Football: Australia vs Netherlands

Say what you will, but according to my biased view, Australia did great to force a draw out of the friendly against the Netherlands yesterday. Of course the stakes were fairly low as it was only a friendly, but I think both sides were fielding their best teams as it was a serious warm up for the World Cup.

The Aussies have come a long way since Guus has taken over the reign. They are a much more disciplined team and this has reflected in the results to date. Not every team can have ultra talented players like Brazil so the way to play well is to be structured, know who you are defending. I play a bit of indoor soccer myself and even in that small game, you have to really mark your own man and talk to each other.

Yesterdays match highlighted how well Australia's new defence is. Despite a small glitch in the starting few minutes where they left Van Nistelrooy unmarked and resulting in a goal, the Aussies did well in defence. Australia repelled a lot of the intense first half pressure from the world number 3 team and at near the end of the first half, Viduka even had a genuine chance to score, only to be stopped by a fabulous save from the Dutch keeper. Viduka eventually got another chance to score when he was held back in the penalty area in the second half. His resultant penalty missed, but Cahill was sharp as a tack and quickly slotted the rebound ball for a goal.

Mark Schwarzer also played an unbelievable match where he saved about 7 realistic goal opportunities. I think he has pretty much cemented his spot as keeper for the first match against Japan. The only sour note from the match was Luke Wiltshire getting red carded. The Aussies played with 10 for the last 30 minutes of the match but did great to hold on to a draw. Wiltshire won't be suspended for the Cup since this was a "friendly".

Overall Australia had a great hit out against quality opposition and stood their ground. I think they are a realistic chance of making it past the first round at the World Cup.

GO AUSSIES!!!!!!!!