So Canberra, did you like the taste of top flight football?

@MWest #44: Thanks for the explanation. As you say, though, it’s still a bad look. Thank goodness we didn’t have a player with 207 on their backs. EEK!

Re Bill’s comments-

Ok- Point already noted… fingers going faster than brain re world/asian cup. Already apologised for that.

Even with the non fifa sanctioned date I don’t think we would have seen a lot of the euro players. They play these games when it suits them… there is a pattern of non attendance and it’s not just this game. it says to me there’s a fundamental lack of respect for the green and gold jersey, and attitude of players only putting it on when the occasion is big enough to rate their presence. I know there’s a whole club v country argument but I don’t see too many euro based players showing a whole lot of pride in the shirt since the world cup.

Ok your opinion about Verbeek. Whoopee we pay him a million dollars. He’s s**t. Look at the negative football he’s got the team to play. Three wins and a draw… great.

Say what you will, but the last three results have been utter sh*te. We went to Japan and played for a draw. I hate that… in that game I saw a team refusing to outright attack or counterattack because they were afraid the game would open up.

That’s negative football. I hate it. I hate the teams who play it and I hate the coachest who coach it.

Like I said, my opinion, I’m entitled to it. If you’re happy with what you see then i’m happy for you.

Really I am.

So without being a flame, a troll or trying to upset people, all I was doing was honestly giving my opinion re the original question regarding ‘top flight football’ – it set me off, cos top flight that was not. Top flight I have not seen from this team since the world cup or this coach.

> The lines were long, but not unreasonable. The organisers (and this counts for the Brumbies) should put on some sort of opening match like the Raiders do. Canberra first grade, U21’s international – whatever.

The Brumbies did exactly that for their last home game…Royals V someone (can’t remember).

My two cents.

I had a good time. Unlike others I thought the crowd was pretty good. However, I don’t think you can compare the attendance of a crowd at an international soccer game to a potential A-league game crowd. I for one (and the 15 other people I went with) probably wouldn’t go to a Canberra A-league game. I think a decent percentage of the crowd are in a similar boat, there were a whole lot of people in Wallabies and Kangaroo’s jersey’s. I think you can judge what codes grab their attention.

The lines were long, but not unreasonable. The organisers (and this counts for the Brumbies) should put on some sort of opening match like the Raiders do. Canberra first grade, U21’s international – whatever. That means you get to the game early and still watch something, you don’t have all 20,000 people arriving at the same time.

All up a good night out. Hope to see more Socceroos games here, especially when you can field a third rate team against a country no one really cares about and still get 20,000 to show up.

Tonka said :

T

The view of our European players/ffa/the coach that this world cup qualifier wasn’t important enough for them all to play is simply disgraceful, and disrespectful to the fans and to the jersey.

The coach we have now is like the cheap, home brand version of Gus Hiddink. No offence meant to Mr Verbeek either, but he wouldn’t know attacking football if it bit him on the ass and we could have, should have, done a lot better. A word to the FFA – please get the national squad a decent coach – cos this guy has no clue.

1. It was actually an Asian cup qualifier.
2. Even if the euro players wanted to come their clubs would not release them because the game wasn’t held on a FIFA sanctioned international date.
3. Pim’s a decent coach, he is not cheap, he earns over a million dollars a year.
If he is junk why are we leading our world cup qualifying group with three wins and a draw?

To answer the question about the high numbers on players backs (if someone hasn’t got to it yet)…. The Asian Football Confederation demands that each national team assigns an individual shirt number to every player who participates in the competition, whether that be the Asian Cup Qualifiers or the Asian Cup itself. Because last night’s game was not scheduled on what is known as a FIFA sanctioned date, the European clubs are not obliged to release their players for the game until 48 hours before (not enough time to fly here and prepare etc). Hence why an A-League only team. Now the FFA has probably drawn up a list of all the players who could possibly play for the Socceroos over the Asian Cup campaign. Given there are well over 200 Australians playing professional football overseas at the moment at least 100 or so of those could be considered for these matches at some point. Hence the high numbers on their backs as the A-League players had to appear somewhere on the list. Particularly those who were on debut (or only recently hit form and have been reconsidered for the Socceroos squads) would have high numbers. Pim Verbeek is also renowned for selecting very large squads of 30 or so players for each game. Each player would have to be assigned a number and after a few games doing that and a few different selections for various reasons there is a large pool of players being drawn on (and hence high numbers).

