6 things why Australia can make it to the next round

Why am I optimistic that the Australian football team will do well in Germany? Well below are some of my reasons:

1. The Group

Ok so we drew Brazil but we also drew Croatia and Japan. While they definetly will not be easy beats, those teams are not as bad as say the Czech Republic, Argentina, Portugal even Sweden who we could have been drawn with. It will be tough but some advantages we have are that we play Japan first. This is a crucial game, we win and the ball is rolling in the right direction.

Next we take on the best team in the world that is Brazil. They are tough but I hope they throughly destroy Croatia so they are over confident and we can give them a hard time.

The last match will probably a playoff to get to the next round, if we beat Japan. This game has significance to us because there are 3 players in the opposition who learnt their trade in Australia. Some of the Australian croatians know these players and it will be quite an emotional encounter.

However neither Croatia or Japan had to beat a team like Uruguay. Japan topped a group that consisted of North Korea, Bahrain and Iran. Not exactly hard to play against and they were not tested.

Croatia topped their group but were not really troubled during qualification. So they are not as match hardened as us.

2. Harry Kewell

Just as he was returning to his best, he hit a hurdle when he had to come off the FA Cup final with a groin injury. He was man of the match in the semi final against Chelsea and the fans knew that, so it was a shame. However things are looking good and he should be able to play.

How much, I am not sure but probably not an entire match, maybe 30-40 minutes the first match and then he can play more as the tournament progresses.

Kewell brings a lot of creativity on the pitch and this is one area Australia needs to improve in. With his creativity, defences will be guessing and this should free our strikers and hopefully this results in goals.

Given the dissappointment he endured in the Champions League final I am sure he wants to prove he is a big stage player. I hope he will do what he did against Uruguay and tear that defence up!

3. Being an underdog

No one has given us a chance and I think that being an underdog will help us. We can sneak up on teams and bite them where it hurts, the scoreboard.

The team also is not under any pressure so they can concentrate on the games and not worry about distractions apart from some beer drinking and shouting Aussie supporter.

4. Guus Hiddick

In the last 2 world cups, his teams have finished in the top 4 - Netherlands in 1998 and South Korea in 2002. Any man who can coach South Korea to 4th spot has to be regarded as a genius.

He has not had as much time for Australia as S. Korea but he is a tactical genius and a great man manager. Hopefully he can weave the magic again and make us progress through the group stages. Luck will play a factor as it did with the koreans and a few dodgy decisions from referees but we shall await that.

5. 32 years

That is how long it has been since Australia last participated in a world cup. The players all know that and the football public know that. Both players and supporters are looking forward to the first match. All the bad luck we have experienced seems to have been washed away so lets hope it all goes well.


6. We have the team

Australian teams in the past either had a very strong defence or some good attacking options. Back in 2002, the defence was decent and we had Harry and Viduka toscore the goals, but the midfield was average.

This year we have guys like Marco B, Vince Grella, Tim Cahill, John Aloisi who ply their trade in top leagues around the world. Teh starting 11 plays in a good league.

Japan has a handful of players that play outside Europe and the rest are from the j-League. Not disrespecting the J-League, while it is better than the local league, it is not considered a top world league like the EPL, La Liga or Serie A.

Croatia does not have any big time performers as most of their squad are in the belgium, austrian, swiss leagues who are second tier european competitions.

Go AUSTRALIA