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Socceroos cling to hope

The Socceroos are clinging to a last chance to stay in the FIFA World Cup, when they face Serbia.

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The Socceroos are clinging to a last chance to stay in the FIFA World Cup.

Australia tied with Ghana 1-1 to remain in the competition, despite being cut to a 10 man team early in the match.

Harry Kewell was given a red card after being ruled to have deliberately used his arm to stop a goal-bound strike from Ghana’s Jonathan Mensah.

Commentators praised the Aussie team for holding firm against the 11 man team from Ghana.

Australia now faces Serbia as its last chance to stay in the tournament, but coach Pim Veerbeek says the team will need at least a 3-0 win to have any hope.

Dropping out of the World Cup would be a blow to SBS which is enjoying a viewer boost from the competition.

The game will be played at 4:30am AEST Thursday and screened live on SBS ONE.

15 Responses

  1. @RichardW: I have to agree. I just can’t get that excited about a goal in AFL as it happens so often (and you get 1/6 of a goal for getting close, LOL). Still, one or two more goals in football/soccer wouldn’t go astray.

    @AndrewM: I take it that you don’t take AFL, NRL, Rugby Union, cricket, basketball, etc, seriously since they can also end in draws “with no winner”. The group stages of the World Cup are mini-leagues. After each team has played the others, there will be a clear winner. It doesn’t matter if some of the individual games are drawn – same as any other league for any other football code. Once they progress to the second round, they will have to determine a winner for each match.

  2. @AndrewM I’m glad you watched the game. I understand your commments as a new comer about it being boring, but you have to understand that soccer/football is unique in that a goal is worth a lot more than a try for example or a goal in AFL. Its not all about scoring goals its also about possesion, skills and creating chances too.

    Its an aquired taste for some people but the thrill of a goal being scored for a team you support is like no other in sport.

  3. 0nce again the Ref has a say in our games…
    Here’s hoping our luck turns for the good Vs Serbia that we get the job done & Ghana some how upset Germany.

  4. The nicest thing about the 2010 World Cup is that there is a huge multi cultural fan base for the Socceroos this time round that wasn’t noticable during the last world cup.

    Congrats all Socceroo and soccer fans.

  5. Dave, what do you think of bringing the A-league to free-to-air? After all this suppport from Australian fans, don’t you reckon this is what we need to bring soccer mainstream in Australia?
    This would make the game more tougher thus better soccer players, get more recognition for Australian soccer players, and ofcourse receive support from the socceroos which is exactly what we need for future world cups, and it will help our world cup bid for 2022.
    Also, the afc champions league to freetoair would help. Don’t you reckon it’s the best idea? We need younger players anyways

  6. This was the first soccer match I’ve ever watched. And I’m 50. I thought being the World Cup and all, it would be special. But it was soooooo boring! Now I know why the game is laughed at – 100 minutes of back-and-forth ends with a 1-1 draw. What, nobody wins? How can it be taken seriously when there is no winner?

  7. 3 – nil against Serbia may be a tough task but that will depend on how much (hopefully) Germany beats Ghana by. The more the Germans beat Ghana by the less we have to win by against Serbia.

    I think !!!

    I’ll be up watching either way on thursday morning.

  8. @Nudge: I think it’s because people presume that Germany will beat Ghana, altho’ they thought that about Serbia too and were proven wrong.

    @Paull: Penalty shoots are only used to break tied/drawn games in the second round knockout (“sudden death”) stage. Draws are fine in league season games and competition group stages.

    You’ve picked up on a bugbear of many people (including soccer supporters) – the relatively low scores. The World Cup generally produces lower scores than the top national leagues, prob because the players don’t play together that often. For my money, the best quality soccer (action/scoring) is played in the UEFA Champion’s League (a comp for the best teams from various European leagues).

  10. I don’t think Socceroos’ exit from this year’s World Cup will be a ratings blow for SBS. Remember the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan which the Socceroos failed to qualify for? The final between Brazil and Germany pulled 3 million viewers for Channel Nine on a Sunday night, and remains the highest rating World Cup match in Australia.

  13. Good on them, I wish them all the best.

    Although I must say, I don’t really get the soccer world cup rules. I was always under the impression that when a tie broke out, goal shoot outs would happen at the end of the match to determine the winner. I also find it annoying how the average game pro soccer involves the scoring of no more that between 0 and 2 points.

  14. Cant work out the coach talking about beating Serbia 3-0.My reading of it is,Australia goes though if Germany lose to Ghana and Australia beats Serbia.1-0 in both games is good enough.

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