizarre moments late in the second half was when the Croatian player Siminic received a second yellow card. A second yellow card in the same game is an automatic red card which sees the player sent off. Amazingly the referee didn’t realise he’d already issued a yellow to Siminic and he stayed on the pitch. The surreal moment came as the referee blew full time. He gave Siminic a third yellow card, and then presented the red. This has surely got to be a first in World Cup football – or football at almost any level. Siminic will, I think, be going down in the record books for a long time to come as the only player to receive three yellow cards in one game. With Australia going through to the second round Siminic may also be rightly bitter about choosing Croatia over Australia.
I said earlier that Group E was wide open and, sure enough, with the Czech Republic losing to Italy and Ghana beating the USA, Italy and Ghana go through to the second round. Czech Republic, the number 2 ranked team in the world going into this World Cup, won’t go past the group stage. That’s a bit of an upset. I had them pegged to make it to the semi-final!
UPDATE: I just watched the Italy-Czech Republic game on video. I am more confident of Australia’s chances aginst Italy now. For the entire second half, the Czech Republic played with only 10 men. In the 87th minute, against a very tired Czech side, Filipo Inzaghi went through with the ball, leaving two Italians and the Czech goalkeeper the only players in that half of the field. Italy struggled, and the Czech Republic had plenty of opportunities to score. Australia to make the Quarter Finals.
I’m really glad Ghana are through to the second round and the USA is out of the World Cup. Not that I hold any particular animosity towards my country of birth, but the arrogance of US coach Arena saying Australia were simply “there to make up the numbers” was hard to take in any good spirit.
I didn’t watch the games, but it means Australia will face Italy in the second round match at 1am, Tuesday morning. Bring it on. If Australia play like they did today against Croatia, they’ll lose by two goals or more. If they play like they did against Japan or Brazil, they’ll have a good chance of going to the quarter-finals.
Japan scored the first goal against Brazil in the 33rd minute, a great goal, and the first Brazil has conceded this World Cup. After that Japan kept pushing and playing well for the rest of the first half but conceded a headed goal to Ronaldo late on. Two more stomping goals went in before Ronaldo scored his second to make it 4-1 and equal Gerd Mueller’s all-time record of 14 goals in World Cup finals. He still looks slow, lazy and out of form, but at least scoring will relieve some of the pressure he’s been feeling from critics who say he’s slow, lazy and out of form…
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Netherlands 0 – 0 Argentina
Côte d’Ivoire 3 – 2 Serbia
Portugal 2 – 1 Mexico
Iran 1 – 1 Angola
Guaranteed spots in the second round with two wins each, the Netherlands and Argentina both started their match with understrength sides. Not wanting to risk losing players, anyone with a yellow card started on the bench. If you get two yellow cards at any point in the group stage you will miss the next game. The game itself was actually quite entertaining to watch. Both teams played really well. It’s as good a game to get a draw against either of these sides (as Australia did against the Netherlands in a friendly a few weeks ago) as it is to get a win – so they had to play well to keep each other out.
Between Portugal and Mexico I actually picked Mexico to top Group D. They would have, had they been able to beat Portugal in this game, and they looked quite good throughout. They gave Portugal a penalty when Marquez (sp?) committed a stupid handball in the box. At some point they had a player sent off as well, but were outplaying Portugal with only ten men for a good portion of the second half. A good game to watch.
I didn’t watch either of the other two games, but was happy to see Côte d’Ivoire get a well-deserved win in this world cup. A bit sad to see Serbia do so badly, but cujemo se at the next world cup maybe.
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Ecuador 0 – 3 Germany
Costa Rica 1 – 2 Poland
Sweden 2 – 2 England
Paraguay 2 – 0 Trinidad & Tobago
What’s on tonight?
The last four days days of the group stage go to four games per day instead of the previous two.
Germany seem to be pulling it together at just about the right time. They’ll go into the second round at the top of Group A, playing Sweden who came second in Group B.
England will play Ecaudor in the other second round match in five days. England played their best game so far against Sweden, but still were a little disappointing, not being able to hold the Swedes out. Michael Owen twisted his knee badly within two minutes of the opening kickoff which was pretty unfortunate – for him and England.
Not that my second-round predictions should be entirely difficult, but I’ve picked the winners and runners-up for Groups A and B correctly so far. We’ll see how we go tonight with Groups C and D.
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