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Originally Posted by Konovalov
@ Abraham,
I apologise on behalf of my team (Socceroos) for roughing you guys up a bit yesterday in the 1-1 "friendly". That was just a reminder that we are not just here to make up the numbers in this tournament. 
Seriously though you guys had your chances and if it wasn't for our goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer then we probably would have lost 2 or 3-1. |
I almost expected some gracious posting like this from you.
Well, the Socceroos played hard but not unfair overall. They compensated their lack of technical finesse with manly and sometimes too rough football. Tactically they played very well after being under pressure for the first half hour or so. You could see the influence of their (Dutch) coach Guus Hiddink. After their early goal Holland should have gotten a penalty for a clear handsball of an Auusie in their own penalty area. The Dutch were better overall and it was just that our coach Van Basten advised the players to avoid personal duels. Still we got some nice chances near the end, when nobody was really sharp anymore, which was hopefull. It was considered a real good test for Oranje after beating Kameroon (1-0) and Mexico (2-1) during earlier test matches last week.
Overall these test matches are not seen as serious games in Holland but really as try outs.
Holland is ready for the tournament. In my eyes not the favorite, but a dangerous outsider for all other teams.
I have my doubts about Brazil. I watched their match against New Zealand. They played lousy and slow and only won çause of the full cooperation of the Kiwi's. Brazil is technically the best but the team just doesn't look sharp. And their defense is all but solid. They seem to think that they just have to be on the field for 90 minutes a match in order to take the Cup home. They could be in for a nasty surprise...