Can Kennedy dribble or shoot with his boots? Maybe it's just because he's basically up there on his own, but he looked lost when the ball wasn't to his head.

Valeri looked great, whilst Grella was guilty of plenty of stupidity. The lack of strikers in the squad worries me though. Griffiths and McDonald should have been there, and maybe somebody with some creativity in the midfield.

On the plus side, having to actually chase a game seemed to do wonders for our attack. We only nabbed the one goal - but we created a lot more opportunities than I'd grown used to. Our defense was shocking, but at least we looked like we were trying to create goals rather than just sitting back and waiting to grab them on the counter.

A wake up call. Hopefully it's given Verbeek a better idea of who should start.


What do you think about the FourFourTwo article USA Defeat Socceroos?
AUSTRALIA'S preparations for the World Cup hit a snag after slumping to a 3-1 loss to the United States in Ruimsig.

Have your say.

Can't help but feel Australia seems toothless in attack. No plan B.

I didn't think we looked toothless at all. We were creating plenty of opportunities - we just weren't finishing them. As I said, I do worry that leaving McDonald and/or Griffiths at home will hurt us. Those guys are knocking in goals left and right at club level, and while Kennedy's doing that, he can't be our only outlet up front.

And plan A is shit.

3-1 incredibly flattering. To us. Men against boys in a football sense.

But it's the World Cup and anything can happen. We could even score twice!!

I agree, we weren't exactly toothless in attack. Plenty of chances missed (Granted USA had better chances that they missed). Overall a pretty good workout.

Our defense looked pretty poor in the first half by a hyper aggressive USA team.

ahhhhh help? we shouldve lost 5-1 at least and this usa. grella was pathetic, hope jedinak or Valeri start instead. I rkn kisnorbo is a bigger miss right now than kewell or emerton

nothing will change, he'll continue to play mates regardless of their obvious used by date i.e Grella, Moore

I think taking off Cahill was a mistake. He shouldve gone off for Holman at least. Anyway I think Valeri should take Grella's place. And Garcia doesnt offer much.

All this means is that Pim will just be ultra-defensive for all 3 games no matter what the situation. We could be 0-1 down chasing a win and he'll keep it defensive.

It's amazing Pim goes to 4-4-2 after he leaves our best striker at home](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

The defence was really embarrassing tbh. That 3rd goal was disgusting we were at 6s and 7s all day and we were lucky not to be embarrassed.

The US really should have scored 4 or 5 with the missed open goal and the disallowed goal(That should have been allowed)

flying over in 4 days time. I'm worried!

Germany would've scored 6.

We now know what Pim's plan B is. Put Richard "Less usefull than Holman" up alongside Kennedy, and Culina into the AMC role.

Good work. Shame Australia doesn't have any top class goal poachers, or a creative flair attacking midfielder that could work better in those roles.

what happened to the cockheads bragging about how superior we are to the US


what happened to Pim's "we should be at 90% efficiency" BS statement

are we really 10% off our potential heading in to the opening game vs. Germany? :lol:





Edited by cool_cat2007: 6/6/2010 12:49:37 AM

Valeri has certainly earned himself a start ahead of Grella. I almost gagged on my beer when I heard Harper describe his form as 'always improving'. Grella has been a thuggish liability of late. Moore's not a great deal better, but we don't have the luxury of being able to just sub him out.

I do worry that the omissions of Carle, Griffiths, and McDonald will come back to hurt us.



I assume this was meant to be ironic?

Edited by CWBush: 6/6/2010 12:46:21 AM

CWBush, kind of agree with you on a couple of your statements. Not sure I agree with you regarding bringing Griffiths to the WC. His ego would have got the better of him.

I do agree with you in regards to us creating opportunities tonight. Chippers made a lot of great runs on the left today and put in some awesome crosses, unfortunately no inspirational performance from Kennedy tonight to finish those crosses off. He looked out of sorts and out of his depth. Ruka had a good scoring opportunity in the 2nd half, powerful shot but excellent save by Hannemann.

Bring on the World Cup, 5 more days and two weeks of no sleep for me!

I thought Grella was poor, passing out from defence was rubbish, so many long balls to nowhere. Garcia ran, but didn't do much.. Defence was poor, especially chippers.. Overall I thought our shape was terrible in the second half.. If we have to chase a game god help us..

