world cup

I've been saying for a long time that Tim Cahill is our most valuable player and I think he proved it again here. His two goals gave us a significant psychological advantage over Japan. Sure this game was a dead rubber in terms of qualification, but there's still rankings in Asia and the World to consider. Plus our rivalry with Japan. So inflicting their first defeat of this round as well as maintaining our record were both important.

In the end Australia were comfortable winners. It wasn't a great performance, but it was another win and another clean sheet and there's a lot to be said for that.

Naturally I went to the game as it was in Sydney. For the first time ever though, there were issues with the special event buses out to the stadium. I've always found them to be quick, punctual and a very convenient way to get to the game. But for this game the bus was very late and I only just made it in time for kick-off. Talking to someone else on the bus it seems four buses didn't turn up.

Woo-hoo! Australia secured the point it needed in an exciting 0-0 draw. We're off to South Africa as one of the first qualifiers, instead of the last.

When Valeri went down and the referee awarded a penalty, there was that feeling again. We're off to the World Cup Finals! A great result for Australia. The other result overnight means technically we can't be certain, but it's all over bar the shouting. We will get the solitary point required from our next three matches. And then it's South Africa here we come.

Circumstances conspired to prevent me from seeing the game. Reports suggest I didn't miss much. We played a defensive game and managed to contain a very well prepared Japan and escape with a 0-0 draw. In the scheme of things, ie. qualifying, a good result.

Japan, and their coach, were under a lot of pressure to win. They spent five weeks preparing and were very sharp all game, but couldn't find the killer blow. We had limited preparation and didn't create much in attack. Nonetheless, a solid defensive effort is something to take from the match.

The ultimate snatch-and-grab victory. Bahrain played out of their skins and were on top for most of the match. We were kept in it by some good work by Schwarzer (again). And Bresciano steals victory with an injury-time goal.

Another away win maintains our perfect record in our group. But everybody admits we were lucky to win; we would have been pleased with a point. Next up is Japan away and they had a good win over Qatar. We'll have to be a lot better for that game. Bring it on.

Man I really hate the fact that the Socceroos are only on Foxtel. By all accounts we played really well and blew Qatar off the park. The 4-0 result combined with Japan's 1-1 draw with Uzbekistan means we've gone top of the group and we've had our bye.

We had the bye for Match Day 1 and enjoyed a 2-1 win over Holland in a friendly. Uzbekistan meanwhile had gone down 0-3 to Qatar. So we were in form, but they were desperate and at home. And we came away with a priceless 0-1 win away. I didn't see much of the match, but by all accounts we did pretty well.