My Post-Match Review
The final penalty was undoubtedly questionable, but Australia had ample opportunity to win the match. With a one man advantage, I was surprised that Hiddink did not inject another striker such as Kennedy to contest high crosses that were consistently pumped into the box late in the game. The Italian defense was faultless, each time Australia looked to attack, they closed down all options whilst always keeping men behind the ball.
For Australia, the stand out performers in my eyes were Chipperfield and Neill. They provided run from the back and weathered the early barrage of dangerous balls played into the box. As always, Cahill was solid, he has really shown that he is a world class player capable of performing on the world stage.
On the other hand, Viduka turned in another sub-par performance. Bresciano was absolutely horrible, especially during the last play phase. He simply let Grosso waltz into the penalty area, barely making a challenge he looked like a training cone out there at some stages. Even worse was the fact that he was wrong footed, causing him to lose his balance and hit the turf. At least if he was beaten, Neill would not have had to make such a risky challenge as all he needed to do was slow Grosso down and Bresciano could have doubled down to prevent ant type of scoring opportunity.
The challenge attempted by Neill was in some respects pretty average. A cardinal rule when defending in the 18-yard box is to never make a front on slide tackle. This was an unfortunate way for Neill to end his World Cup campaign as he was Australia's best player for the tournament by far and probably has a shot at making the all-tournament team. I am aware that there was little contact on the play and Neill was stationary when the contact occurred, but he opened the door for Grosso to play for the penalty something that all strikers in those situations look for. Grosso did as all world class strikers would do and played for the foul, much like Dwayne Wade did throughout the Playoffs. Nevertheless, a disgraceful decision by the referee.
In hindsight, it was a phenomenal effort for Australia to advance as far as they did. Realistically, they faced a very difficult Group stage, facing off with Asian Champions Japan, Euro powerhouse Croatia and of course the World Champion Brazilians. Furthermore, their performance against Italy reinforced the fact that Australia can compete with the very best nations in the world.
However, I can not help but feel as sense of lost opportunity for Australian football and the Socceroos. If Australia defeated Italy, they would face either Ukraine or Switzerland, two very beatable teams. In addition, Kewell and Emerton would be available to provide some much needed run down the left flanks, something that was sorely missed against Italy.
Personally, I am interested as to the Australian public's view of football after this match. Just to think all the hype and anticipation surrounding this tournament fell victim to yet another controversial officiating decision. Australia's World Cup dreams were dashed by one play in the dying seconds. This game underpins the referee's importance to the outcome of a match. Unfortunately, in some matches, the officials can be just as important as some of the players, as was the case tonight. Does anyone think that this match will turn a huge number of potential football followers away? I mean, we can't stand it when an AFL umpire affects the outcome of a match football is even worse in this respect.
Overall, a heart-wrenching loss but a monumental step for Australian football. We should all be proud of our boys; they outplayed some top opposition and proved countless soccer pundits wrong.
Germany Brazil Final