One point though was the pitch, it was terrible.

A good workout.

I think the USA played to our plan A continous play. We seemed to be between in the counter attacks all the time and in the DM area of the field. Moore and Neill played ok IMO,

By playing so defensive when we need to attack thos guys expose the DM area to much and so the back line gets hit easily on the counter.

Why we took AM of for a DM lost me at the time we where down?? Culina went forward...ok but we still replaced a AM with a DM?

Kennedy had a shite game tonight IMO. Garcia was nothing to be seen...again.

Still they had some good passing happening and hopefully PV learnt something.

If Pim learnt anything tonight, it probably reinforced his ultra-defensive mentality. It seems he can only manage a team in pure attack (with only one goal to show for it), or a team in full defensive-counter attack. No balance at all it seems.

UUUggghhhh!!! Obviously Pim has decided to only play 10 on the pitch from kick off....

Craig Moore is a fine defender for us against the smaller Asian teams but he is drowning on the International scene against real talent.

+ Culina was good
++ Cahil was dangerous
++ Bresciano looking 110% more composed and getting touch back quickly
+++ Ruka looked lively (hope he gets some game time)
++++ Chippers owned that left side - our MOTM

- Grellas gift of first goal (mind you this "light" ball seemed to race away unexpectadly)
-- Kennedy missing 2 sitters
-- Our numerous corners in 2nd half ALL wasted
--------------------------------------------------------------- (x1000000000000) Craig moore

Edited by macktheknife: 6/6/2010 12:49:09 AM

Edited by macktheknife: 6/6/2010 12:49:19 AM

1) Holman was not on the bench for this match.
2) Cahill going off at half-time indicates to me that Verbeek didn't treat this match that seriously.

garcia is useless.Defence was bad all round but it was a fun game.This will produce fortress Pim next game.It was a chance to test our attack and chippers was the only one who could cross.Kennedy is woeful mostly but he has that x factor that can win a game.Grella is a big risk... Wilkshire needs to time his tackles better and Neill makes Moore look good.

Defence was hopeless. At leat Moore showed pace on (one ?) occasion, admittedly chasing a man that just skinned him.
Agree Valeri>Grella. Also, without Cahill looked less dangerous.
I had thought, "at least we keep scraping through", i'm now worried.

=d> =d> I see what you did there. :lol:

Gotta admit though, the Americans took their chances and they passed their way forward to get into goal scoring positions. We pass forward, then sideways, then back, then sideways, then more sideways, then back to Schwarzer, who then pumps it long for Kennedy. Sounds a bit like A-League mentality. Maybe it's the style of play to expect from Australia now.

Edited by RedsUnited: 6/6/2010 12:53:06 AM

After watching the game tonight carefully and having spent some time considering and analysing everything I have come to a genius conclusion that might surprise a few people: We can't win this World Cup!!!

I think the USA are still under rated as a footballing nation.

Sad i missed this match stupid work.

verbeek sed it shouldn't have been 3-1 n that we were organized in the 1st half. at least aurelio vidmar would call us a pissant country or something haha

If Holman isn't injured than that definitely indicates that he didnt treat it seriously.

Besides long hopeful balls to Jesus in the middle it's hard to see where the goals are going to come from.

Ruka's shot was the only decent hit in the whole game and he's a sub.

Friggin hell!

Well, speaking for myself I never indicated we were superior to the USA, but I sure as heck don't think this game is any indication for how things will play out when the real matches start. I still have faith in Pim. The fact that Cahill was taken off at half-time, Holman wasn't playing and Kewell wasn't given a run indicates Pim was treating this game as just another practice run.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I thought this game was thoroughly entertaining, even though we lost.

fuck. i wanted the U.S to not score another goal, now i don't win a free ball :(.

We're fucked if we play like that against Germny.

posted this in the other forum topic but thought i'd add it here:

cons: poor defense
kennedy didnt score when he really should have
cahill was australia's only strong attacking threat
gave up possession WAY too much
australia didnt capitalize on silly mistakes from the usa

excuses: no excuse for poor defense
no excuse for kennedy not scoring
cahill being the only threat was limited to when he was on the field as bresciano had one particular shot that was good.
giving up possession was a problem with both teams so it could have been the pitch

pros: ruka did fairly well, as did vidosic
chipperfield was very good and was the best provider on the pitch
kewell and emmo should be fit so we will be able to retain possession better and have a more lethal attack with them on the field
australia wont be playing on a potato field in the future.

another thing ill add: buddle was playing for a spot in the united states squad, and he was the difference. so he was very much there to win. unfortunately, australia was not there to win.

pim subbing on a dm for an am was to push culina up and get vidosic on the field. probably in preparation for an injury scenario or something like that. these games arent really about tactics so much as stress testing your players and overall team.

