[Archived] The Other Internationals

[mattyc2422]

Forgot to watch the game this morning!

Luckily SBS will repeat the game at 10 pm tonight.

How did Culina play??

Same with me.

How about Mokoena?

[emerton]

Forgot to watch the game this morning! 

Luckily SBS will repeat the game at 10 pm tonight.

How did Culina play??

Same with me.

How about Mokoena?

mokoena tried to many hero balls..

match highlights on this page

HERE, halfway down

check out chipperfields goal

Edited February 10, 2005 by emerton

[Rover IN Bury]

Whats going on Emerton is leading the man of the match poll on that site.

match highlights on this page here

[philipl]

MGP played just over an hour yesterday- he was busy but didn't achieve much.

Match report with picture of MGP in action.

[neophox]

hursday 10 February 2005

A wonder strike from Australian substitute Scott Chipperfield (pictured right) has earned the Qantas Socceroos a credible 1-1 draw with South Africa in Durban.

Chipperfield showed great determination to win a cleared header following a free kick and then sent a fierce volley from 20 metres that left South African keeper Calvin Marlin flapping at thin air, as the ball flew into the back of the net.

“It was a gem,” said Farina after the match. “It illustrated what I said before about pressuring them and he did that, nipped the ball off his opponent and it sat up for him and the strike couldn’t have been any better.”

It capped off a much better second half performance by Australia after going behind to an 11th minute strike by Benni McCarthy.

The match was a story of two halves, with South Africa dominating the first half, while Australia clawed its way back and had slightly the better of the second half.

“To get the draw, I am very happy with that result,” Farina enthused. “The first 20 minutes I was a bit worried as we were under the whip, just sitting back, which we are not comfortable with.

“We played reasonably well for the last 20 minutes of the first half, with Jason (Culina) pushing further up, Emo (Brett Emerton) had a good chance and we stopped their flow and pressured them a bit more.

“I thought our boys did really well, although I still think we have a lot of work to do.”

It was a nervous start by the Qantas Socceroos, with South Africa dominating the opening 20 minutes of the game and continually pinning Australia back in its own half.

Using the flanks to good effect, it was no surprise that the Bafana Bafana goal came from good work on the right, which enabled Steven Pienaar to get clear. His cross from the byline, was chested down by Shaun Bartlett to McCarthy and from just inside the penalty box, he drilled a low half volley past Mark Schwarzer.

South Africa should have made it 2-0 minutes later when they again exposed Australia down the right. McCarthy sent Piernaar clear into the box, but Schwarzer managed to divert the midfielders shot from an acute angle for a corner.

Australia’s first real chance did not arrive till the 33rd minute and what a good chance it was. A brilliant ball from Vince Grella picked out Brett Emerton on the left and raced into the box. His shot with his weaker left foot went straight to the keeper, but Marlin spilled it and allowed Emerton a chance to cut the ball back, however Marlin recovered to block it out for a corner.

Australia looked to be more attacking in the second half and in the 53rd minute, Emerton started and finished an attacking move… his shot from the edge of the area slicing wide of the far post.

The first substitutions came 10 minutes into the second half, with debutant Jason Culina forced to leave the field after picking up a knock to his ankle, although it was later confirmed that it was nothing serious.

South African substitute Zuma almost made an immediate impact with two shots at goal, the second one cleared away desperately by Popovic for a corner.

Schwarzer was well placed to save a Vilakazi shot and he then denied young hot-shot Ndlovu, who should have done better when clear in front of goal.

Those misses proved costly, as Chipperfield produced his wonderful strike in the 70th minute.

The last 15 minutes saw Australia slow the play down as if they were playing in an away leg of a World Cup qualifier, although they almost came unstuck in the last minute when Ndlovu headed wide of the near post from four yards.

In between, Chipperfield’s FC Basel teammate Mile Sterjovski had a rare chance, but shot wide of the near post.