I agree that it’s not a great look but hey they are the rules.

Oops…sorry.

No I’m not a troll…. I got a bit carried away because I’m feeling jerked off.

Apologies for that.

Just very annoyed at the way football is treated in this country. Where i come from it pretty much has the status of religion, and pretty much everything the FFA has done since the world cup, has been in my opinion, half assed.

So we got to the world cup and we did ok. Since then it’s my opinion that the wheels have fallen right off the wagon. We could have aimed higher, but we didn’t…

I meant to say that every international we play, regardless of the possible outcome or, the opposition should be treated as a world cup qualifier.

Fingers going faster than brain.

But my point about it all being second rate stand.

So apologies swaggie. You may not think I have a clue, but I’ve been involved in football since I could stand upright and I know s**t when I see it. Regardless of what you think, I do know what i’m talking about.

Since the world cup, pretty much everything I’ve seen rates as s**t.

Sorry if this upsets you, it’s not meant to deliberately upset anyone, but hey, I’m entitled to my opinion.

Tonka – what planet are you on? I smell ‘Troll’ if you think this game last night was a “world cup qualifier” – you show you don’t have a clue about what you are talking about.

We parked at 6.30 and were inside by 6.50, we got our seats, I went on a food run for the kids and we had a top evening, the game was poor and I got the impression the players (Aussies) were nervous, there was no composure, no tactical ‘nous’ and certainly no rebuttal of our coaches assessment of the A league standard which given that the A league is so much better than the old NSL says a lot about the old comp.

That said the crowd were great, the attendance blew me away and I can’t wait for a Canberra A league side.

Top flight football?

What a joke… We field a team that could only ever be considered second rate at best. No offence intended to the A-League players, but the cold hard facts are that they are simply not the best soccer players this country has to offer. Nowhere near it in fact.

The view of our European players/ffa/the coach that this world cup qualifier wasn’t important enough for them all to play is simply disgraceful, and disrespectful to the fans and to the jersey.

The coach we have now is like the cheap, home brand version of Gus Hiddink. No offence meant to Mr Verbeek either, but he wouldn’t know attacking football if it bit him on the ass and we could have, should have, done a lot better. A word to the FFA – please get the national squad a decent coach – cos this guy has no clue.

What we got last night was simply a rehash of the same negative football they played against japan, coached by a second rate guy (because we didn’t want to spend the money on a good coach), played by a second string team.

Top flight football my ass.

If the powers that be want football in this country to elevate and be taken seriously, then they really need to provide more than the hand job that people got last night.

When money is tight, why should people pay for second rate crap?

Even if money wasn’t tight… why should people pay a small fortune for this second rate crap. If you’re going to field a national team, please show a little pride in our country and ensure that those in the green and gold are the best we have, and the most deserving of that jersey.

Quite frankly I’m glad we lost last night. Maybe in future those in charge of team selection etc might actually take the job seriously. Last night they disrespected the jersey and the fans by fielding a second string team and they got b***h slapped for it.

> You and I could have done this in 90 seconds or, but it takes an 11 year old girl a bit longer than that, haha.

Ahhh..children. Enough said. 🙂

Beserk Keyboard Warrior said :

“So when did we start calling soccer football in this country?” BKW ponders as he looks for the nearest tree on which to hang himself.

When we realised that we were the only country apart from the US and Canada that call it soccer.

justbands said :

Regardless…what are you doing driving from O’Connor to Bruce? They are literally next to each other. It’s a lovely stroll….& would mean one less car cluttering up the road system that can’t cope.

Yeah, I did consider that option, but I was getting a lift from some friends who also had my ticket. We were further delayed by one of their kids needing to come inside and get changed. You and I could have done this in 90 seconds or, but it takes an 11 year old girl a bit longer than that, haha.

I saw a five car pile up north-bound on Hayden Drive on the way out.