Yea it was an interesting experience to be entertained by an Australia match.

I thought Culina's shot was decent too.


Yes. It was entertaining. Because we knew nothing was at stake, except for maybe a confidence boost ahead of the first game. But then again, confidence can lead to arrogance, and that can lead to complacency. I think it's a good thing we lost actually.

I think the USA played magnificently, and I think they may win their group if they play like that against England. Their attack was relentless.

I think this shows how good the USA are rather than how bad Australia is.

-------------Schwarzer----------
Wilkshire-Beauchamp-Neill-Chipperfield
--------Valeri--Jedinak---------
Emerton----Cahill----Culina/Bresciano?
-----------Kewell-------------

i just wanna play england, would be as good as winning it. n I would play grella just to injure lampard or rooney

grella - i cannot remember the last time he had a good game. he's just a thug lately and loses the ball way too often
garcia - was he even playing?
kennedy - if he's the best we've got up front we're in deep sh*t. should've had at least 2 goals. seemed afraid to commit
schwarz - excellent save from dempsey but thought he could've stopped the first goal as it was virtually straight at him

That's what you wrote in the scoreline prediction thread. So if we aren't superior to them then why is it embarrassing to lose to them.

I think saying it's embarrassing to lose to them is indicating you are of the opinion that we are superior.

dare i say it but why didn't Holman get a run....he couldn't have done any worse

[youtube]VRTngtsOY8Q[/youtube]

Had to do it. :p

-------------Schwarzer----------
Wilkshire-Moore-Neill-Chipperfield
--------Valeri--Culina---------
Emerton----Cahill----Bresciano
-----------Kewell-------------

for me

We need to face facts Kewell and Emerton are not going to be anything other than late substitutions at best against Germany.

kennedy was completely useless. he doesnt even attempt to put pressure on defenders, which is the role of a sole striker, oh and to score too, which he didnt do either. moore was awful. i cant believe he's in the squad when he doesnt even have a club. grella's f up was solely responsible for the first goal conceeded and his friendly performances have been pathetic.

I don't think we're superior to them, but I think the football world perceives them as inferior, which is why it was embarrassing for us. I have to go to other forums with people saying, 'you couldn't even beat the USA... hardy har har.'

Edited by socceroossupporter: 6/6/2010 01:06:56 AM

Useless defence. Useless Attack. Average to poor midfield. One can't expect better iff that is the case.

If that is the case i would play Culina at right midfield, and Kennedy up front (through lack of any other options)

I hate to agree with cool cat, but Grella and Moore should be put out to pasture.

im hoping pims pre match speech was just tora tora tora!!! cause we looked a totally different team against denmark.

We need to find an injury in the squad which will require a replacement and get MacDonald into the squad ASAP.

No point discussing Pim tactics IMO, it was clear he was still using it to test some players (which I think is a bit worrying at this stage, but anyway).

Grella: Why is he in the team again?
Garcia: Just like last game, out of his league.
Kennedy: Unlike the last game, he had no confidence using his feet. He has played plenty too, Pim was crazy for not trying Ruka more.
Chippers: Shows how versatile he is, and he dominated his part of the field.

Kewell and Emerton should be ruled out, you'd be a nut to play them against Germany. Is Pim accepting we'll lose to Germany and going to use it as a final warm up to get Kewell and Emterton ready or something?

...and a doctor to reverse Pim's lobotomy; so he'll play two up front.

It was a trial match.

It was a friendly

We played all over them.

We lost.

Try to keep it together until the COMPETITION actually starts, ladies, mk?

Exactly. Don't push the panic button just yet folks. If he was serious with this game, why on Earth did he put Cahill (The goalscorer) on the bench on half-time? I am one of the few who have faith in Pim.

All the negative nancies are coming out of the woodwork and showing their true colours tonight. Quite humorous. :p

At last, some Reason in here.

