World Cup

[Ken Gargett]

Have to post in conversation with Ken here as the mighty All Whites will of course conquer all before them... not. The level of football in NZ and even the A-League is so low that when I first watched a game, I thought slow motion was turned on. But good on'em for qualifying I suppose and will have to begrudgingly offer some tokenistic support. Same to Aussies who also play with courage and team structure a l'anglaise if not great skill.

have just drawn the kiwis in a comp!

and i loved how the aussie press jumped on ballack's injury as a great plus for our chances of winning the thing. amazing.

[gmoney]

USA! USA! USA!

Then World Cup to Atlanta in 2022!

http://www.gousabid.com/city/local/atlanta-ga/

[frenchkiwi]

Mate,you've got a real chip on your shoulder.

yeah, but possibly outweighed by the log in your eye...? ;-)

and now to foment some more enmity:

Verbeek criticises his own players for assault on Bertos

7:37 AM Tuesday May 25, 2010

Australia's coach, Pim Verbeek, salvaged that nation's soccer pride last night by slamming the actions of his two veterans, Vince Grella and Tim Cahill, while lauding the All Whites' response to the vicious tackles that marred the World Cup warm-up in Melbourne.

All White midfielder Leo Bertos, the target of thuggish hits from Grella and Cahill, survived the assaults and the All Whites' medics believe he will be fit for the next warm-up matches in Europe, starting with Serbia on Saturday.

Bertos suffered tissue damage after Grella smashed him with a two-footed lunge in the first half, and Cahill repeated the dose with a one-footed tackle minutes later which saw Bertos carried by stretcher from the MCG.

All Whites coach Ricki Herbert said that had it been a normal match rather than a friendly, Australia would have been down to nine men.

And Verbeek agreed, even adding that Australia had not deserved the 2-1 victory. The Socceroos' Dutch coach said a 1-1 draw would have been the fair result.

Verbeek pulled the pair off at halftime in punishment for the tackles, and to defuse any chance of retaliation from the New Zealanders.

"Vince's tackle was worse than Timmy's ... I can't find any reason why they should do what they did," Verbeek said.

"I wanted to take them off immediately but you have to be a bit careful in a game like that.

"If I was the other side, I would have been a little bit mad and might have done something [retaliation]," the Australia coach said. "But New Zealand were very professional and I applaud them - my players were not professional.

"It was a good lesson and I cannot accept what [Grella and Cahill] did. This is not how you should play the game.

"If it had been a World Cup game there would have been two red cards."

[First Lady]

Not sure what made them play like but I hope to God they get an earful.... no need for this type of play at all and I would expect alot more from Cahill..

Australia better pick up their act or they won't even have a chance to un-pack their bags