Tim Cahill

[Malavon]

Japan are actually a pretty good team. And by your thinking, Look what Egypt (almost) did to Brazil. Only from a ref blunder did kaka get that penalty. And our group is over. We only conceded 1 goal all qualifications, finished on top of our group by 5 points and have not lost so far. Almost might i remind you the current world champs Italy, only beat us in 06 by some bull**** call from some blind referee who obviously thought it was a hollywood movie not a game of football, such was the dive. Dont write us off.

Man bring on 2010, i cant wait!!!

Did you even watch the game? It was a clear hand ball. He cleared it off the line by leaning his body to his right and it bounced off his arm. No doubt it was a penalty.

Watch from 2:08

[Cuber001]

No doubt it was the right call but if reports are true and they only changed after seeing video footage than it is wrong. Otherwise it should have ben a Chelsea v Man U Champions league final.

[Malavon]

So it's a blunder to correct a poor decision? Ok...

[Cuber001]

Thats what i say, but FIFA rules are FIFA rules. Every other sport has a video replay to get these right, but until FIFA say its OK, its not. For the ref to check a replay is breaking the rules. Refs decision is final. So it is a dud call, regardless if it was right. Chelsea should be blowing up bigtime.

[saif]

Australia are horrible to watch, they play football like the yanks - all huff and puff. That is good enough against emerging nations but not the better ones. Japan are a good enough side but all the others are weak - in fact Japan's problem is their physical weakness - something that Australia use to their advantage by being the big, strong and dirty team that they are.
Good luck in the World Cup though - it is all about the variety of styles for me!

Also, against Italy, I think you will find the game changed when a ridiculous decision was made to send off Materazzi to give Australia a one man advantage.

[hudson]

I wanted Japan to win. Nippon!

[Cuber001]

Hehehe oh how i love the world cup. It brings out the hatred in everyone. I dont think we will win it, but we will shake up a few games. To say we are dirty is completely untrue though. We dont take dives, we are not rough. To see a dirty nation watch Australias game vs Qutar or Bahrain.

And the ridiculous penalty that lost us the game was even more game changing. Not to mention Italys dives C'mon, that is more dirty than anything else. And i am of Italian Heritage!!!

Hoolak, best banner i have seen in a while tonight "Nippon, always in our shadow" lol. I burst out laughing considering this is like our 2nd world cup lol.

[Kongster]

Deep down, we like you Aussies really - it's just that we have a funny way of showing it

[Cuber001]

Yeah we know. I would show hate to my dirty offbreed if they turned out better than myself as well

Ahhhhh great great memories. Cahill is a champion.

[saif]

Cuper, if Aussies understood football, they would not complain about the "dive". Grosso got into the box, defender challenged, missed ball, hit player. That is a foul. Foul in the box is a pen. Just cos Grosso made it more obvious does not affect the fact that he got fouled in the box. That changed the result - the *game* changed with the stupid red card for Marco.

[Cuber001]

Im sorry but i disagree. Lucas Neill never made contact with him. He tried to tackle missed and than grosso came back inside and hollywood dived over Neill. Dont beleive me, check it out To me it looks as if he was falling before he even touched Neill. Regardless we lost. We made it ok, and i think we will do better. But to say Aussies dont understand football is stupid. What just because we dont have a rich history like England we are stupid? By that logic because our country is very young we shouldnt know much about anything but besides football we are better at everything. And that is a country of half the population.

[SharkSkin-Man]

When you're as dirty a player as Lucas Neill is, you pretty much deserve that kind of thing. Another horrible, snide little player.

[saif]

Cuper, if you miss a tackle in the box, you pay the consequences.
It is not just Aussies that don't understand it - a hell of a lot of people in England do not either - from the same tournament: If you step/stamp on someone's gonads, you are likely to get a red card.

I don't like the Aussie way of playing football (similar to the Yank way, similar to the British way years ago) - to me it is undeveloped and involves athleticism over anything else. The only player that I have seen buck that trend has been Kewell. Granted, Cahill IS a good player - good at what he does. Doesn't mean I have to like it.

[DeathAdder]

[England choke playing] Cricket and Rugby, I'd grudgingly give you

Rugby? England overperformed spectacularly in the last World Cup, the group game against the fouling Saffers aside, which counted for nothing in the end anyway. We also sent the Aussies packing again, making it a hatrick of world cup wins over them.