They should have scored 5 tbh so how could we have played all over them

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 6/6/2010 01:21:12 AM

We looked like a team that needs another two weeks and three friendlies to be ready for the World cup.

We also had a few opportunities gone begging.

Granted, the USA had one or two extremely good chances.

Edited by socceroossupporter: 6/6/2010 01:23:56 AM

Henneman (or however you spell the wanker's name) saved at least 4 or 5 goals from the Aussies.

But, no, you focus on the negatives.

Go on.

Yes we did.

They missed an open goal.

And then the disallowed goal that should have been given which would have made it 3 early in the second half.

So it's only down to a lack of finishing and bad refereeing that we didn't concede 5 today.

I "have" faith that Pim can get us 2nd spot - statistically our best coach, during a period were we played harder opposition then any period before.

I "have" faith that key members of the team will drag us through to the second round.

I "have" faith that Kennedy will score a few (especially as the team looked more comfortable crossing this 'ball'

I "HAVE NO" faith in Craig Moore at this stage. 4 years ago - wondeful. He should of stayed retired after winning the opening Qualifier all those games ago.

Wasn't that disallowed goal offside? :-s

Grella had his chance to prove himself now he can fuck off. Valeri's pass was magic and he doesnt give away stupid fouls.

Kennedy wasnt completly useless - he did manage to hold up a few balls and play in some others - the only thing hes guilty of is not being a Cahill and jumping on those balls in the box.

NO it wasn't. The player that was judged to be offside wasn't interfering with any AUstralian player and the guy that out it in came from an onside position.

the disallowed goal was offside, as the usa striker was between i think it was wilkshire and the ball, preventing him from making a last ditch challenge. therefore he was interfering with the play and was offside.

No he wasn't. The offside player Budden I think it was walked across the front of the goal basically on the goal line not preventing any player getting to the ball from the rebound.

Its time to call a spade a spade guys - the USA was a step up & a fair class above us (they didn't even look to have hit their full stride, yet they scored 3 goals. We may have had had more possesion of the ball, but if your oposition can play without the ball & still score 3 goals, serious questions need to be asked of our system, coach & players. Especially as our next game is a further step up in level.

As for the posts from a few, I agree Grella & Moore looked out of their comfort zone.

Australia (FFA) should look closely at the USA's Major Soccer League and try replicate their model. The depth in their team & the advancements the US teams have made since 1994 are nothing short of AMAZING...

McDonald left at home and Garcia taken...to me this is th ebiggest blunder of all. Garcia just doesnt cut it at this level. We move to a 442 and he is at the top with Jesus and was missing. He was missing on the right as well.

No Plan B when we dont have Scoty Mac.

It was a training game, it mean nothing, BUT Moore im sorry but its time he is dropped.

If Patty was fit, he would have been there with Neil. Thats the thing, if Spira has been playing more he would have been partnering Neil but he is not.

God help us if the Germans devide to start fast against us and run at moore in the first half as the Yansk did. If that happens, I am worried. BUT, lets hope they sit back.

HOPE HOPE HOPE they sit back and go for a draw.

Im just going to throw this out there.

I love Josh as our striker, but the 3? chances he missed today were poachers goals, if only we had a good poacher in our team like that guy from Middlesbrough that I can't remember his name. I mean we were playing a 4-4-2 ffs, I seem to remember a player who was good at that formation.

Or God forbid they watched our last half a dozen matches and just drop all there corners and frees towards Moore. They will have a shooting Gallery!!!!

If we go 442, then Ruka should be subbed on straight away.

In-fact start him with Kennedy in a 442.

Did anyone feel sorry for scotty Mac, when they went to 2 strikers. He would of been in his element finally ;(

I loved it when chippers pushed up. Kennedy couldn't get to the ball or do anything with it. he should have got that header, he practically had no pressure.

grella had a forgetful game. I was happy to see ruka come on only to realise he left kennedy on - oh what now? that meant to two genuine attackers :P


the recurring theme in this game was that the socceroos seem a little afraid to push forward on the counter and preferred to hold onto the ball til we got players in front of the ball - our percentage of the ball justifies that.