The game was OK and it’s true, the Socceroos were lacklustre. People have identified the gap between the A League Socceroos and team 2006 team. But what about the guys playing in Europe who don’t quite cut it in the top team and then don’t get a look in here because they are not in the A League. Surely there must be some decent Aussie ‘undiscovered’ talent over there that the Socceroos will draw upon in the future?

“So when did we start calling soccer football in this country?” BKW ponders as he looks for the nearest tree on which to hang himself.

Would a Canberra A-League team be able to attract quality players?
I know the other codes have trouble, especially the Raiders, in getting quality players to Canberra.
Because the one thing that would kill a Canberra A-League team the fastest, would be if they were perennial losers.

I agree that it shouldn’t be the case Holden, but it is…& if you want to see the whole game, then you need to consider that.

Regardless…what are you doing driving from O’Connor to Bruce? They are literally next to each other. It’s a lovely stroll….& would mean one less car cluttering up the road system that can’t cope.

ronster said :

I am on the A-League bid team. Couple of thoughts: Yes the crowd was a winner and the Stadium looked a treat. Yes, the game result was disappointing but we tried and achieved 2 things: 1. To get a Socceroos game to Canberra and 2. To fill the stadium. Mission accomplished! I sat in the stands and from my perspective, everyone there appeared to have a great night…so yes, Canberra won. Now we’re in the hands of the FFA. The only other criticism was about the parking – I got there around 6.30pm and had no trouble. Anyone thinking they could rock up half an hour before kick-off with 20,000 attending must not have attended a major event before. The Bid Committee (under Ivan Slavich)has done a great job and raised a great deal of money – now, we wait. Comparisons with the Cosmos are not valid because at that stage the A-League did not exist and Foxtel was not involved. Our World Cup status was also very different…so let’s look forward, not back.
Away the lads!!

From where I was sitting the ground didn’t look full, and the attendance given, around 20,000, would suggest that to be the case. Considering the Football ACT website was trumpeting 20,000 sales yesterday afternoon, I think the turnout would be best described as ‘solid’at best, and disappointing – a very low walk-up- at worst. A competitive international football match was being played, and you’d expect a big crowd. Again, from where I was sitting, ‘people having a great night’ would be pushing it. When you consider that many of the people were there to actually watch the game and support the Socceroos – supporting the ‘bid4canberra’ was a by product of their attendance- and the game was very poor, then I think a great night was had only by those supporting Kuwait, especially when you factor in the usual parking/gaining entry/queueing for food and drink problems.

In the pre-game show on Fox, both pundits, despite being prodded by the avuncular Simon Hill to come out in support of the Canberra A-League bid declined. Ange Postecoglou outright said it wouldn’t be a good move for the A-League, saying a further team from Sydney should be given preference, whilst Paul Trimboli said that Canberra wouldn’t be able to sustain big enough crowds – and he cited the Cosmos as evidence for his claim.Whether that’s a valid comparison or not, its obviously there in the minds of those who cogitate on such matters.

Looking forward, as opposed to back, the Australian side that got to Germany in 2006 is ageing now, and the A-League won’t be able to bask in the reflected glory of that performance much past South Africa in 2010, especially if the side makes a first round exit in that tournament. It’s all very well saying the best players were all in Europe last night, but no-one who pulled on an Australian shirt last night looked like they will be able to cut it at international level,in the future and that should be a worry, A-League side in Canberra or not. Because if that’s the best the A-League has to offer, people aren’t going to pay premium rates to watch them for very long.

justbands said :

Have some of you never been to a sporting match @ Canberra Stadium before??? Leaving home 45 minutes before kickoff is always going to have you missing the start.

This may be the case, but as Julius Sumner-Miller once asked, why is it so? As I said is was much easier to leave after the game than it was to arrive.

