In an evening where Brazil, Morocco, Turkey and even Scotland were playing, I can't imagine anyone believed that the mighty Aussies would be the stars of match day 3. For many, myself included Turkey were favourites for Group D but Tony Popovic and his boys thought differently. After the game man of the match, young goalkeeper Patrick Beach may or may not of said "this victory was for the whole of Australia, not just the fans but also everyone who has inspired us throughout the years, Tim Cahill, Stan Lazaridis, Mile Jedinak, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Craig Johnston and of course my personal hero Alf Stewart out of Home and away". I was quite surprised that Alf "you flaming galah" Stewart got a mention over former Socceroo keeper Mark Schwarzer, and I am sure he was too. I would quite like it if other footballers would continue this trend and praise their favourite TV actors after a victory, perhaps Harry Kane could give praise to Roy Cropper from Corrie or Jacko out of Brush Strokes, it would've been nice if Folarin Balogun had credited his brace for the USA to the memory of Uncle Jesse Duke from the Dukes of Hazzard, or even Frank "Ponch" Poncherello from Chips, perhaps Tomas Souchek could dedicate Czechia's upcoming win over South Africa to Ted Rogers and Dusty bin off of 321. I don't know about you but I'm all for it.
This impressive 2-0 win really puts the cat among the pigeons in the group and leaves a fancied Turkey team hoping they can beat Paraguay to give them a chance of progressing.
The big game yesterday though was of course the Group C clash between Brazil and Morocco. The first half of this game didn't disappoint as the African's began the game at 100 miles an hour, the Brazilians looked rattled and struggled to get a foothold in the game, the Moroccans constant pressing was a joy to watch and the only surprise was that the first half ended 1-1, if Brazil had gone into the break a couple of goals down then nobody would have been shocked. Brazil were much better in the second half, although Morocco had a good chance near the end and could of taking the points. In the end a draw was probably the fairest result, given that the second half couldn't match the first for intensity and quality, but it was certainly an interesting watch and now I guess whoever wins this group will be the ones that put the most goals past Haiti and Scotland.
The first game of the night weas probably the least appealing of all of them Switzerland v Qatar. Now given that as hosts of the last World Cup, Qatar stunk the place out with their performances, you can't blame people for thinking the same stinky shit was going to be served up this time. Switzerland dominated the game as expected but there lack of finishing let them down. The Swiss had 26 attempts, but only 7 on target and their only goal came from penalty that shouldn't have been given. There was an obvious offside in the build up, and no matter what bullshit the VAR twats tried to tell you about how the technology got it right, anybody with eyeballs in their head could see it was offside, and instead of holding their hands up and admitting they were wrong they just doubled down on their decision and refused to show the evidence they apparently had, to prove it was the right call, what a shitshow. This for me wasn't the most confusing thing about the game though as for nearly 20 minutes I thought Switzerland were playing in red and not that hideous green kit, it wasn't until the penalty that I realised my mistake. Luckily for Qatar and quite surprisingly they levelled 4 minutes into stoppage time at the end of the game. Switzerland may feel they had done enough to win the game but they need to improve in front of goal if they have any aspirations of doing anything in this tournament.
And lastly but not leastly Scotland were looking to win a game for the first time since 1990 in the World Cup, and just in case you missed it because nobody has really mentioned it much, but this was the first time that the Scots had qualified for the World Cup since 1998, that is a massive 28 years ago apparently. What an opportunity this would be for them though to finally lay to rest all the demons of the past and finally make it to the group stage, you know the ones I mean, heartbreak in 1974 after not losing a game and going home despite drawing with both Brazil and Yugoslavia all because they failed to smash Zaire. In 1978 losing to Peru and then beating the eventual runners up Holland 3-2 and still going out. In 1982 Hansen and Miller cocking up against USSR and David Narey giving them the lead versus Brazil only for the South Americans to get angry and beat them 4-1. The list goes on and on. Surely this time with nearly 100 teams in the competition and 8 teams finishing in 3rd place qualifying, surely the Jocks can get it done. Well they might do, as they have done the first bit by getting a victory over the Hatian's, but will a 1-0 win be enough? They may have to try and get something against either Brazil or Morocco as 4 points will pretty much guarantee them progression and Scottish history. My inkling though is that they might get beaten in their remaining games and 3 points and a minus goal difference may see them miss out yet again. Only time will tell I guess.
On tonight's footie and we will get to see both Germany getting humiliated by whipping boys Curacao and the Dutch getting a good old fashioned toeing from Japan. I can't wait.
Up the Football!!