Match Details

South Africa 1 (Benni McCarthy 11’)

Australia 1 (Scott Chipperfield 70’)

Line-up: Schwarzer (gk); Neill, Moore, Popovic, Vidmar, Grella (Wilkshire 71’), Bresciano (McKain 74’), Culina (Sterjovski 57’), Tiatto (Chipperfield 57’), Emerton (Thompson 66’), Agostino (Vieri 66’)

Subs Not Used: Clint Bolton (gk), Stephen Laybutt

Cautions: Bresciano (55’)

Crowd: Approx 25,000

[herbergeehh]

First of all, there's a thread about this here, and I also think you are supposed to put in a link, not the whole article.

[broadsword]

Remind me, "cuidado's behind you" is Norwegian for "up Norway"?

Dunno, but I think "cuidado" is foreign-speak for "up a Norwegian".

[brfcshabba]

He's the phantom thread maker

[James No. 7]

Whats going on Emerton is leading the man of the match poll on that site.

match highlights on this page here

He was the best of a very poor general bunch, even though he cheaply lost the ball which ended up as a goal for South Africa.

Edited February 10, 2005 by James No. 7

[Shevchenko]

Took a while for you guys to get the goals though. How did MGP play?

MGP was rubbish.

As was the rest of the team for that matter.

He better play better against Norwich though or he might as well go sit on the bench again.

[philipl]

I'm glad a Norwegian posted that comment about MGP after my more tactful comment.

MGP was worryingly poor in a very ordinary-looking Norway side. Having seen the Swedes score at will in an 8-0 win here in Malta, I was very concerned that MGP didn't use the chance to run past the Maltese clodhoppers and practise his crossing.

I am now fearing that neither of Rovers' wingers are capable of crossing a good ball into the danger area.

[krislu]

emerton amongst the best

Always looks good when playig for his country, why cant he do that at rovers? After watching the hightlights, I though, who is the chap, he looks good, than I saw it was emerton..

[Eddie]

Yeah, can't the messageboard get in trouble for "stealing" articles? Should cut that and replace it with the link.

[broadsword]

Took a while for you guys to get the goals though. How did MGP play?

MGP was rubbish.

Call yourself a Norwegian?!

[Tris]

Took a while for you guys to get the goals though. How did MGP play?

MGP was rubbish.

Call yourself a Norwegian?!

I've said from the start he's bloody rubbish.

He's too bulky to even get past the Maltese defence and whip in a cross.

Hughes needs to get the podger on a strict diet and send him on some 20 mile runs in the Trough of Bowland, lose a bit of weight and get a bit nippy.

Meanwhile banish him to the reserves.

[Shevchenko]

Took a while for you guys to get the goals though. How did MGP play?

MGP was rubbish.

Call yourself a Norwegian?!

Nope.

I'm not from Norway, I'm from Bergen

Funny Tris, most people reckoned he needed to get stronger, get more physical and you want him to go on a diet?

Personally, I think he'd be better off on the Mars Bar diet, thin as a rake that lad.

[neekoy]

How bad is the English football team? Have a look at the team the Dutch put on the field

Edwin Van der Sar 1

Khalid Boulahrouz 3

Johnny Heitinga 6

Jan Kromkamp 2

Joris Mathijsen 4

Giovanni van Bronckhorst 5

Denny Landzaat 8

Rafael van der Vaart 10

Romeo Castelen 7

Dirk Kuijt 11

Roy Makaay 9

SUBS

Henk Timmer 16

Nigel de Jong 12

Mario Melchiot 14

Mark van Bommel 17

Ugur Yildirim

And the bloody English couldn't score against that, this is the reason you guys will not win a major footballing championship any time soon.

The full dutch squad would ahve taken you guys apart on that performance.

[Shevchenko]

To be fair to the English, they had some massive chances, notably with SWP who should have scored two alone.

The Dutch hit the post, but not a lot more than that.

[pg]

Emerton had an OK game. Linked well with Bresciano and Agostino for a well worked move.. but his shot went wide.

On the whole though, nothing to write home about.

Neil was relativel anonymous...which I guess can be a good thing for a defender.

