20/11/2008
the socceroos claimed all three points with a late victory over bahrain last night. the aussie team traveled to bahrain determined to continue their unbeaten run in the world cup qualifying group. despite missing a few big names, the socceroos were favourites to win the match.
both teams had chances to win the game, however thanks to good work by aussie keeper mark schwarzer, the hosts remained goalless. bresciano scored late in the game to secure the win.
australia remains on top of group b. japan is second after their win. in group a, south korea beat saudi arabia for the first time in nineteen years to go top of their group. the koreans were helped in their cause by iran who could only manage a draw against uae.
all national teams take a break until next february.
15/10/2008
the socceroos have taken the lead in their world cup qualifying group after a convincing 4-0 drubbing of qatar in lang park. australia have won both of our opening games and lead the group with 6 points, followed by japan and qatar with 4 points each.
coach verbeek warned the socceroos not to be complaciant against qatar, despite 3-0 and 3-1 victories against them previously. and despite giving qatar more possession, australia’s defense remained inpenetrable.
tim cahill, returning from a long injury, opened the scoring after just 9 minutes. cahill has a history of terrorising asian nations after his two goals gave australia victory over japan in the last world cup. brett emerton doubled the lead 10 minutes later with a penalty.
emerton had a good game and was in the thick of the action. he got his second, and australia’s third, after the break. josh kennedy added to qatar’s woes with a late header.
qatar had a few shots on goal, but couldn’t get a breakthrough.
despite the good start, the socceroos still have a long way to go and are rightly cautious about their good form. the team played well, despite the absence of kewell, viduka and bresciano.
now the team looks to their november 19th game away to bahrain.
in other matches, japan drew with uzbekistan, blowing their chances of staying level with australia. south korea, after a run of mediocre form, turned on a 4-1 victory over uae. the koreans now top their group, but saudi arabia and north korea are level on points.
9/10/2008
after a great string of wins,the socceroos have jumped to #34 overall in fifa’s football rankings. it’s a dramatic jump up 5 places from last month. we’ve recently beaten #4 team netherlands in a friendly, #25 team ghana and drew against #85 team south africa.
australia has been playing well lately and we are very close to our best ever ranking of 31st, which we achieved in july 1997. in six days australia faces qatar in brisbane (rc may be in attendance) and in november the socceroos travel to bahrain. we have already won our opening group match and should definitely finish in the top two, which will give us automatic qualification into the 2010 world cup.
in other news, south korea has dropped to #55, just behind new zealand who have jumped an incredible 57 places innto #54 spot.
