davidsmeaton.com

adelaide united have become the first aussie team to reach an asian champions league final. the south australian team beat uzbekistan team bunyodkor 3:1 (aggregate) to reach the final, against japan’s gamba osaka.

adelaide won the first game against bunyodkor 3:0 and traveled to uzbekistan with a big lead. they lost the return match 1:0, but a two goal lead carried them through. the team returned to adelaide this morning to a rousing reception ahead of their a league game against perth glory.

the final will be held over two legs, the first in osaka and the second at hindmarsh stadium.

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.

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.

i haven’t done a travel update in a while, however i have been thinking about the travels … constantly.

i was actually reading an interesting article about how some of the ’stan’ countries are very interesting and very safe. particularly, uzbekistan’s capital tashkent. so i got to looking at my map (again) and discovered that i could change one part of my route to workin at least 3 more countries. from delhi i planned to go to lahore and on to karachi. i can cross pakistan’s border there into southern iran and follow the trade route all the way to tehran.

however, if i go from delhi into lahore, i could head north to islamabad. then i can probably get a train north into tajikistan. i may have to pass through far western afghanistan, but i don’t think it would be too problematic. after reaching dushanbe, i could keep going west to tashkent, then south into turkmenistan all the way to ashgabat. that’s very close to the iran border and not too far at all from tehran. whilst in iran, i might venture south to a few areas of interest, then circle back to the north east and exit to turkey.

although it might be more complex, i think it could be a lot more fun. from my understanding, none of those countries are dangerous and i should have no trouble moving around and getting trains from place to place. it’s a much more interesting route than skirting the bottom of pakistan into iran.

the socceroos continue their good run with a crucial away win to uzbekistan last night.

the game started at a slow tempo, but the aussies took control of the match after the 28th minute. it was the defenders who did all the hard work, keeping the uzbeki strikers at bay and putting together the only goal of the match. luke wiltshire’s cross was met by a chipperfield header. chipper’s low header hit the ground, bounced over the keeper, off the post and into goal. both teams had numerous chances, and the uzbeki players pleaded for a penalty after they claimed that their player was fouled in the box. however, neither side were able to add to the score line.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

coach verbeek was understandably happy with the result, the aussies taking full points in their first game and all but eliminating uzbekistan from the tournament. the socceroos get a month off to prepare for their tough brisbane match against qatar.

in other news, english striker theo walcott has cemented his reputation with a sensational hattrick against a 10 man croatia. beckham was benched and the youngster make the most of his run on. england cruised to a thumping 4-1 win.

the aussie football team have scored a surprise win against the netherlands in a friendliy overnight. the netherlands drew first blood after just 5 minutes, thanks to good work by liverpool winger ryan babel who set up the goal. it seemed to be all down hill from there. josh kennedy, however, was having a good game and working hard up front. he earned a penalty and had the dutch goal keeper sent off with a red card. former red, harry kewell, converted the spot kick, leveling the scores.

the aussies continued to hold their own, thanks to the extra man, and it was kennedy again who found himself in the right place, heading home a beautiful wiltshire cross.

the socceroos have made the most of their warmup and look to wednesday’s clash with uzbekistan in the world cup qualifiers. last night, uzubekistand were convincingly beaten by qatar 3-0, so there’s no reason why the socceroos shouldn’t take full points.

the reds have kept with tradition, barely managing to put away belgian team standard liege at anfield last night. the visitors had nothing to lose and played gritty football. they had two good chances denied thanks to the great work of pepe reina. liverpool couldn’t seem to find their paces and the game went into overtime, in search of a result. dirk kuyt came to liverpool’s rescue, side footing in a close range ball to give the reds victory.

tonight liverpool will discover their three opponents for the champions league group matches. fortunately, all four english teams have been seeded, meaning that we cannot be grouped with man u, chelsea or arsenal. however some very strong teams are in the mix, including barca, juventus, madrid and inter milan. none of the other teams look that threatening.

in other news, former liverpool winger and aussie international harry kewell has been finding some decent form at his new club galatasaray. he scored on his debut and socceroos coach verbeek has praised kewell’s return to form. harry will be included in the squad to face uzbekistan in september. hopefully he can stay on his feet this season, helping the aussies into our second consecutive world cup.

in england last night, the socceroos played a friendly against commonwealth compatriots south africa. the game ended in a 2-2 draw. australia played a large squad for the game, most notably with scott chipperfield playing after a long term injury. the first half ended 2-1 in the socceroo’s favour, however south africa scored in the second half to level the game.

the socceroos will face the netherlands in another friendly before facing uzbekistan in next month’s world cup qualifier.