World Cup Group F - Australia Goes Thru After a Thriller

Japan 1 - Brazil 4

I lost my internet feed while Brazil was 3-1 up, probably just as well so I could concentrate on the other game on TV. And my word, what a game (I meant the Cro - Aus game).

Anyway, Japan took the lead in this game, probably against the run of play, after Kawaguchi had made at least 3 brilliant saves from Robinho and Kaka. Then on the half hour they shocked the cup holders with a superbly crafted goal, created by Brazilian born, Alex, and smashed into the net by Keiji Tamada.

Brazil, to say the least were shell shocked. For the rest of the first half it looked like they were just trying to get to terms with the scoreline. Luckily for them, the Japanese defence fell asleep and Ronaldo headed in a simple header with the last touch of the half.

In the second half, Brazil seemed to have regained their composure and their pedigree shone thru with superb goals from Lyon playmaker, Juninho and Gilberto. After that my connection completely went bonkers and I missed the rest of the game. Ronaldo did score a goal towards the end of the game though.

Croatia 2 - Australia 2

This has to be the best game in the tournament so far, bar none! It was a see-saw battle that eventually ended up in a draw, with Australia scraping thru by the skin of their teeth. If you have to catch a replay of any game played so far, you've gotta watch this one.

Croatia started brightly and after 2 minutes, smashed home a freekick beyond the outstretched arms of replacement keeper Zeljko Kalac. From then on, all....and I mean ALL the possession went to Australia. The Socceroos knew they had at least draw to have a chance of advancing and threw practically everything including the kitchen sink at the Croatian defence. It was wave after wave of Australian attack and they finally got a penalty due to a stupid handball in the box by Stjepan Tomas. Up stepped Craig Moore, the unlikiest hero of the moment.

After the goal it was the Croatians turn to beseige the Australian goal. The half ended 1-1, but the seige continued into the second half. Replacement goalkeeper then fumbled a long range effort from Nico Kovac in the 55th minute and the ball bobbled behind Kalac into the goal. It's the most bizarre goal scored so far in this World Cup. If there was a hole in the ground, both Guus Hiddink and Kalac would have crawled into it. Definitely a strange decision to drop Mark Schwarzer for this game.

Anyway, if you thought the wave of Australian attack in the first half was intense, the ferocity of the attacks were at least tenfold after that goal. The Croatian defence was stretched to the limits for most of the half, with both keeper and defenders having to clear their lines, every couple of minutes.

On the 79th minute, Kewell received a flick on and rammed the ball home to once again restore parity to the game. However on the TV replays, he did look offside, but the goal stood.

Then the game took a turn for the bizarre again. In quick succession, Simic of Croatia and Emerton of Australia were given their marching orders for second bookable offenses. As Australia weathered the last gasp Croatian storm, Josip Simunic was given a second yellow card, but referee Graham Poll did not flick the red card. It seemed that Poll had probably forgotten that he had flashed Simunic the yellow earlier in the game. And to make things triply complicated, Poll flashed him a third yellow card after the final whistle had blown and flashed the red card at long last. This is probably the first time I've seen a player get 3 yellow cards and get sent off after the game.

In any case, this was a thrilling game. Of course the incidents on the pitch at the death made this game so much watchable. It's a shame one of these teams had to leave the tournament at this stage. Australia now meets the craft of the Italians in the next round. I'm definitely looking forward to this game! Hopefully it's half as exciting as this one.