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FIFA World Cup - Group F: Brazil/Croatia/Australia/Japan

MFS62 Jun 01 2006 12:56 PM

G'Day Mates. Since I don't know didly about the Australian side, here's what the Yahoo World Cup site has to say about them: ]Hiddink’s magic works again for Australia For Australia the long wait is over. After 32 years the Socceroos will return to Germany, scene of their one previous FIFA World Cup™ finals appearance in 1974, for the 2006 edition of the tournament after beating Uruguay 4-2 on penalties in the second leg of the intercontinental play-off at Sydney's Telstra Stadium. Substitute John Aloisi converted the decisive spot-kick to send them through after goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer had produced superb saves to deny Dario Rodriguez and Marcelo Zalayeta, as Australia finally savoured success in a play-off after four previous failures. Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Marco Bresciano had drawn Australia level on aggregate with a 34th-minute goal before Guus Hiddink's side held their nerve in the climactic shoot-out to book their ticket to Germany. The initial preliminary rounds were a relatively straightforward task for the Socceroos. In Oceania’s group stage they finished top with four wins and one draw from their five matches. The play-off to decide who would meet South America’s fourth-placed side for a place at Germany 2006 was also a formality as they defeated the Solomon Islands 9-1 over two legs to set up the decisive match with Uruguay. Australia's qualification triumph is another landmark for their Dutch coach Hiddink. Brought on board in the summer of 2005, following the departure of Frank Farina, the man who led Korea Republic to the semi-finals of the last FIFA World Cup™ has produced another act of alchemy, helping Australian football erase the pain of previous play-off defeats in 1985, 1993, 1997 and 2001. England is the preferred destination for the vast majority of the stars of the Socceroos’ qualifying campaign with Schwarzer, Lucas Neill, Tim Cahill, Mark Viduka, Craig Moore, Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton all currently playing Premier League football. Aloisi and Bresciano are in Spain and Italy respectively, but at the moment all Aussie eyes are currently turning to another European country – namely Germany. For the fans, bittersweet memories of 1974 will be evoked. On that occasion Australia met Chile, German DR and Germany FR in the group stages – and failed to score a single goal. They will also want to do better than their showing in the FIFA Confederations Cup Germany 2005 when they failed to win a single match. However, with Hiddink at the helm, hopes are high. With one dream already realized for Australia, another is just beginning. Their first match will be against Greece. Here's a link to writeups about their individual players: http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/team/squad.html?team=AUS Auzzie, Auzzie, Auzzie Later

metirish Jun 01 2006 01:35 PM

I think Australia in the World Cup is just great, they will have a huge following as the Aussies are sports crazy and love to have fun,at a recent warm-up game they over 93,000 fans packed the stadium.They could even pull of a shock result as most of the Aussia players play in the English leagues.

MFS62 Jun 02 2006 06:31 AM

Uh, what happened here? I just read Edgy's post in which he asked me to re-title this thread. Then I saw someone had already done so. I would have given it a different title, but I guess they have to be consistent (unlike Bill James). Thank you. Sometimes when your power is out for a few hours, things still work out. Later

metirish Jun 05 2006 08:43 PM

Cheack out the brilliant Ronaldihno( little Ronaldo ) on yourtube.....his skills are amazin.Check out the Ronaldihno versus Ronaldo clip. http://www.youtube.com/results?search=ronaldihno&search_type=search_videos

Elster88 Jun 12 2006 10:24 AM

Aussies trailing Japan Australia trail Japan 1-0 as a result of the most controversial moment of the World Cup so far. Shunsuke Nakamura's 26-minute cross from the right wing ended up in the back of the net after beating Mark Schwarzer - the Australian keeper felt he had been prevented from reaching the ball by Japan striker Atsushi Yanagisawa.

Elster88 Jun 12 2006 10:33 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jun 14 2006 01:55 PM

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93c-HtBspc8&search=ronaldihno]Brazilian ping-pong[/url] Skip the first minute...it just shows him putting on his cleats.

metirish Jun 12 2006 10:45 AM

The socceroos tie the game at 1 on a goal by Cahill, no more than they deserved form the ext I am reading.

metirish Jun 12 2006 10:49 AM

Tim Cahill puts them up 2 to 1 with a fine goal according to the text.

Willets Point Jun 13 2006 03:44 PM

Day 5 of the World Cup and I'm getting steamed. Can't watch TV cuz I'm at work. Can't watch or listen on the internet because such things are not even available even to people willing to pay (a la MLB.TV). Can't follow the gamecasts online because there must a billion other people trying to do the same thing and it keeps freezing up. I am irritated. Anyhow, as far as I can tell Brazil & Croatia are tied 0-0 near the end of the first half.

Willets Point Jun 13 2006 03:51 PM

Goal for Brasil just before the half ends.

