Australian Squad

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Schwarzer: God?

[Simon]

Originally Posted by dontcloseyoureyes

Schwarzer: God?

may well be, at the very least hes been sent here by the big man...

[thewizard1o1]

Originally Posted by Cloete

Emerton was ********* for mine. Holds the ball far too long and chose the wrong options. Let's not even go into his defensive problems. Thought Wilkshire handled it well to be honest. Still a big gulf in class, but for a guy playing League One he did quite well. Set it up for Viduka to put it over the abr while being wrestled to the ground. Moore had a poor game but he can still tackle ok. Once he gets some match fitness in he'll be back to his best with his passing and positioning.

Decent performance 2nd half. Thing we also have to remember is that the Dutch played a top side while we were missing some big names, or they were just returning to match fitness. IMO a fair result would have been 2-1 to the Dutch but it was definitely a well fought match, particularly in the 2nd period. Kewell would add alot to the team thoguh and I think Zelic was corect when he said at the least, he'll kept their defence busy. Because they were just dominating us in midfield first half with Wilkshire and Grella there and Bresciano was barely involved. Grella had another solid game after a shocking start though. I think Hiddink should let him have 20 minutes in a practice match before a real game so that he comes out and plays well straight away . He is a class act when he's playing well though. Culina also had a quiet one but what little he had to do, he did very well (as always).

Definitely a good result, if a tad undeserved. But we showed enough signs last night/this morning for me to say that we CAN DEFINITELY qualify if we play fairly well (not even at our best IMO).

I would have been interested to see Harry come on when Thompson did, Thompson got in behind the Dutch backs quite a few times but just didn't have a good enough first touch to do more.

All in all it was a great leadup for the Aussies considering we have Brazil in our World Cup group.

[Blewy]

Thankyou Guus

Daily Telegraph

Viduka penalty sacking

By DAVID LEWIS in Rotterdam

June 06, 2006

MARK Viduka may have taken his last penalty while Guus Hiddink is in charge of the Socceroos after yesterday missing his second successive spot kick for his country.

Fortunately for the skipper, teammate Tim Cahill turned Viduka's blushes into gushes of gratitude by crashing in the rebound after his 53rd-minute penalty against the Dutch had hit the crossbar.

But Hiddink wasn't as obliging as Cahill, hinting strongly that after Viduka's penalty shootout miss against Uruguay last November this was a faux pas too far.

Asked if Viduka would take a spot kick at the World Cup, he replied "No", adding, "That is my spontaneous reaction. We'll have to think about it and talk about it.

"But I'm not sure. I think my spontaneous reaction was the truth."


Viduka won the penalty himself after being tugged back after latching on to a Luke Wilshire chip with Australia trailing to Ruud van Nistelrooy's ninth-minute goal.

After an interminable delay he struck the ball well enough amid a cascade of cat-calls from a sellout crowd at Rotterdam's De Kuip Stadium.

But it cannoned back into play off the woodwork, hit the back of keeper Edwin van der Saar and was finally stabbed home by ever-alert Everton poacher Cahill.

An unruffled Viduka won't be backward in coming forward again, should Hiddink permit it.

"I didn't think I would take it," he revealed. "Craig Moore said he'd take it. Then I said: 'No, I'll take it'.

"I made a decision. I'll take another 100 if that's what it takes for me to score.

"I'd rather put my name up to take a penalty and miss than not step forward at all.

"It was so noisy I couldn't even hear the whistle of the referee (to take the kick). I had to look over to him. I was unlucky and lucky at the same time because Timmy scored."

Viduka, replaced after 70 minutes after another influential performance for his country, added: "I think I'll buy Timmy a drink. I'll buy everyone a drink."

Viduka, 30, summed up the significance of the 1-1 draw like this: "There are not many teams higher than Holland, they love to play the ball around. Holding them to a draw at home means we can mix it with the best and compete.

"It was a great result. We never gave up: we stuck in there, even with 10 men. At 1-0 down, Guus was still confident at halftime that we'd do well. That relaxes the team and gives us confidence. Afterwards, the boss was happy."

Viduka, who also came desperately close with a first-half header, added: "This was a great workout. I think we'll be ready for Japan. But first we have to think about Lichtenstein (Thursday AEST)."

[ash chaulk]

phew

[Simon]

Bresciano should be the penalty taker.

