The NBA Draft occurred this evening, and nobody made more moves than the Trail Blazers did. While I’m indifferent about Viktor Khryapa leaving and ecstatic that they managed to offload Theo Ratliff, I really hope that the Trail Blazers haven’t given up on Sebastian Telfair too early. The Blazers have a track record of giving up on talented players too early - the most recent case of this being when they traded away Jermaine O’Neal for Dale Davis only to watch O’Neal become an All-Star player and one of the top players in the league.
That being said, the Blazers ended the night with 2 of the top 4 prospects in the draft: LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy. They will be great additions to the young core of players, which includes the Blazers’ top two picks from last year’s draft - Martell Webster and Jarrett Jack. The Blazers just have two cancerous members left, Zach Randolph and Darius Miles, so if management can manage to work out a trade for these players, the team should be in a good position in a few years time. This young core of players will be a very effective unit, but it’s going to take a few patient years for the team and community to see results.
I correctly picked 5 winners to advance out of the 8 round of 16 matches, incorrectly choosing Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Australia (although they were robbed) to advance to the Quarter Finals. In this round there are 4 matches: Italy vs Ukraine, England vs Portugal, Brazil vs France, Germany vs Argentina. I believe there is only one clear favourite to advance into the Semi-Finals and that is Italy, who should dispose of Ukraine without much hassle. The remaining three matches could go either way and I had a tough time determining who I think will advance to the next round.
I have chosen England to defeat Portugal, based only on my belief before the tournament that England would win. England have not been impressive throughout the tournament, winning two close games through David Beckham free kicks. In spite of this, I believe that they will be too much for the Portugese, and realistically, they are due for a game where they play to the level that everyone was expecting them to play prior to the tournament starting. It’s a credit to them that they have played so poorly but have still made the final 8.
Brazil vs France has the potential to be a very exciting game. France were unlucky to have not scored more points in their group, and today they handily defeated a Spanish team that had not lost in their previous 25 matches. The French could surprise Brazil, who may underestimate the French. I have only chosen Brazil to make it through because they’re Brazil, but I wouldn’t be surprised if France pulled off the upset though.
That leaves Germany vs Argentina, which could prove to be the match of the tournament. Probably the two form teams of the competition, unfortunately they meet in the Quarter Finals in a game that could easily be mistaken for the Final. Up until their Round of 16 match against Mexico, I thought Argentina was the best team in the competition. The Mexicans really troubled an Argentina side that have the most impressive player in the tournament so far - Riquelme. In contrast, Germany dominated early against Sweden, scoring two goals in the first 12 minutes and then cruising through the rest of the match. Based on form alone, Germany should dispose of Argentina, but this game really is too close to call and I believe that the crowd support should see Germany through to the Semi-Finals.
One last thing, just in case you haven’t seen enough of the backlash from the Italian cheater…
You don’t even need the Oscar to know he was acting - look at the cheesy smile!
Obviously this has been photoshopped, but I got a good laugh out of it in any case.
One day after ‘the dive’ and it’s still a bitter pill to swallow. Doesn’t make it any easier reading this article from smh.com.au this morning. Does anyone really expect the cheat to come out and admit that he dove? Anyone who has seen the replay can see that he instigated the contact with Lucas Neill. To have Grosso come out and say “I tried to avoid contact, I got past one defender but then my leg got stuck in between the other defender’s legs and I had no option but to go down” when he obviously didn’t, just infuriates me even more.
I don’t see him stuck between any defenders’ legs
“I’m such a happy little Italian, I can’t believe the ref fell for my dive!”
I don’t know how to describe what happened to Australia this morning any better than that because the Socceroos were robbed. I thought waiting six hours before composing this entry would make it easier, but it’s actually harder to explain how I’m feeling now than it was directly after the match. 10 seconds before the end of injury time and the game, referee Luis Medina Cantalejo, called a penalty after Italian player Fabio Grosso dove after he ran into Lucas Neill. Neill did not initiate any contact with Grosso, and the Italian certainly acted his way to a penalty that cost Australia a chance to make it through to the Quarter Finals. Readers of si.com also believe that this was a bad call to award the penalty.
