Friday, May 26, 2006

 

Australia: Lucky strike beats woeful Greece

Josip Skoko's volley from 25 yards gave the Socceroos a 1-0 win against a lacklastre Greece side last night, in front of a massive 95,103 crowd.

The lads played all right, and were tactically better than I've seen them for a while, but I just couldn't share Fozzie's enthusiasm. Greece were awful, a pale imitation of the European champions we saw two years ago, and Australia could put no more than one spectacular (and, I believe, slightly mis-hit) volley into their net despite a wealth of opportunities. The buildup play was there but the killer blow was not.

In addition, a tougher side would punish us for the mistakes we made, and would not gift us possession so easily. Our upcoming match against Holland should be a more reliable yardstick.

Having said that, there were some positives to take out, namely, the excellent buildup play and the emergence of Sterjovski as a real contender for a starting place in the big matches. Culina and Neill also both played very well, and Skoko showed that he is still in form.

Player ratings:
Kalac 5 - A clean sheet but not a save to make and did not look convincing or decisive. Capable of better, but on the strength of this performance I'd be sticking with Schwartzer.
Chipperfield 6 - Adequate
Neill 7 - Strong and reliable, good forward support as well. My MoM.
Moore 6 - Good to see him back.
Grella 6 - Cleaned up well but passing was below par.
Culina 7 - Excellent vision and worked hard.
Skoko 7 - Heavily involved and was the starting point for many attacks. Got the official MoM.
Emerton 6 - I really don't know why he plays. Really looks average. Indecisive and slow.
Sterjovski 7 - A great outlet. Pushing hard for a start in Germany.
Bresciano 7 - Buzzed about energetically.
Viduka 6 - Held up the ball well and kept the Greek defence on their toes. As usual did a lot of off-the-ball work.
Popovic 6 - Did well when he came on to allow Neill to push up.
Thompson 6 - Poor decision making spoiled a hardworking performance. Has the skill to do well.
Wilkshire 6 - Had a decent pop from a long way out.
Lazaridis 6 - The ex-Hammer can still get forward and cross the ball, and will be good for the bench to solidify the field late on.

*******

In other news, reports say Alan Pardew is looking at Deportivo La Coruna hardman Aldo Duscher. The 27-year-old Argentinian midfielder is priced at around £4 million and has previously been linked with Manchester United.




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