You could see that the defence of the americans weren't all that great when we pushed a long ball up the field and got a lucky foot onto it. We had plenty of chances and I believe some real opportunity to get more than one on the board - its promising but just a little more effort and we'll get more than just the crowd ;)

I really wished we didn't lose to USA but they did have better touches when pushing forward - I sure hope pim has a good look at those through passes and our man-marking/running back. Sure we attacked more but not marking our opposition when they go on a counter is not good enough.

Hopefully come germany we have a good balance when we see cahill, emo, kewell getting into it (and hopefully a full game). Looks like there was a still a bit of experimenting going on so even though I hate the result, im not particularly worried. If we do play like this against germany then we won't have much luck getting any points from it.

I enjoyed vidosic input and ruka added a bit of run near the end.

On a side note, looks like both keepers were having problems judging the flight of the ball still but luckily for us we wont have to worry about any long unpredictable shots from the germans when we play them at sea level

Great hit out, end to end is what the team needed. The team knows what to look out for next time, so hopefully no repeats of the sluggish moments. Australia will be ready come match day. They have just been awoken!

obviously it was just a training game shown by the fact he didnt risk kewell and took cahill off. Also, the fact he experimented with a 4-4-2(still cant believe he did that after cutting the perfect goal poacher from the squad due to the fact he doesnt suit the lone striker role!).

However, in saying that we got completely whipped tonight. Yes we missed a few chances and could have had a couple but USA could have had 5 or 6. They ripped apart our defence and was a stern reminder of how aging and slow our defence is. Not sure how pim is going to conquer that but hopefully he can cook something up.

Beauchamp in for moore and Valeri in for Grella would be great but not sure if Pim would have the balls to do it. We are definetely underdogs to qualify but it is possible. A win against ghana is a given if we hope to get through and we are just going to have to hope Serbia is having an off day as they are sometimes inconsistent. Getting really excited for the first game now!!

Kennedy was just hopeless tonight! didn't commit to one passage of play and couldn't get control of the ball at his feet...never has been able to. He just looks so unsure when he has the ball and lacks composure. his positioning was horrific and he just looks so lazy out there!

Grella's idea of controlling the game is taking out as many players as he can! foolish mistake by him which cost us that first goal and really blew the game open.

There were more holes in defence than there are in a piece of swiss cheese...the Americans dominated us on the counter attack and we payed for it!

It was good to see Australia actually trying to attack, and they held possession well which was promising, but nobody seemed to back themselves in front of goal. Rukavytsya's shot on goal and Wilkshire's early strike were the only 2 clear examples of Aussie players actually backing themselves...I don't know if it's just me but i would rather see a player have a shot from outside the box than play a crappy 50/50 ball into the box which will most likely be cleared anyway!

If we play like this against Germany, we are screwed!!!

If Pim has a brain, he will line the side up like this (if Emo and Kewell are in shape)

--------------------Schwarzer----------------------
---Emerton-------Neil--------Moore------Chipperfield--
---------Wilkshire-------Grella------Bresciano---------
-----------------Cahill-------Culina----------------
----------------------Kewell----------------------
* Kewell is the only player Aus can put up front who can actually finish consistantly!

The Socceroos were very,very,very POOR! TERRIBLE in fact.
One dimensional rubbish!
Dont know if it was fatigue from the intense training or
what?
Must do Better or start packing now.
That was Embarassing actually!!!
"CHIPPER" looked good though.
Im feeling extremely anxious and scared now,after that performance.

ill have to watch the replay again but my initial reaction was it was the right call

USA won 3-1, but really I was pleased with the performance by us, abit slow to start with and USA got an early goal. but I thought we controlled most of the game.
Kennedy missed afew chances, didn't think he was that great.

The two full backs were good Wilkshire , and Chippers.

I'm more happy with how we played than the game against the Danes, just didn't defend very well.

Well thats it now, next game is a World Cup match against the Germans.

we were really poor, our best opportunities again coming mainly from corners, they were just sitting back waiting for us to cough it up and off they went, our defence got destroyed by 2 mls strikers! its simply not good enough, credit to the americans for not playing a rubbish sideways/backwards style of play, the american midfield always looks to go forward and as rubbish as they are in defence at least they are entertaining and link well in the attacking third and actually play to a style that allows them to score plenty of goals, we on the other hand dont have a plan B, we bombarded them with corners but in open play they sliced us in every area whether it was punishing us for cheap turnovers like the 1st goal or whipping in crosses like the 2nd goal...not to mention all those through balls to the quick strikers behind our backs, they have variety and we dont its that simple.

