As long as we can play well against Serbia, which i think we will, we won't have lost ground in the eyes of our international competitors, which counts for a lot, such as in getting good friendlies, plain old respect, and a little thing called the 2022 World Cup.

What was the foul count last night?

Culina kept doing a Grella and losing possession in our half. Might need Jedinek for strength against the Serbs. Why on earth was grella even in? OUr best games - Ireland, Nigeria etc - have been without him. he was great in WC 2006, but terrible at he Asian cup and since. Oh, for Rhys Williams and Wilkshire could play DM

Holman had a good game last night, I hope he starts again next week as stated above. but he still gives away too much ball, he really needs to sort that out...

Possibly the best comment ive seen on here and very true indeed. unfortunately i dont think pim has the balls to start the untested ruka though. kewell would have been good against the serbian defence and surely he wont start cahill up front again after that disaster so looks like josh will be up front.

Awesome effort by the boys last night!

I think we'll be fielding a similar team for the Serbia game with Cahill coming on for Kewell and Chippers for Moore (perhaps). Good structure last night although very disappointed by Culina who had very little control of the ball. I would have thrown on Ruka earlier before Kennedy but it'll be interesting in the Roo camp today to see what happens when they assess their injuries.

Agree that we can only go for a win. With the simultanoeous timing of the last games, we can only go for scoring and then not sitting back.

Credit where its due the team performed admirably in hard cirumstances.
Also Pim i think you got you subs pretty much spot on with the timings and who they came on for.

I agree, I don't think we can win by a large margin and should go for an early goal and play it safe. If ghana beat Germany or Germany beat Ghana by 3 or more goals we will probably get through if we can beat serbia (none of those scenarios are unlikely). If we put in another performance like last night we will at least leave with our heads held high and dignity in place.

My appologies to Pim and the team for losing faith in them. they may be old but last night they proved they have plenty of fight left in them.

Will someone please tell PV that beating Serbia by lots of goals would be great, but is not the only way we can get into the second round. If we beat Serbia by any score and Ghana beats Germany, we are through, second behind Ghana. I think we should play to win vs Serbia, but be realistic, and not play to win by a big score. That style doesn't suit us, and we'll be missing Harry K, remember.

Honestly, I think a lot of teams would be asking for quality refs. I've found that many games seem to be ruined, as the refs keep awarding soft frees and giving out yellow cards as if it were candy. The German v Serbia game is one such game.

The boys did well. It was really 10 against 12. The ref was shocking. I wonder if he has officiated his last game at the world cup?

Best way to play is not play just keep diving whenever anyone barely touches you because the refs will reward that. Time Aus started to join the cheaters if we are to get anything from this world cup.

Only if the ref made an obvious error, such as mistaken identity.

I'm very very proud of the players and also commend Pim on his selections and formation. Well done boys. Let's beat Serbia 4-0.

I would venture that we have the worst disciplinary record at the world cup. Also it's worth noting that we have now played 87 odd minutes with only 10 men.

Moore made some nice challenges - but was sloppy in their final third.

Spence, add to that list:

Croatia 2006 - player gets 3 yellow cards before being sent off
Brazil 2006 - Before game Brazillian players complain that Australia is going to injure their stars so ref hands out the most ridiculously one sided foul count of the tournament.

We just want a fair game 11 v 11 with good quality refs. It just doesn't seem to happen at the world cup.

Three or four times I have seen goalkeepers misjudge the trajectory of the ball and spill or miss punches ?????

Kewell obviously had the ball lined up to hit his chest, and even had his eyes closed ready to take the blow, but it missed and hit his arm.

I don't care what the officials, who have political and financial interests in any criticism, the jabulani ball has turned this world cup into a lottery.

My faith in the boy's, even Moore, has been restored, but it makes the germany team selections and tactics even more unexplainable. Now that should have been a red card for my money, we are the only team at the world cup that only competed in TWO group games.

Japan 2006- Schwarzer is nudged off the ball resulting in a goal
Italy 2006- Grosso takes a dive and Australia is sent home
Germany 2010- Cahill is given a straight red, sending our best player off for a marginal (yellow) offense
Ghana 2010- Kewell accidentally handles the ball on the line and gets his marching orders, when much worse offenses in numerous games go unpunished.
Is it bad luck, or do the refs honestly have a grudge against us?

If we really wanna break down Serbia than Holman should start as well as Ruka and leave Kennedy on the bench. I'd play Holman intead of Bresh because his speed will be a big handful for amthe Serb defence. I'd start with Ruka upfront because the way to beat Serbia is by keeping the ball on the ground and play it on the ground around their big defenders. The EPL os a perfect example with Torres always getting the better of Vidic because of his pace. We should use Rukas pace to pull Vidic around and create space for Cahill and Holman to get into.

the key against serbia will be getting an early goal + NOT GETTING A RED CARD. could we see ruka + kennedy + cahill all starting with one dm? maybe...

going to be a tough tough game. i just want it to be good.

Kewell's card was legitimate, altough it certainly sucked. Quality performance by Australia. Atleast we can hold our head high after that game

I'm pretty sure u cant appeal a red, otherwise we would've with cahill.

but i pondered that situation the other day and discovered if there's no doubt its a foul, then you can't appeal something, simply because it's based on the ref's judgement call.

not a straight red i don't think, i think you can appeal a 2nd match suspension if it's awarded but i think it's a mandatory Red Card, no ifs or buts if you're given a red.

Head's up lads, at least we've won somthing this cup - the worst disciplinary record :lol:

yeah... with a sniper lol

admittedly i was highly critical of pim and us against germnay, but good on him and good on the boys. is there a way to appeal a match ban?

okay thats the job
hats off for provding a confident air


What do you think about the FourFourTwo article Pim: My Pride In My Roos?
SOCCEROOS coach Pim Verbeek redeemed himself and the belief in his side after a battling performance in Ghana earned a 1-1 draw despite going down to ten men with 65 minutes left to play.

Have your say.