Rotblatt Jun 13 2006 04:07 PM

Hey, check out [url=http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=367560&page=5]this[/url] in-game thread. I've been having the same problems following along the last few days, and it's been handy. Some stupid comments, etc., as in any non-CPF IGT, but I've found it to be pretty informative.

Rotblatt Jun 13 2006 04:49 PM

The score remains 1-0 late in the 2nd half. Croatia with a strong showing here. Either that or Brazil is struggling to find its form. Either way, Croatia's got a pretty good side--should match up well against the Soceroos. This is Croatia's third consecutive WC. As debutantes in 1998, they defeated Germany in the quarter finals before losing to France, the eventual winners, in the semis. In 2002, they failed to get out of group play.

Rotblatt Jun 13 2006 05:13 PM

Brazil wins, 1-0.

MFS62 Jun 14 2006 01:45 PM

I was in a meeting yesterday afternoon in downtown Danbury, CT. All of a sudden there were horns blaring from the street below. We looked at each other and seemed to say simultaneously "Brazil must have won". Turns out we were right. When we looked , dozens of cars flying Brazil's flag were parading up and down Main Street. In case you haven't figured it out, Danbury has a large Brazillian/ Portugese- speaking polulation. Later

A Boy Named Seo Jun 18 2006 01:55 PM

Brazil wasn't particularly sharp today, but was still too much for Austrailia, winning 2-0. If you can't watch the matches, the [url=http://www.mozilla.com/add-ons/jogacompanion/]Joga.com plugin[/url] for Mozilla is fantastic. It installs a collapsable scoreboard with headlines, videos, etc. on the left of your browser. You can close that out and still catch the scores because it installs a mini-scoreboard on the bottom frame of your browser, too. The coolest feature is when a goal, yellow card, or red card happens, a little window pops up with the colors of the country involved, and gives an account of what happened. Pretty cool stuff.

Elster88 Jun 19 2006 09:06 AM

What's the deal with Ronaldo? During the game the announcers said he was only floating around on the offensive side of the ball and that he'd be taken out more often as the Cup goes on.

metirish Jun 19 2006 09:11 AM

Ronaldo has let him self get fat and is apparently not match fit,he's getting slated at home by the media,look for more Robinho .

Willets Point Jun 19 2006 09:22 AM

I wish Robinho would just add -od to his name. It's so close.

MFS62 Jun 19 2006 09:26 AM

I told ya' there were a lot of Brazilians in Danbury: http://news.newstimeslive.com/story.php?id=86043&channel=Local&Type=Page1 Later

Willets Point Jun 19 2006 09:28 AM

The Brazilians in my hometown can take down the Brazilians in your town anytime.

MFS62 Jun 19 2006 01:07 PM

Willets Point wrote: The Brazilians in my hometown can take down the Brazilians in your town anytime. Probably. All you'd have to do is yell "INS" and the crowd would disburse. But we do have a number of good Brazilian steak houses. My Brazilians can probably out-cook your Brazillians. So THERE! Later

Willets Point Jun 22 2006 03:39 PM

HOKEY SMOKES! Goal for Japan. Up 1-0 on Brazil in the 35 minute.

Willets Point Jun 22 2006 03:40 PM

And the Socceros equalize with Croatia 1-1.

metirish Jun 22 2006 03:42 PM

I love the guys doing the audio...any player that flashes a bit of skill is called "twinkle toes"...

metirish Jun 22 2006 03:46 PM

Ronaldo scores just before half time...

Willets Point Jun 22 2006 04:11 PM

Alas, cold hard reality returns to the World Cup. Brazil leads 2-1 in the second half.

metirish Jun 22 2006 04:17 PM

Brasil now leads 3 to 1 while Australia are down 2 to 1..

Willets Point Jun 22 2006 04:46 PM

Brazil sense the world's excitement when they went down 1-0 and are now giving Japan a beatdown just to remind everyone that they're Brazil. More interesting, Australia has tied Croatia again 2-2 and Croatia' s now playing with 10 men. Looks like it will be Brazil and Australia moving on which is what I expected this morning but they've certainly made things interesting.

Edgy DC Jun 22 2006 05:51 PM

Ronaldo: pretty good for a fat guy.

Willets Point Jun 22 2006 10:31 PM

No surprises in the final standings, but some fun games along the way. Team MP W D L GF GA Pts Brazil 3 3 0 0 7 1 9 Australia 3 1 1 1 5 5 4 Croatia 3 0 2 1 2 3 2 Japan 3 0 1 2 2 7 1 Australia meets Italy on Monday and Brazil will make Ghanna goners on Tuesday.

Elster88 Jun 23 2006 09:10 AM

The winners of those two games play each other.

metirish Jun 23 2006 09:13 AM

Ronalso has now tied Gerd Müller for most WC goals all time with 14, not bad for a fattie.