Hoops

NH: World Cup - Australia vs Japan

The USA team is just a over-hyped bunch of wannabes, who were extremely lucky in 2002 by the teams they had to play in their draw and then playoff matches.

Australia is a classic example of a team who plays like a team and thinks like a team usually wins like a team, and deserve to get to the 2nd round, and if they do, i believe they more than likely will either defeat Italy... or at the very worst, maybe lose by a 1-0 scoreline / penalty shootout against Croatia. Australia is now getting the attention it has deserved, and more importantly, the respect that goes with it! Even the #3 ranked Dutch team say we can play with the best of them and the #1 Brazilians say they respect our game... now that says something, wouldn't you have to admit? Expect nothing short of hysteria if Austrlia manage to get past Brazil with a draw or a win!

If Australia get into the 2nd round, the success of the socceroos will not just have a positive effect on soccer, but more than likely, every major sport in the country, that including basketball... the Boomers will finally see that they too can compete and be the giant killers, if they want to and have the desire to kick some ass instead of having their asses kicked.

It really should have been 3-0 instead of 3-1, as the Japan goal was actually a foul (Japanese player made contact with the Australian goalkeeper), and even the Egyptian referee admitted about 5 mins later to Schwartzer that he did stuff up on the call... it should have been waived off as a no-goal. But top stuff to our socceroos... really did us proud... and showed to the rest of the world not to underestimate us... we will be ready for the challenge.