We Are The Reds

The whole of Australia is pulling together ahead of the must-win 2014 World Cup qualifier with Jordan on Tuesday in Melbourne...

And me in Austria!



http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... lifer-2014

Big game again.
This one is going to be hard.

Working sadly so I'll have a total social media blackout soon and watch the replay tonight!

Although I'm sure of what's coming if we make the WC I still can't shake the excitement!

C'mon Roos!

Good luck Stuckey.
Are you back in the UK?

1-0
Bresciano 16min

1-0

half time-

a second is crucial.

2-0

Cahill - 61min

3-0
Kruse- 75min

4-0

89min
and Lucas Neil scores his first WC goal according to the two Eurosport guys.

(That was not so hard after all.)

Vidosic is on for the last 3min for Kruse

4-0

Good win.

Good looking scoreboard. Barely got out of second gear though.

Hunger wasn't the same as last week but neither was the calibre of opponent.

Lucas' first international goal in over 90 games!

Man did Rogic look slick on the ball. Wish he was getting game time in Scotland.

I really dont know what to think.

Should i be happy that the roos are now showing character that best represents this country, stringing passes together, running at defenders and appearing to actually give a fark.

Or should i be wondering how they can suddenly turn it on for the i portant games?

I havnt enjoyed any roos games since pim took over, finally i see that look in the older boys eyes that was there in 2006

i think our main problem since 2006 is that we have now joined asia meaning there are many important games against lesser oponents. i always hear from people that we haven't been playing the 'australian way' but i put that down to the fact that i honestly think the australian way is to be underdogs and come out firing against big teams. for whatever reason we haven't been able to properly adapt to asia and assert our athority on smaller nations. this may be the changing point in our character, i hope it is, but we will have to wait and see.

you can see this when we play bigger teams after the 2006 WC. in the following asia cup we struggled against the lesser oponents, but when we played the big teams we really stepped it up. who could forget when we beat the netherlands over there. or uruguay or argentina here... but the important games for WC qualifying we would struggle and really fail to get out of second or even third gear.

It was a good game tactically. We went out there to score early so Jordan couldn't park the bus. It worked out and then we never really looked in doubt from that moment.

Australia were actually keeping the ball on the ground and some of the quick passing, triangles and one touch passing was a joy to watch. I haven't seen Australia play like this for years.

However, we did turnover the ball too easily and look rusty at times for large parts of the game.

Hopefully the Iraq game we can put together a 90 minute performance.

i think our main problem since 2006 is that we have now joined asia meaning there are many important games against lesser oponents. i always hear from people that we haven't been playing the 'australian way' but i put that down to the fact that i honestly think the australian way is to be underdogs and come out firing against big teams. for whatever reason we haven't been able to properly adapt to asia and assert our athority on smaller nations. this may be the changing point in our character, i hope it is, but we will have to wait and see.

you can see this when we play bigger teams after the 2006 WC. in the following asia cup we struggled against the lesser oponents, but when we played the big teams we really stepped it up. who could forget when we beat the netherlands over there. or uruguay or argentina here... but the important games for WC qualifying we would struggle and really fail to get out of second or even third gear.

Fair point.

IMO the aussie underdog type attitude is great when your the little fish, but its only going to hamper you when your one of the hunted.

It assumes that anything australian cannot be world class therefor we are the underdogs and must fight for every scrap.

Hopefully as a country ( i dont just mean in sport ) we can grow out of this mentality.

i dont think we have this underdog mentality across the country in sport or as a nation. we are the best in the world in many areas and act that way, especially in sports.
look at our swimming, netball, womens basketball, womens football, rugby, hockey and many many more. in those sports we act like we are one of the best nations and we assert our authority no matter who we play.

for some reason, we dont have this mentality YET in the socceroos. hopefully we are on a bit a turning point at the moment that will reshape us for the better in the future.