The moments of madness

I am writing at half time of the Czech and Italian match. I was hoping for the Czechs to win and qualify through along with Ghana. Sadly it does not look like the Czechs are going to win. They are down a goal and just had a man sent off, and it was just dumb by the player.

Nonetheless Metria should be happy if Italy scrape through but not so happy with me as I told her to tip the Czechs to win (and possibly for the pics in this entry)

ARGENTINA VS HOLLAND

Still this match is more intersting that the snooze fest that was Argentina and Holland. I guess with both teams already qualified, the coaches decided to rest some players. I would have though the Dutch would have looked to go for the win so they qualify for an easier part of the final 16, one where they bypass Brazil and England should those teams go that far.



Still the crowd and supporters seem to be enjoying themselves. ;-) and how about diego Maradonna in the stands waving the flag and jumping up and down. It is great to see a player f his status sitting inthe crowds and cheering away with his countrymen. Still pele is still my main football man! This all nicely leads to.....

BRAZIL VS JAPAN

Japan is coahced by Brazillian great ZICO and need to win by at least 3 goals should Australia draw. While Brazil will be resting players I do not think they are going to throw the match and ose 3-0. If that happened, the country would riot. I am looking forward to seeing Robinho get a run and show that he should be playing instead had to many Mc"Ronaldo"s.

I am hoping they start their run. Recollecting thelast world cup, they did not look to good in the first 2 or 3 matches as well. And we all know how that all ended.

We see that the Samba kings have "big support"

Even the locals seem to have caught Brazillian fever

AUSTRALIA VS CROATIA

of course the big match for beings in about 4 hours time. This is THE result I want, Australia to beat Croatia.

This match is going to be damm hard and I am sure the boys are fired up. There are a number of links between both teams. The coach of Croatia used to coach Mark Viduka when he played for Zagreb years ago. 3 of the Croatian players were brought up in Australia and are linked to some of the Australian players. Australia has 7 players of Croatian heritage.

Imagine what it is like for the families. I am sure most will barrack for the team their son plays for and even some of the families know each other - Skoko and Didulic grew up int he same area and their cousins are married to each other. Imagine that place. Someone will be sleeping on the couch for a few days!

More importantly, for the game of football to flourish here, we need a win and a chance to play in the final 16. This will show the Australian public the potential we have and the WORLD that we are not here to make up numbers.

See Australia is a multicultural country

We should be recognised a decent footballing nation considering that we have a number of players that play in the EPL, some in Serie A (Bresciano and Grella), La Liga (Alosisi) and other parts of Europe. The quality is there and lets hope it rises to the top.

Man am I getting hyped and nervous!!