You know, plus being down to ten for an hour.

Especially in this more mild climate in South Africa where it's much easier in these conditions for teams to sit back and defend for the remaining 60 minutes or however long it may be.

During international matches its not unusual for teams to give up possession and shut up shop after they score to minimize the chance of a fightback by the opposition. The Socceroos weren't as focused on ball retention because they were keeping their attention on defence. It doesn't mean their form was poor or anything, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I dont want to be a downer or anything, and there is no debating that our performance embodied everything one associates with Aus; courage, determination, grit and heart but there were periods there when our midfield passing and ball retention were woeful, like almost amateur and we backed away and backed away after the goal I thought. The turn overs in mid not concerning anyone else?

Still, great performance, the team lifted.
Poor harry.

we definatly had a fantastic game. I thought it was a really good performance by the boys, and unlike the Germany game, our heads didn't drop and become slack after the goal/penalty/red card. So it was a very good performance, we didn't get the 3 points we deserved i felt, but we gained a little more respect i think following the germany game.

Holman was in and out of the game, but he was always going to be once we were down to ten. The first twenty he was in everything. Absolutely must keep his place against Serbia, even with Cahill back.

Thread title sums it up. It's taken three loooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnngggggggg years, but finally there's a socceroos performance I can say I'm proud of. Wilkshire makes me happy in the pants when he plays like that. Stellar display. He has come a MASSIVE long way in the last four years.

Holman...it's hard for me to say this, but he made me smile. He's finally starting to put together some kind of consistency. Bresc and Emerton were stars and once Kennedy got on the pitch our attack was excellent. Makes me wonder what could have happened if McDonald had come along for the ride.

Finally, a performance to be excited about. Do it again v Serbia and send a country into raptures!!

You should be trolling SFC. I'm not use to seeing you being fair and reasonable.

Well, the odds aren't with us now as far as progressing from our group. Let's just say the red card and penalty were absurdly harsh and very rarely do you see them given, although by the letter of the law, it was the right decision.

What I do have to say is that I'm incredibly proud of 9 of the ten men we had on the pitch for most of the game, and proud of Harry for his twenty minutes of contribution - probably his last action at a World Cup.

Pim got the starting lineup and tactics almost exactly right, and all credit to him for that. We were on top and comfortable. After the sendoff, even, they never looked like scoring, we played like we should have against Germany - with verve, fight, and scrap coming out of every orifice. We would have gone on to win comfortably - they created nothing, even with an extra man.

Holman, Valeri, Wilkshire, Carney, Bresciano, Emerton, Neill, Schwarzer. All absolutely 14000% for the cause. Culina had a poor-ish match, but what do you expect when you chop and change a guy so much he doesn't know what his role is? Moore played exactly as he has the last year and a half - with some technically good defending mixed in with painfully slow and lazy patches which were lucky not to lead to opposition goals. That being said - I think all the boys gave it their all and the Australian spirit somehow got injected back into the team after that aberration against Germany.

I hope we can come out and fulfil our part of the plan against Serbia - and inflict a heavy defeat on them. I hope we come out and attack and have the attitude we had today against them - we will stand every chance in that case. If Ghana play like they did today they will get thumped by a wounded Germany. We are hanging on by a thread, but it's a fairly strong looking thread...

I'll still be glad to see Pim go, but I'm glad he got it right for at least one game before he left. Even his substitutions were excellent.