Next soccer world cup

[eduardo]

Yes but is it truly a World Cup if not all the continents are represented?

Football is after all supposed to be the "global game".

I know you only played the Solomon Islands in a play off and would get there every time but that's not much different than Mexico who always qualify against muppets.

[Deuce Bigolo]

Australia has an excellent record of choking in games where the result matters over the past 32 years

We've lost to the New Zealanders on occasions when direct qualification was used ie confederations cup,olympics

In friendlies we seem to be competitive.Grinding out 1 nils against quality opposition but then they don't count to those countries so you really can't take them seriously

I agree Mexico in their group will always qualify given the ridiculous ratio of qualifiying places to countries competing.Regardless of that i think you could argue Mexico have the pedigree(beaten Brazil how many times in finals)to qualify from any group in the Americas.

cheers
B....OZ

[Deuce Bigolo]

Now that Australia has finally qualified(using up its nine lives over the 2 legs I might add)lets hope the draw puts them in a group with England

Would be nice to see a genuine game between the two and not some frinedly psuedo training/experimental training ground drill

If not I fancy the Aussies being in a group comprised of,

Gemany(we owe them big time for 1974,0-2,0-3)
Switzerland(neutral my ass)
Saudi Arabia(with an 0-8 drubbing to their name in a recent world cup i'd fancy our chances of beating them)

cheers
B....OZ

[fudgeflaps]

When does the draw for the finals get made?

ake no mistake, this is going to be a cracker.............

Good to see the Aussies back, and a few other relative unknowns too: Trinidad and Tobago, the surprise African nations............. I can't wait, to be honest.

Hopefully, a few of us may pop over to see The Hun next year and either get tickets on the day or blag it. Failing such a preposterous idea, telly or the pub will do me just fine, ta!

[Deuce Bigolo]

Sometime in December

Apparently the Oktoberfest is being moved because of the World Cup but the dates won't be known till january 2006.

A rather dangerous duo of events to be having close together I would have thought

cheers
B....OZ

[Deuce Bigolo]

9/12/05 9.00pm or there abouts

cheers
B....OZ

[fudgeflaps]

Thanks, Deuce!! I'll assume a learned chap like yourself has posted the time in GMT.

Ta!

[Deuce Bigolo]

Just regurgitating whats a few have said on TV

The official site


says The final draw is scheduled to take place between 9.20 - 9.50pm on 9/12/05 and last around 30 minutes.

cheers
B....OZ

[eduardo]

I was actually pleased to see the Aussies beat Uruguay which is difficult for me as I usually take pleasure in Australia losing. I just feel that Uruguay would have got up to their "antics" in Germany those of the type that most football fans hate.

I also think it was good for football in that it's spreads the game further particularly in a sporting mad country which has been slower than most to embrace football.

Honestly Deuce I'd be happy for England to draw Australia. The styles are quite similar and I would fancy us to turn you over.

Lastly it was nice to see Kewell play well again and take his full back on, on the outside, something that alot of us had forgotten and thought we had seen the last of him doing.

The plaudits from that game should last him another 3 years so we can expect to see him play well again sometime around 2008.

[Deuce Bigolo]

Uruguay were gone before the 2nd leg kicked off if you believe the stories about the verbal/physical barrage that went on in the tunnel before the game.Apparently Morales v Popovic was the highligh/lowlight with one having the other in a headlock

Uruguay & Argentina seem to be great exponents of that foul,niggle & dive game.Trouble is,its very successful because you can foul 3/4 times before the Ref/Umpire thinks of giving a yellow and they use it to the max.

Football/Soccer in Australia will never be the number one game in OZ
Simply put its not as violent as Aussie Rules or Rugbly League

Anythings possible at a World Cup.The biggest trouble I see is that the bigger names like England have all the stars who tend to play 20/30/40 more games a year than the so called peripheral/squad players who tend to be from the lesser Countries like Australia.Which means by the time the World Cup comes around the stars are dead on their feet and the lesser names raring to go.As long as England has Calamity James as back-up GK we're in with a shot

Kewell is a shadow of the player he was with Leeds.
Injuries have taken their toll but I wouldn't write him off just yet
If he ever gets Match fit again & mentally over the injuries,who knows
That he still possesses skill to burn is a given otherwise Benitez would have jettisioned him a long time ago

cheers
B....OZ