Official Australian Squad Thread

[dave birch]

Wilkshire looks promising

Just watching the intro to the Holland v Aust game.

Hiddink gave Wilkshire a bit of a wrap. Be interesting to see how he fares in this match.

He's on for Skoko apparently

[dave birch]

The Dutch giving the Aussies a torrid time, showing them how to hang onto the ball. Late on in the 1st half the Aussies got back into the game and had a great chance from Viduka stopped by a great save from Van der Saar. The Dutch looking very impressive though.

[SouthAussieRover]

1-1 Cahill with the rebound from a Viduka penalty miss.

[Sydney Rovers]

Can someone tell Viduka not to take any more penalties?

[SouthAussieRover]

Wilkshire sent off ensuring a hard time for his ten remaining team mates.

[Perth_Rover]

1-1 Full time, aus play last 30mins with 10 men, not a bad result

[AussieinUk]

I think there was alot of positives in the game.

Only one more warm-up game left... its a pity kewell didn't get a run-out (all hope of that gone when Wilkshire was sent off)

C'MON YOU AUSSIES!

[ihtd]

It were reported on Talksport that Lucas Neill got sent off, any truth in this? only asking as i've old read about Wilkshire being sent off.

[AussieinUk]

It were reported on Talksport that Lucas Neill got sent off, any truth in this? only asking as i've old read about Wilkshire being sent off.

No! Just Wilkshire... Think they got confused with the Luke/Lucas thing and just assumed it was Neill, otherwise you really have some unreliable source's on Australia.

Anyway, It was a decent game and could have gone either way..

Japan won 1-0 against Malta and Croatia lost to Poland last night 1-0, while Brazil beat NZ 4-0!.

Edited June 4, 2006 by AussieinUk

[ihtd]

You really have sum unreliable source's on Australia sometimes

It were Gabrielle Marcotti who was slagging Lucas off for it as well. Top reporting by the number one commerical radio station.

Glad he didn't get sent off anyway, his reputation as a dirty player had gone and wouldn't like that to return.

How did that Grella play for you Socceroo's? I saw him play versus Greece and thought he looked like a very good player.

[AussieinUk]

How did that Grella play for you Socceroo's? I saw him play versus Greece and thought he looked like a very good player.

IMO he played well again, I think he is the key to Australia getting anything out of Japan game - no doubt. Hiddink puts alot of faith into into Grella especially around distribution.

Another key aspect was no injuries tonight (its a shame 3 Dutch player were injured - Cocu, V.Bronkhurst and Sjneider, I hope they make the WC opener )

Edited June 4, 2006 by AussieinUk

[Eddie]

Looks as though Sjneider is really struggling.

[AussieinUk]

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

Edited June 4, 2006 by AussieinUk

[dave birch]

The Dutch should have had this game in the bag in the first half hour, They were half a yard quicker than the Aussies, but allowed Australia to get back into the game in the last 10 minutes of the first half.

Glad Schwartzer was back, looked much more confident than Kalac, and pulled off some top class saves.

[neekoy]

Australia played much better in the second half. The first 20 minutes Emerton was getting skinned by Robben

Australia certainly tightened up in the second half and probably played better with 10 men.

The Dutch are top class though, so if we play like did last night I think we have a chance of getting out of the group stages

[steven]

Australia played much better in the second half. The first 20 minutes Emerton was getting skinned by Robben

Australia certainly tightened up in the second half and probably played better with 10 men.

The Dutch are top class though, so if we play like did last night I think we have a chance of getting out of the group stages

If we play like we did in the 2nd half. 1st half we were not at the races.

Too much space in midfield and not tight enough marking for set plays. We looked better when Cahill came on though.

[emerton]

the reason why the dutch ran over us was that they gave our players no time on the ball, where as we were prepared t stand off

[AussieinUk]

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

Edited June 5, 2006 by AussieinUk

[AussieinUk]

Australia 1 - 1 Liechtenstein at HT

Lucas Neill own goal - 8min

M. Sterjovski - 20min

Edited June 7, 2006 by AussieinUk

[DanLad]

Australia 1 - 1 Liechtenstein at HT

Lucas Neill own goal - 8min

Maybe in his post match comments Lucas could say something along the lines of 'With all due respect to Australia, my Blackburn team would not have allowed me to be under pressure to the degree that I put through my own goal and my Blackburn team mate Friedal would have save my og anyway'

[greggyk]

looking good for the aussies! Holding Liechtenstein!!

[AussieinUk]

looking good for the aussies! Holding Liechtenstein!!

eerrr no greggyk

Ended 3 -1 to the Aussies

M. Sterjovski

J. Kennedy

J. Aloisi

[greggyk]

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

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

[AussieinUk]

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!

Edited June 7, 2006 by AussieinUk

[neekoy]

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

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

At least our B team can win

Edited June 8, 2006 by neekoy