All Whites v Socceroos Match Thread

I was sitting up in the top section behind the white noise section (i couldnt see you all though). Honestly i could hear every chant. It was superb!

There have been a couple of sh*t fouls from them before that as well.

Yeah 'Robbie' he'll put his hand up... like f**k.

Works for me :)

Guessing you're in Oz ....try Fox Sports 2 at 1am tomorrow morning.....and listen for the reference near the end to the Stats man wearing his all whites shirt..... C'est moi!!!!

that is a red for me.

How can they claim it's not a yellow ?

f**k me.

it gets worse every time i see it. if i was him watching the replay of that, i'd be f'n embarrassed

Greetings to the forum.

See, that foul wide there is never a foul.  Neil taps the ball then runs in to Reid who doesn't move a step.

The officiating was awful.

   O.K Let me just start with this: The whole trip and the match experience at the MCG was worth the time and money.

that's what i said when i saw it live, about word for word.

I wondered why there was a whole Isle beside who weren't celebrating when Aussie scored there winner. Initially I had thought they were Aussie fans because they weren't standing but then realized.

I realise that you are Australian and therefore of lesser intelligence than the rest of us so I will try and spell it out for you simply.

Most of us on here EXPECTED to lose the match last night.
We are all VERY happy at the way our team completely outplayed your over rated rabble.
We are all disappointed that we let in two soft goals that enabled Australia to win a match in which they were outplayed (check the stats!) but we aren't whinging about that. We cop it.

What has made us angry is the manner in which your shower of thugs played the game. Take a close look at the tackles by Cahill & Grella. Neither one of them is looking at the ball. Neither one of them is trying to play the ball. They have gone into those challenges with one intention ONLY - to attempt to break a players leg.
You should be ashamed to be Australian.

And just for the record what do you think the score would have been had you played the second half with just 9 men?
And if you are in Melbourne, have a look at the back page of todays Herald Sun.
then have a look at the frame by frame on the inside pages.
And then have a think about why we might see something wrong with that challenge....and then realise that there was a WORSE one!!!

Ricki on the match

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/newsid=1217555/index.html#kiwi+performance+boosts+herbert

New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert believes his team's performance against Australia yesterday shows the All Whites will be more than competitive at this year's FIFA World Cup�.

Chris Killen put the visitors - ranked 58 places below the Socceroos in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - ahead after 16 minutes but second-half efforts from Dario Vidosic and, with the last kick of the match, Brett Holman handed Australia victory. Herbert said the display proved his team would not be the pushovers most experts think they will be in South Africa after being drawn alongside Italy, Paraguay and Slovakia.

"The history of New Zealand (football) tells you - you play one up front and you get 10 behind the ball and hope for a set play (to score) so hopefully we have changed that sort of thinking with the personnel we have," he said. "I think we caused them all sorts of problems with Rory Fallon's ability in the air while Chris (Killen) is a good finisher and with (Shane) Smeltz we have seen what he can do in and around the box.

"Maybe we surprised (people in Australia) with our performance but it was a good positive statement of what we are about and where we are at. Although we have got a lot of work to do yet leading into the World Cup, I was very pleased."

While Australia and New Zealand met regularly when both were in the Oceania confederation - the All Whites famously knocked Australia out of the 1982 and 1990 FIFA World Cups in qualifying and also beat the Socceroos in the 1999 and 2002 Oceania Nations Cup Final - last night's clash was their first meeting in five years following Australia's move into Asia.

However Herbert says his team's performance showed his team was more than a capable opponent for the Socceroos and would like to see regular meetings between the two nations - as is the case in cricket through the annual Chappell-Hadlee trophy. "It was a great match and I can only thank the FFA (Football Federation of Australia)," Herbert said.

"It was great for us to have a World Cup warm-up game here in front of a big crowd and with the big rivalry back again and hopefully that continues. Given the right timing and with all players fully fit I think it would be an amazing opportunity for the game (regular Australia-New Zealand fixtures) and hopefully people went away having enjoyed it."

Welcome aboard! I'm in SE Melbourne too......Berwick specifically!

Join the club..i'm in Pakenham

Good luck with that.
We got off lightly, Les dog in the Socceroos end was warned by security for starting chants.


I don't think a stadium admin can actually say "this area is standing" for insurance reasons but they could turn a blind eye.


I had the sh*ts last night a little bit as I returned to my hotel but this morning after check out, wandering around inner city Melbourne looking for a cafe for brekky, I felt great wearing my scarf & All White On The Night shirt & couldn't help the feeling when I came across other people in the street wearing Socceroo gear they looked down or away so as not to make eye contact.

Les should join this:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119687524734805

thanks from Mordialloc!

Not sure if I can watch the added time.

I gave up at the half with a view of going to bed, then got distracted.

Interesting discussion... offside for that final goal ?

How much influence does a man standing on the edge of the 6 yard box have on defenders and keepers behaviour ?

Na no chance.  Hes running towards his own goal.

Yeah, I'm leaning towards no just opening (or re-opening) the discussion.

If you go and have a look at the FIFA website they have some rulings, to be active you have to touch the ball or be in in the keepers eyeline.  Maybe he could have been in that second one but I think he's passive, they do tend to favour the attacking team with those interpretations which is probably right.  Players are expected to ignore offside players even though undoubtedly they are having an influence.  I would say it was the correct interpretation of the rules but the rules are wrong

anyone see this article? :
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-cup/all-whites/3736432/Reid-fails-to-impress-for-All-Whites

Don't know what Lammers is on about. Reid was fresh off a string of flights from the other side of the world, playing with people he had never even trained with before, in not one, but two positions he was not used to playing in. What the f**k can you expect?

Given the circumstances, he did bloody well. After he got settled, he was putting in some good tackles, had good pace, and was linking well with Elliott. Don't know about you lot, but at times, he impressed me.

-e- On another note; was it just me, or was the match ball bloody ugly?
conorphelan2010-05-26 00:59:13

I thought the headline - which the journos don't write - didn't really reflect the tone of the article which was a lot more balanced and was more about Reid judging himself than the journo judging Reid.  For all of the reasons you say it's pretty knee jerk stuff

I was under the impression that being active constituted anything which influenced play in any way, and could include something as small as their mere presence in an offside position which resulted in a defender being dragged back to cover them and opening space for a striker with the ball in front of them.  Is that wrong?

For the record I do think they're stretching it if anyone tries to claim offside for that second goal.

Yep, that is definitely wrong lg, there is generally a presumption in favour of non-active

for various reasons i missed some of the coverage - but i saw enough skill and strength from Reid to think that he might be one of our stand-outs in SA

At least in the article the headline is "Reid disappointed with debut" - maybe they mean he failed to imprss himself

but in reality we all know that substitutions make a huge impact on the style of play.

Agree completely.

This is the article which was headlined "Socceroos shine in their send-off" in the paper.

I lol'd.