When I first saw I thought it was the right decision as well. On closer inspection the camera angle from the sideline shows it best. Schwarzer is on the ground after saving the shot and Budden walks basically along the goal line while the player who was onside comes through to put the header in. Budden doesn't interfere with any Australian player doesn't stop anyone from getting to the ball and doesn't touch the ball. Therefore isn't offside.

I think my thread sums up my thoughts.

Kennedy I'm not too concerned about - you're not going to fling yourself around after crosses in a match like this that means nothing. He would have gone harder at a lot of these if this was the real thing, and probably converted one or two of them.

Fullbacks, excellent. Culina, good (much better than previous games). Garcia anonymous but hopefully shouldn't start based on that - since Vidosic showed more in 20 than he did.

the Danes didnt press us in any way they were just prepared to keep the ball and that kept our defence fine, tonight we had the chance to show what we could do when the opposition allows us to dominate possesion, somehow despite having more of the ball we should have copped at least 5 goals and gave away double the amount of chances compared to what we created, all of this came about because the opposition came out and attacked us with genuine speed...we simply werent up to defending that.

this is the fucking problem... we controlled the game but lost 3-1... that shouldn't happen if you control a game

thinking about it, I guess playing with 1 up front its kinda hard to have a counter when you have no one up front fast enough to get the ball. I do think kennedy needs to run a little more or work on his positioning - he did seem a little tired which showed in his first touches. In saying that, It might be easier when you have ruka up there running around. I agree that we need a few more "selfish" shots as it seems we were taking far to many touches around the box... either that or the US were able to pile on the pressure but their defence was nothing crash hot so it couldn't really be that.

Probably why pim pushed for a 4-4-2 because with the many chances to bomb it forward (and unfortunately we had no macca to put on but when the majority of your formation is 4-3-2-1...).

I still think the US are not going to qualify out of the group stages but they are lucky to have howard in goals.
If england are smart enough they will get them on the counter and will box out any of USA's chances of quick forward plays which they did well against australia today.

Like I mentioned earlier, im not worried. The great thing about this is that we were not that afraid to attack (though kennedy really needs to work on his positioning skills) and our defence can hold up (as seen during the denmark game). these cracks will certainly be worked on during the next week.

have a little bit of faith :) I'm excited for some World cup action now... NOT LONG NOW :D


Edited by Bryan: 6/6/2010 02:16:27 AM

we do need to remember that we have been in a heavy training phase for the last week or so...

Yeah true, but we passed the ball around alot better, and created more chance, and didn't have everyone falling asleep.

You'll rather the chances not go in, in these matches, but hope they go in when they count.

The scoreline looks worse than it really was. If you look at the stats Oz matched the Yanks in every dept. The worrying thing is that we can't convert REAL goal scoring chances. I thought Oz looked more effective when Pim changed it 4-4-2 in the second half.

What's bad is the scoreline should have looked a lot worse than it was.

I have said it once and I will say it again: 1 up front does not suit us.

To those saying Kennedy was useless... The most stupid statement ever. If Kennedy had anyone backing him up then the score would be 6 up our favour. The USA teamed up on him with the goalie and a central defender. It left the goal wide open for a fucking tap in a hundred times!!! Even if that person wouldve been marked it still wouldve created some trouble.

Not a good game for us. I hope in the world cup e will do better, however these are our players.Frankly, the coach is worse than the previous one and the good players are the same, just older. All the young ones do not seem to have the level to compete... We will struggle a lot I guess.. GO AUSSIES anyway!!

Have to laugh at the commentary when commenting on Kennedy (jesus) on a header he missed in the second half. 'Nice touch on the cross', no harm intended, just pointing out a coincidence. Germany to beat Australia, Ghane to draw, Serbia to draw, short stay...

If it was another practice run why did he start exactly the same XI he did against Denmark, and only make 3-4 substitutions in the whole match?

He was taking it seriously. Holman was obviously rested, Kewell isn't fit yet and Cahill is put on ice because we don't want him injured. But he was taking it serious.


Pim didn't tell the boys to go out and play any different to the Denmark game (imo). We were just forced to because we went behind and because they really took the game to us.

I'd start Valeri over Grella too.

