Relatively speaking I suppose I haven't seen many games of the Socceroos but I've seen more than 99% of the population and I can say that this game is the worst performance I have ever seen. The concession of 2 goals is unfortunate but hardly a major concern when you triple that total. Let me relive this miserable night just once.
As I arrived things were going badly all around. Rain started to fall half an hour before the game started, though the game itself was quite dry, the scoreboard did not function all night and the far grandstand was closed to the public to make what little crowd there was a bit denser looking on TV.
Back too were the fuckwit security guards who did as they were told by some other fuckwits and came along to threaten the standing fans with expulsion from the game. Discussion of this issue was taken up and as it seemed to take a while the radio piped up "if they don't want to sit down they have to leave". I find it infuriating that Soccer Australia (there is no way FIFA called to say everyone has to sit or leave as the security claimed) can actually take this action against people who came to watch this deadshit match and alienate the supporters who have come to matches for years and stood in games in Newcastle, Wollongong and Sydney that I know of. It reminds me very much of the treatment meted out to "Sam's Army" members in the USA and the meathead Securigoons forcing them to be seated.
This was before the game even started.
This time it kicked off only 1 minute early and Australia had a shot at goal after 5 minutes through a Tony Vidmar free kick which was drilled at goal and but for Aefi's flying block he'd have scored, there was a bit of a scramble after the loose ball which was miraculously kept out of goal. Infact Aefi, agan, was the bright spot in this match. He played with heart seemed to enjoy the game and you knew he was trying his all. There isn't a single Australian player of whom I could say that.
Nothing of consequence happened for another 10 minutes with Australia showing no cohesion, no urgency and having seen the Solomons in the 13-0 game I have to say that they learnt a lot from that and with a 4-1 victory over Tahiti under their belt the Solomons looked absolutely buoyant.
Australia's first goal was an utter joke. Robbie Slater is marked as the scorer but he had no idea about the ball until it was looping into the goal. A poor Lazaridis cross was eventually booted to safety by a Solomons defender...or so he thought. The ball rebounded off Slater who had come in to make life difficult for the defence. More difficult than he had any right to hope for.
It seems that there is a problem with concentration after the Solomons concede a goal because barely a minute later Tapai and Mori combined to play a ball across the face of goal and Graham Arnold was there at the far post to put it in. Good ol' Arnie. He could have had a hat-trick, at least. He might have been scoring at NAC Breda but Japan isn't helping him and if I wanted a geriatric striker in my team I'd take Farina. Currently I'm tending towards an Aloisi-Viduka pairing up front but neither played this night.
Just as the 30-minute mark ticked by Petkovic had to pluck a cross out of the air for the second time in quick succession, considering that was more work than Bosnich and Kalac had done in the previous two games combined it was noteworthy. It got better, but first it got worse.
Australia spent a great deal of time pumping in a series of over/under hit crosses and kicks that were born in the mind as a cross but once given birth by the feet it was something akin to Mr Merrick, the Elephant man. Invariably whatever target there might have been for these crosses wasn't there. Another of these crosses, this time from a corner taken by Slater, was contested by Mori but he, and his defender, missed it and the erstwhile spectator Kaierea became unwitting goalscorer when the ball hit him on the head in front of goal and ended up in the place the Australians consistently failed to put the ball.
The rest of the half was obscured by an enormous yawn...and another visit from the Securistasi. The second half started more promisingly first we managed to get a wave out of Aefi and then with Ernie Tapai heading in twice, once from in front off a Lazaridis cross and the second time at the far post from a Graham Arnold cross. Soon after Mori laid the ball off to Slater who tried to score a more respectable goal but managed only to rattle the crossbar.
The whole thing was so tedious even the lights gave out at the 56th minute. About 1/4 of the 4 light towers were still on but the grandstand mounted lights were completely out and the stadium was quite dull and play was suspended for 5 minutes before both sides agreed to go on in the partial light. The only thing is that when the lights went out the Solomons were about to take a free kick, but when play resumed it did so through an Australian throw in.....someone wasn't taking notes....and I was. Well it was pretty dark all round. This may have explained why the referee gave Australia a corner when he should clearly have ruled a Solomons goal kick. Might also explain why Australia conceded a goal.
The captain Augustine Peli went off on a run barely inside the opposing half and faced a series of problems. First was Milan Ivanovic. Milan wasn't expecting a change of direction from his opponent who was travelling at speed. Next was Tony Vidmar. His idea of good defence was to try to launch the ball into orbit, not without merit. Of course it helps when you get a clean hit on the ball, and you certainly don't want it rebounding 3 metres behind you. Oh damn. So here was a line of 3 attackers and Jason Petkovic rushing out of his goal tryig to stop the unthinkable. He dove down at the ball. He got the ball. He fumbled it and 2 forwards clattered over the top of him. While Petkovic was busy appealing to the referee to invoke that special law for goalkeepers Peli picked himself up and put the ball into the empty net. Everyone cheered. I cheered. Australia had been playing like turkeys, a chant of "Sheilaroos" went up along with similarly disparaging commentary. I really, really hope this was a case of complacency because the alternative doesn't bear thinking about.
Sadly, in plucking a cross off Arnolds head (and how did he manage that might I ask) Aefi had to be replaced with an injury to his finger...and the lights slowly came back on around the same time. That, however, wasn't all. Seni went on a run (making Tobin look like a goose) the equal of his captain and laid the ball off to Suri who had his back to goal, dummied one way and thenturned the other and shot past the surprisingly confused Tony Vidmar and of course Jason Petkovic picked the ball out of the net thinking how neat it will be to watch the World Cup on TV. This time it wasn't really his fault.
Terry Venables wasn't very happy..I hope he tore strips off the players after the game, but for now he took off Tapai (he sucked) and Skoko (I didn't even notice him playing) and put in Aurelio Vidmar and Muscat, who were a little better. Then came the obligatory refereeing blunder. The 77th minute was very eventful.
It was Graham Arnold who managed to get a header on target, but it was headed away by Rukumana. Of course the linesman knew better and got the attention of the referee and had a little chat. Between them they decided that Rukumana had actually cleared the ball with his hand (which for purposes of balance was unfortunately near his head), awarded the penalty, booked Rukumana, realised Rukumana had pulled off a two footed challenge on Enes in the first half and sent him off. All this took a while to sort out. Just for fun Terry took off Enes and put Trajanovski in before Aurelio put the ball into the net, this time safe from any pleas from Mark Bosnich to have a go.
That was more or less all that happened. I did find this following
exchange, which I overheard, quite amusing though....
- "This is shit"
- "Coming on Thursday?"
- "Yeah"
Such dedication...it's uncommon. To top it all off on my way home I found that the same David Hill who had employed those security guards also took away my 9:12 and 9:21 fast trains to Sydney with a 9:57 train.....so I had to take a suburban service.