Some of Australia’s key World Cup players were in action during the week playing for Middlesbrough in the UEFA Cup Final against Sevilla. Let’s just say what happened can’t really be considered promising for Australia’s hopes at the World Cup - Middlesbrough were thumped 4-0.

Australia’s goal keeper for the World Cup, Mark Schwarzer, made 2 fantastic saves, but his defence were nowhere to be found to help clear the ball; as a result, Sevilla were able to follow up and find the net on both occassions. Australian Striker, Mark Viduka, had the best opportunities for Middlesbrough to score, but he couldn’t finish effectively.

Schwarzer’s face mask after sufferring a fractured cheekbone

These two players are going to be integral to Australia’s chances at the World Cup. Obviously, you need the goal keeper to stop goals and the striker to score goals. I’m hoping that they can both put this match behind them and get ready for Australia’s preparation leading up to the World Cup.

Highlights of the match can be found in the video provided (6 minutes in length):

HVipD3Wl33w

This entry was posted on Friday, May 12th, 2006 at 10:24 am and is filed under Soccer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.