On the whole though, Australia were useless for large parts of the game due to Danny Tiatto playing in midfield. Too often he found himself playing in the centre of midfield just behind Agostino...what's up with that Frank??!?

Farina out

Didn't notice Makoeana at all. Was he playing in midfield or defence?

Overall I thought our midfield (except for Tiatto) and defence played well. But we were useless in the last third of the pitch. SA seemed to sit back and hit us on the break with their pace. And against a defence that included Tony Vidmar and Tony Popovic, it was a tactic guaranteed to create chances. SA deserved to win.

[neekoy]

When we have everybody fit IMO we have one of the best midfields in the world, Tiatto is crap but we need to play him in case any long term injuries come about.

In fairness to Farina, he is doing the best with what he has, it wasn't so long ago we were praising him for beating France, Brazil and England.

He has Alex Ferguson tactics for a Crystal Palace team, he needs to concentrate on our strengths and play to them not change tactics to accomodate for our weaknesses.

And that's right Sheva, they couldn't finish it off, that is the problem, stronger opposition would have made them pay. Except for a couple of bloody centre backs it was a full strength squad, with the countries best attacking force.

[James No. 7]

Didn't notice Makoeana at all. Was he playing in midfield or defence?

He was in defence. I kept tabs on all three of our players and I think he played the better out of all three, although he didn't have to work very well.

[emerton]

yeah moko was solid in the air and stepped up well. but he tries the long passes too often.

benni mccarthy is a class act.

[rover6]

And the bloody English couldn't score against that, this is the reason you guys will not win a major footballing championship any time soon.

The full dutch squad would ahve taken you guys apart on that performance.

When Sven realises that Gerrard and Lampard are too similar to play together and that Hargreaves should partner Gerrard in central midfield instead, England will improve.

Anyone think Owen should be dropped for Defoe?

[FourLaneBlue]

And the bloody English couldn't score against that, this is the reason you guys will not win a major footballing championship any time soon.

Maybe not but at least we will qualify for them which is more than your socceroos have managed for over three decades. All you have to do is beat some fifth-rate (literally) South American team and you'd qualify but that has been beyond you so far. Thankfully FIFA still haven't given Australia an undeserved automatic qualifying spot by allowing the winners of the Oceania section a full place. Even if Blatter did make sure he was already safely re-elected by the time of his U-turn...

As for "one of the best midfields in the world"...yeah, ok. In your opinion and no one else's. Guess they will have a chance to prove it in your next all-important qualifying match against...er...the Solomon Islands. Tough qualifying schedule that. Maybe some average side like Colombia or Uruguay to lose to in the play-offs perhaps.

England may not win the next World Cup but they will almost certainly be there, they are also the only European team to reach the quarter finals of both the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. Not exactly like watching Brazil but a damn sight better than your negative take on one (wow! one) friendly game which included Sven's usual messing about with players and, for a change, tactics this time. Andy Johnson on the right? Good one Sven...

Will Australia be there? Go on about friendlies all you like (it's what Welsh fans did a few years ago and look where that got them) but if you don't make the last 32 of the World Cup then you aren't even close to being anything special I'm afraid. There's been a lot of talk about the Australian national team as an emerging footballing power for years now but it's just been hot air so far. The USA reached the quarter finals last time; where were the Aussies?

England have an excellent squad and could certainly expect to reach the knockout stages, whether we have a manager capable of taking us any further is another question. "How bad is the English footballing team?" you asked, well we'll see at the next World Cup. Probably quite bad knowing us and Sven's recent dodgy team selections. Your lot gonna pop along as well for once?

[broadsword]

The sooner we get rid of that Swedish numper the better.

He really does take the pish. Seeing men about a job (no great sin I guess, but it does show that he's no bowled over by managing England), poking birds when he should be figuring out how to poke the opposition, appalling tactics and repeatedly playing Owen bl00dy Hargreaves (the worst sin of the lot)!

It's all a long way from Winter Walterbottom.

I got so fed up watching the game on Weds, I switched over and watched Wife Swap and was much more entertained.