A match Australia should win given the relative rankings, but an away game in Asia is always tough. We ground out a 2-1 win and will be happy to take the points.
Our third and final match played out as many would have expected before the tournament. It was always going to be difficult to score without Cahill and we lacked some of the energy and verve of our first two matches. In the end Spain won comfortably.
This game will probably remembered as one of the all-time World Cup classics. Ultimately though, for Australians, we'll look back at one that got away. The margins of error were tiny, but we were on the wrong end of them.
The new look Socceroos battled bravely, but in the end their inexperience cost them dearly. A 1-3 loss pretty much confirms we won't get out of the group stage (not that there was much chance of that anyway). We fought back from a poor start and with a little more luck might have salvaged a draw, but in the end were left lamenting what might have been.
Far from a comfortable win, this was an extremely tense match. In bitterly cold and wet conditions, the Socceroos triumphed 1-0 against a valiant Iraq side to claim their place at Brazil 2014.