Also: Does anybody, after watching the past few games, HONESTLY believe that Kennedy holds the ball up better than Macca? Macca did it brilliantly against NZ, and Kennedys touch and passing have been absolutely atrocious these last 2 games. Every ball he gets he miscontrols, and if he does manage to get one, he passes it to nobody. Looked disintersted and lazy tonight. Not happy

Edited by imnofreak: 6/6/2010 04:50:54 AM

We beat Denmark: All the Pim lovers come out saying 'Fantastic result, showed we can grind out good results, great signs, we'll make the semis, etc'

We lose to USA: Pim lovers say 'It's only a friendly, means nothing, weren't taking it seriously, we dominated (when we clearly didn't), we'll be fine for Germany etc.

We lose to Germany: 'It's alright, it's only the first game of the WC, we have two to go, Kewell will be back to fitness for Ghana, we'll win, dont worry, Pim has it under control....

I sincerely hope we beat Germany, dont get me wrong.

Denmark WAS a fantastic result but this was obviously a scary match. I don't know what happened to the defence, it's like the Denmark match never happened. And the stupidity of standing around doing nothing when asking for offside that is never given is amazing. Kennedy adn Schwarzer didn't show up. Answers: rest Grella, Bresciano, Moore, Kennedy and Garcia against Germany. Or at least don't start them. Instead, I'd start Valeri, Vidosic, Beauchamp, and, oh I don't know, Emerton. On form. Let's hope Pim learns from his mistakes starting Holman in the past based on training rather than match form. We are in trouble having no hold-up man but that can be turned into dangerous attacks from midfield if a fast attacker like Chipperfield or Rukavytsya is released. Pluses: Chipperfield, Cahill and Wilkshire. That's slim pickings out of 11 players. Pim has some work to do this week.

The sooner Pim and GA are away from our National Team the better !!!!

Surely the headline should be "Socceroos crash to 3-1 loss" like the NZ headline yesterday :)

We didnt get the game over here, how did they play overall?
Remember as long as they learnt something then the loss isn't a worry. It's the real games that count.

We are going to get thrashed no doubt. Thats Pims heaviest defeat since he has been in charge, simply because we tried to attack from the get go. Its clear, we have such limited attacking options and its a game plan that doesnt suit the team. Disgrace.

Oh and Serbia beat Cameroon 4-3. Go Roos!

Unfortunately I didn't get to see the game last night however, I have just viewed the Fox hi-lights. The USA are continuing on from where they left off with their impressive dispays they showed at the Federation's Cup. This US team, is going to do a lot of damage to the reputations of the more fancied, established, so called super-powers of Football. Look out England you're going to go down.

Having no one up front who can step out will be the socceroos downfall this WC.

Are we going to wait until we've lost to Germany and Serbia before Moore & Grella are replaced by Beauchamp & Vidosic?

The good to come out of this game was; Grella was so bad he cant be played. Moore too.


Then again the bleedingly obvious to most oft gets overlooked to Pim.

Culina/Bresciano did nothing, they seem to have no combination with the team. or understanding how to run into space and no skill to pass/dribble way out of trouble. Did you see they way the US attacked a couple of times? Fantastic running interplay. Grella/Bresch/Culian not capable of that at all.

For me Jedinak, Valeri, and Vidosic have come zooming into (a sane person's) calculations.

Culina showed his versatility in Cahills role, If there is no Emerton than id like to see Culina in one of those front 4 preferaly wide right in place of vido or Garcia, he seems to make the team play more fluently along the ground.
I wouldnt blame Moore or Grella apart from the first goal, Moore showed great pace to keep up with findlay and Grella will come good when it counts.
No chance Kewell or Emerton will start which is a huge loss

Kenndy is no good sorry he missed two sitters, he was to slow and his 1st touch was worst then some 15 year old kids.

Moore needs to get dropped

Grella is just trying to get a red card Velri played well should replace him.

We probably should have lost that 5-1 Marko Brece is surely nowhere near as good as he was 4 years ago.

Whilkeshire and Chippers are chipping the ball to Kennedy for him to turn it over WORST PLAYER EVER J-LEAGUE IS A DROP KICK LEAGUE.

Edited by Davstar: 6/6/2010 09:47:05 AM

How come you get "defeated" and we "crash"! USA are good unit, keep your chin up.

i cant see australia qualify if they keep playing like shit, very dissapointed