Schwarzer unsuccessfully dives to stop Totti’s free kick
Mark Schwarzer was brilliant throughout the match, making some beautiful saves and making Guus Hiddink look foolish for dropping him in their previous match against Croatia. After Italy was reduced to 10 men early in the second half, Australia dominated the run of play, but they can only be left to wonder ‘what if?’ after failing to convert their man advantage into goals. The Aussies definitely played in a conservative manner and really didn’t try to push the tempo, even in the late stages when Italy were clearly sufferring from fatigue. If the match had have gone to extra time, I don’t believe the Italians would have been able to withstand the Australian attack. Unfortunately, due to another awful refereeing decision, Australia will never know just how far they could have gone in the tournament. Their next match would have been against Ukraine, and I don’t think anyone can say that they would have troubled the Aussies, especially considering they outplayed both Brazil and Italy, two of the soccer powerhouses, in their respective matches.
One thing is for sure though - Australian soccer has definitely arrived on the world scene. This performance in the World Cup is only going to do wonderful things for the game back home, and many a young child will have drawn inspiration from the performance. The Aussies have proven that they deserved to be in the World Cup, and despite the comment that comments US coach, Bruce Arena, made before the start of the tournament, Australia will never be considered an easy game again.
Although the events that transpired earlier were heartbreaking for all Australian soccer supporters, the Socceroos can hold their heads up high and know that they have impressed the global soccer community with their play over the past two weeks. I know they’ll be in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, and hopefully now that Australia is part of the Asian Confederation, they will have more frequent meaningful games and their support base will only grow larger. I know this much - they didn’t embarass themselves and I’m even prouder to be an Australian.
Looks like Australian coach, Guus Hiddink has admitted his mistake of placing Zeljko Kalac in goals instead of Mark Schwarzer in the Aussies previous match against Croatia. Although Hiddink didn’t say that he was putting Schwarzer back in goals for the next match against Italy, it was pretty much implied. I think the Australian population would be a lot more confident of an Australian victory knowing that Schwarzer was protecting our goal.
Currently in to the 77th minute of the Germany vs Sweden match and, barring a minor miracle, Germany will be advancing to the Quarter Final. They were up 2-0 after 12 minutes, thanks to two goals from Lukas Podolski - the second goal was beautiful. Germany looks exceptionally good at the moment; it’s a shame that they will potentially meet Argentina (if they win against Mexico) in the next round, but that’s the way the draw fell for them. Either one of these teams could win the entire tournament the way they are playing, and some would argue that, on form, they are currently the best two teams in the World Cup.
In a previous post, I made my selections of who I thought would advance to the second round of the World Cup. I’m happy to say that I picked 13/16 correctly. The teams that let me down were Poland, the Czech Republic, and Tunisia (I don’t know what I was thinking when I picked them). Also, 15 of the top 16 teams in my power rankings made the second round.
Above are my picks for the second round. There are some really tough match-ups, including Portugal vs Netherlands and France vs Spain, which could go either way. Australia will have their hands full with Italy, but hopefully they can get the victory. If they do, they will have a good chance of beating either Ukraine or Switzerland.
The game between Australia and Croatia was an absolute heart-stopper. As an Australian, I would have to say that yesterday’s match was one of the most important sporting events in Australia’s sporting history. I can’t believe that the man who played a big part in getting us to the World Cup, Guus Hiddink, almost cost us the opportunity to advance. Starting the reserve goalkeeper, Zeljko Kalac, instead of Mark Schwarzer was a decision that looked like it would cost Australia dearly. While it’s debatable if Schwarzer would have been able to prevent Croatia’s first goal (I personally believe he would have), there is no way that Schwarzer would have allowed their second goal. After the ball bounced over Kalac and in to the back of the net, I was shocked. I get pretty emotional over sport, but this was without a doubt the most emotional I have ever been, and the biggest disappointment, sporting-wise, I can remember. Kalac’s display was the worst by a goalie in the entire World Cup. The goalie in the local Under 6’s team could have stopped it.
Disgraceful
If Kalac starts against Italy, Australia will have absolutely no chance of victory. For Hiddink to say that Schwarzer was dropped because of ‘past performances’ is a bloody disgrace. If you want to get down to the nitty-gritty of the situation, Schwarzer has really only allowed one goal in the whole tournament, and that came in the 90th minute against Brazil. He was clearly fouled when Japan scored in game 1, and the goal should not have stood. Ronaldo was offside before he received the ball and passed it on to Adriano, for Brazil’s first goal in game 2. Not to mention the one legitimate goal that Brazil did in the 90th minute after the ball deflected off the goalpost, leaving an open net for Fred to score. I hope Hiddink has learned his lesson and puts Schwarzer back between the posts - where he belongs. Australia needs him to have any chance of further advancement in the tournament.
