I would say Kewell's hand ball was deliberate because the hardest thing to do when a flying object is coming at you at speed is to keep your arms still and not try to use them to shield yourself.

Kewell kept his right arm hanging by his side and in line with the flight of the ball that was going in the net. He didn't move his arm out of the way. He knew what he was doing.

that's because no one cares what Verbeek thinks. :)

typical Harry Kewell, complains no matter what - maybe he should just shut up and cop it on the chin as it was a deserved red card offence! his a disgrace with the way he carries on in games against the referees!

i agree moxstar, aussie did bloody well though and if that fulla the end had shot properly iy would have been 2-1 and in the drivers seat for the next round...

no one has mentioned how furious Pim Verbeek must be... his two best players sent off in two games for school boy fouls and errors... everyone knows that the refs are super pedantic at world cups... so no tackling from behind and Harry, if you are on the line you do not stick your arms out for balance...

If this was in reverse everyone would be saying how terrible the ref was and saying why didnt he get sent off..

Just saying :P

your not being objective....you have rocks in your head. Definitely NOT a red card as was Cahill's
The fact of the matter is that the Referee decided this game.
A clear studs up tackle from behind is a Red card right is a send off right?
Then why is it that something which is not so clear a Red Card and send off?

Watch the game again with an objective mind. You may have a different opinion .

Who says it was deliberate? in Serbia's first game against Ghana a player went to head the ball with what was deemed to be an accidental hand ball and only got a yellow card (and subsequent penalty).
The fact is Kewell had little chance at that pace to move and acted with instinct, trying to get his chest onto the ball. He had much less time to think about it than the Serbian player, yet this constitutes a red card????

The thing is, if the referee awards the foul there, because it's a professional foul - ie it's deemed to be a deliberate attempt to handle the ball to prevent a goal (which it wasn't) - the referee has no choice but to show him a straight red because he was the last man.

its a dam shame to, i would have liked to finish with two wins.

Thing is once he gave the penalty he had to give the red he had no other choice.

Don't worry I agree that Croatia were lucky to get a draw and we probably deserved another 3 penalties in that game. The thing is the way it went we were lucky because Kewell was offside. What was and wasn't given before that doesn't matter because we were lucky it. wasn't called back.

As for Aloisi's goal at the end it technically wasn't disallowed because the the ref blew fulltime before it went in :lol:

I don't belive it should have been a red simply because the pace of the ball was such that he couldn't avoid it. Fair enough to give a penalty shot, but it shouldn't have been a red.

if you want to go down that road you could say that it was luck that Croatia got their second goal, since it wasn't a good shot at all and mostly due to some dreadful keeping by Kalac. Continuing down this path you could argue about the Croatian playing with 2 yellows, the ref calling time off and disallowing Aloisi's goal(which would have made it 3-2 at the time), the numerous handballs in the box that went unpenalised, the manhandling of Viduka etc. I watched the match just yesterday actually, Croatia were definitely lucky to draw.

Edited by Dogsdogsdogs: 20/6/2010 04:31:30 AM

To be fair, that was a tough one for Kennedy. Wilkshire should have buried it though.

Hiddink wasn't a genius, but he was still a better tactician than Verbeek. But this was decided in qualifying, not AT the cup.

Maybe the offside goal that Kewell scored to equalise against Croatia :lol:

Edited by sydneycroatia58: 20/6/2010 04:28:18 AM

Not really, when you consider the 2006 squad, all our players were playing regularly in top flight european leagues, not only that but they were in their prime. Some of the best talent Australia has ever produced in Emerton, Bresciano, Grella, Viduka, Kewell, Neill, Moore, Aloisi, Chipperfield all playing regularly(besides Kewell) in their respective first XI in Europe and all in their prime. Their caliber is compounded verily when you consider that such was the depth of our squad Cahill was an impact man who came off the bench, now hes our talisman. So I really don't think it was luck, so much as deserved, what exactly was lucky about our round 16n birth last time?

I think Craig Foster evaluated the difference between the two(2006 and 2010)squads in saying "Last time it was belief, this time its hope," that was before the slaughter at the hands of Germany mind you.

Kennedy and Wilkshere butchered perfect opportunities to make it 2-1. When it's all said and done, in 2006 we had a shit load of luck to get to the second round, while this time around we haven't gotten any. And as a result, Hiddink = genius and Pim = idiot.

:-({|= :-({|= Feel sorry for ya Harry, but you should have been marking your man instead of on the goal line letting him have a shot on goal.

And again, nothing can be done now.

regardless if he's right or wrong, the ref was shit overall and fortunately for him, he won't ever have to be accountable for his actions.

Being OBJECTIVE, it was a red. Watch the reply and you'll see his arm move out, away from his body, and makes contact with the ball. I don't think he did it on purpose, I think it was just a reflex. As much as I hate to admit it he denied a goal scoring opportunity, ref was right :(


What do you think about the FourFourTwo article Kewell: Ref Killed My Cup?
SOCCEROOS striker Harry Kewell said he was devastated by his red card early in Saturday's World Cup clash with Ghana and feels that the decision by referee Roberto Rosetti has killed his World Cup dream.

Have your say.