[Craig]

Gerard Houllier is supposed to be replacing Guus Hiddink as the Australian manager.

He was linked to this job a few years ago, before Frank Farina resigned/sacked and Hiddink achieved hero status here in Australia and his contract is pretty big as well. The deal will allow him to finish the season with Lyon and Graham Arnold will take over in that time to deal with the Asian Cup qualifiers.

I have mixed feelings about this, he achieved plenty of success at Liverpool, without winning the Premiership (and some quite frankly rubbish buys in the form of El-Hopeless Diouf, Diao, Cheyrou etc.) and this is what got him sacked. He also didn't have a good time at as manager of France and they failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup.

True he did win Ligue 1 with Lyon, but their domination of the league (and people think Chelsea are bad) and the lack of any geniune competition, I would be shocked if anybody stops them anytime soon. But he does have a good record in the French youth teams, in fact quite good, which produced the likes of Henry, Trezeguet, Anelka (when he isn't being an egotistical freak and falling out with everybody) etc. and he does have a big reputation.

There are probably better options, but he would be a big name catch, but he better get Australia into the 2010 World Cup with his reported massive paypacket.

[GIMH]

Liverpool fans were always divided under Houllier. But I'll say this, in Steven Gerrard he had one of the world's best midfielders, nay, players, but used him as a deep lying midfielder, alongside Hamann, where the pair of them would play the holding role together. Everyone knows that Steven Gerrard is excellent and getting from box to box and scoring from outside the box, but Houllier restricted him. The football was, I believe, not pretty.

Conversation from December 04:

Originally Posted by me

Tranmere were crap last night, we just didn't turn up

Originally Posted by my red Dad

That was like Liverpool last season

He is a decent manager, but will probably bore the Aussies to tears and make some baffling decisions.

[vic_orthdox]

I thought that was the news of two days ago. It was refuted in today's papers...

[Simon]

id still prefer Martin O'Neill, we know Lyon definately wont be allowing him to leave, so if he takes the job now he will be dividing his time but i think we need someone fulltime now...

[Great Birtannia]

Aime Jacquet - '98 WC Winning coach and current technical director of France when he was in Australia for a seminar 6 months ago.

"Of course I am interested in a technical director role with Australia. I am excited to be here, and this is something which does interest me."

He has to relinquish his French role when he turns 65, this month.

Has everyone got the wrong frog? After all the FFA won't name the appointment until AFTER the world cup which suggests it is someone still involved.

There is always the possibility of appointing Houllier as manager and Jacquet as technical director. Jacquet also stated that he would bring the head of the French academy, Andre Merelle with him.

[Cloete]

Originally Posted by Great Birtannia

Aime Jacquet - '98 WC Winning coach and current technical director of France when he was in Australia for a seminar 6 months ago.

"Of course I am interested in a technical director role with Australia. I am excited to be here, and this is something which does interest me."

He has to relinquish his French role when he turns 65, this month.

Has everyone got the wrong frog? After all the FFA won't name the appointment until AFTER the world cup which suggests it is someone still involved.

There is always the possibility of appointing Houllier as manager and Jacquet as technical director. Jacquet also stated that he would bring the head of the French academy, Andre Merelle with him.

YES!! PLEASE!!!

I was talking to Simon (broncoman) about this subject the other day and Aime is DEFINITELY MY FAVOURITE for the job! I would absolutely love him to manage Aus but if that's not an option having him as a technical director along with Merelle can only mean good things for Australian football!!

The good thing is. I now have confidence in the FFA. Whatever happens, it's likely to be the right thing to happen. O'Neill and Lowy haven't put a foot wrong and I'm not going to doubt them now! But I certainly would prefer someone other than Houllier!

[GIMH]

Aren't there any Aussies who can do the job?
Not taking the ****, just wondering

[TT Boy]

I thought Gérard Houllier will become Australia's new manager in 2007, or is that just paper talk?

[Cloete]

Originally Posted by GeraintIsMyHero

Aren't there any Aussies who can do the job?
Not taking the ****, just wondering

Yeah but none of them have the pedigree of alot of foreigners.

We won't take an Australian manager over a better foreigner just because he's Australian. Unlike a certain other country Although that's because you actually have some good management stocks. We have a few good 'uns but they're not international standard.