world cup

A good hit out against a good team. Friendlies don't always tell you much, but there's some promising news in the 1-0 win.

Both sides played close to first choice sides for the first half and it finished 0-0 with good commitment from both sides. Fringe players got their chance in the second half. Kennedy bobbed up to score his first goal for Australia off his boot.

A friendly against the Kiwis is normally anything but and this was no exception. However, it was Australia who behaved poorly with a couple of very rash tackles. We also played poorly. New Zealand took a deserved early lead in the first half. We picked up a bit in the second half and probably deserved our equaliser. We then pinched a goal with nothing on the clock to claim an undeserved win.

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.