Australia’s last group match, against Croatia, is less than 14 hours away. As it gets closer, my nerves are starting to grow. I know that the Aussies can beat Croatia, but the Aussies have had big games before (World Cup qualifiers, etc.), and we have fallen at the last hurdle. I know Guus Hiddink has instilled a new attitude within the team, and I hope it pays off in the upcoming match.
The Aussies have already impressed a lot of people. UK’s ‘The Times’ voted the Aussies the team that is achieving the most above their expectations.
I’ll be cheering the boys on - yelling at my TV and generally going nuts. I hope that anyone who reads this will do the same!
We have another front-runner for goal of the tournament. Joe Cole’s stunner against Sweden yesterday was incredible.
I don’t know if anyone was as disappointed with today’s match between Argentina and the Netherlands. It was unfortunate that neither team had anything to play for because this could have been one of the best matches of the tournament. Instead, it was an absolute snoozefest and ended up in a 0-0 draw.
The last time an Australian won a major golf championship was in 1995, when Steve Elkington won the PGA Championship. Yesterday the drought was broken by Geoff Ogilvy, who claimed the US Open Championship in dramatic fashion. Phil Mickelson did his best Greg Norman imitation and choked on the last hole of the tournament. Needing a par for the win and a bogey to force a playoff, Mickleson took his driver out of the bag and let it rip. All he needed to do was to play it safe and use an iron off the tee, putting himself in a good position to win his third consecutive major championship. Instead, Mickleson was left to wonder what could have been and finished runner-up for the fourth time at the US Open.
Good job by Ogilvy, though. He finished the very difficult last four holes at even par, a feat that others around him couldn’t manage. It was meant to be Ogilvy’s day. On the 17th hole, Ogilvy chipped in for an unlikely par which turned out to be the most significant shot of the tournament for him.
I’m glad that finally another Australian has won a major championship. I thought Adam Scott or Stuart Appleby would be the ones to do it, but Ogilvy has been having a superb year, and this championship follows his World Match Play Championship from earlier in the year.
Despite a 2-0 score, Australia took it to the defending World Cup champions yesterday. The score in no way reflects the action in the game, and I dare say that Australia were more deserving of the victory. In the first half, the Socceroos contained the Brazillians with beautiful defence, and in the second half, their attack was inspiring, but unsuccessful. Brazil’s first goal should not have been allowed, since Ronaldo was in an offside position, and their second goal came in the 90th minute after the Australians were pressing for an equaliser. Harry Kewell had his chances after coming on to substitute Tim Cahill early in the second half. His best opportunity came after the Brazillian keeper, Dida, went up for a clearance and missed, leaving Kewell with an open net. Unfortunately, he sent his shot flying over the crossbar. Later in the game, he had a speculative shot from 40 metres out after he noticed Dida standing out from his goal - once again this shot went barely over the crossbar. Both Australian captain Mark Viduka and Marco Bresciano also chances on goal, but Viduka’s late chance agonisingly landed on top of the net, while Bresciano’s chance produced a great save from Dida. Also, I don’t know how the referee could call fouls on Australian players when the fouls were committed by the Brazillians? I know they are the World Champions, and with that title comes respect, but this is the World Cup - not the NBA. Games should be called fairly and with integrity - just because they’re Brazil doesn’t mean they’re perfect.
You can clearly see Ronaldo offside in the replay
Australia is still in the driver’s seat to make it through in the second position from this group. Their final match is against Croatia, which should be a tough match. The Aussies only need a draw to make it through, but I would like to see the attacking style of football they displayed in the second half of the game against Brazil. Australia are a phenomonal team when they play that style of aggressive soccer. They have the fitness to get back in defence, so they should be able to play attacking soccer.
France were robbed of a victory yesterday. Up 1-0, Patrick Viera headed a ball that was defended by the South Korean goalkeeper. The only problem with this is that the ball had crossed the goalline and that the keeper was behind his own line when he deflected the ball.
This shot resulted in the ’second goal’ for France
It would be hard to imagine that the South Koreans would have come back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the match. If France had won the match, they would have had 4 points and been pretty much assured of making the second round considering their last match is against Togo. Although it is still possible for France to make it through to the second round, they have to rely on goal differential if South Korea draws with Switzerland. Ideally, Switzerland will beat South Korea and France will beat Togo. This means that the two most deserving teams from that group, France and Switzerland, will advance to the round of 16. A mistake like that ’second goal’ can potentially cost a team the chance to advance, pointing out the need for an instant replay system for goal situations that are too close to call.