In theory all people who drove to the venue are leaving at the same time, while prior to the match arrivals would be more sporadic. Besides, in Canberra, 45 minutes to drive from O’Connor to Bruce is a bit of a stretch. You would think the (possibly) small amount of resources required to set up some sort of temporary traffic flow to aid movement would be most people’s interests. You’d only need a couple of coppers at either end of Haydon Drive I’d imagine. At least, that should help traffic to flow more easily.

as much as i enjoyed last night’s game (as dreadful as the socceroos were) i would still prefer to see an NBL team back in Canberra before an A-league team =)

Canberra can’t support another top flight national sporting team on the scale the A-League wish

or, vg, mebbe canberra can’t support three ‘top flight sporting teams’; but why would the loser be the canberra griffins, or whatever the a-league team is called?

and the seasons’ schedules are not competing, so why are you so sure in your negativity? and what about last night’s crowd was not ‘near capacity’? i saw few empty seats in the seats that mattered – the general punters. 20k for a second rate side in a competition i’d rekkun 2/3 of the crowd there last night (or more) don’t know much, if anything, about, is a pretty fair roll up for canberra. i rekkun we’re not looking at the same facts in the same way, you ‘n me (and seemingly 20k others)

; )

It was great to have an international football match in Canberra, even if the result was unfavorable and the socceroos let many an opportunity slip. The twenty thousand crowd there last night certainly had a lot more vocal support than the “gently clapping” Brumbies crowd. Regardless of the result, you actually felt like you were in a passionate sporting arena last night rather than an out door theatre ambience that marks a Rugby game in Canberra.

Have some of you never been to a sporting match @ Canberra Stadium before??? Leaving home 45 minutes before kickoff is always going to have you missing the start. For a 7:30pm start to a Brumbies game for example, I always make sure I’m out of the house by 6:15pm at the latest. Then I can get to Bruce, park, walk, get through the gates, get a beer/food & get to my seat with time to spare. Sometimes I end up being half an hour early…but better that than missing any of the game (particularly given the price of tickets!).

I am on the A-League bid team. Couple of thoughts: Yes the crowd was a winner and the Stadium looked a treat. Yes, the game result was disappointing but we tried and achieved 2 things: 1. To get a Socceroos game to Canberra and 2. To fill the stadium. Mission accomplished! I sat in the stands and from my perspective, everyone there appeared to have a great night…so yes, Canberra won. Now we’re in the hands of the FFA. The only other criticism was about the parking – I got there around 6.30pm and had no trouble. Anyone thinking they could rock up half an hour before kick-off with 20,000 attending must not have attended a major event before. The Bid Committee (under Ivan Slavich)has done a great job and raised a great deal of money – now, we wait. Comparisons with the Cosmos are not valid because at that stage the A-League did not exist and Foxtel was not involved. Our World Cup status was also very different…so let’s look forward, not back.
Away the lads!!

MWest said :

Just got back from the game. Here are some of my photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=224634&id=571010303&l=3ef86

It was an exciting and engaging game. The standard wasn’t great and the referee in the first half was appalling. The goal was a bit against the run of play just as Australia were getting into some rhythm. Kuwait did what any team would do with a lead. Sit back and defend (often with 4 defenders back and 4 midfielders sitting deep at the top of the box). Australia weren’t able to break through. We had several chances but just couldn’t put one in. Even with 4 attackers up front at one point.

There was a great atmosphere though and a good turn out. Some of the new players who were blooded performed well, in particular Michael Zullo from Queensland Roar. He and Mitch Nicholls are players to watch for the future.

Were there two games played last night?

The game I saw was not terribly exciting and the atmosphere was not great. I was actually quite disappointed in the crowd, but as noted, not a lot happened to generate enthusiasm.

I agree that some of the refereeing was crap and the diving, as always, unfortunately, reared its ugly head. While Australia was not exempt from such behaviour, the Kuwait team were just plain embarassing. I simply could not play top flight football, as whenever someone took a blatant dive I would be unable to contain my rage and stop myself from making sure the poncey gits had good reason to roll around in supposed agony.

Seeing Socceroos players running around with numbers such as 107, 109, 111 is just a joke. I know it doesn’t really matter, but it’s still a bad look and only serves to highlight it was a second rate team representing our country.

Traffic to the match, Belconnen Way (from the city) was pretty average and we missed the first 10 minutes of the game. We left O’Connor at about 7:15pm so, while we could/should have left earlier, 45 minutes to travel about 5km is not so great. It would be nice if there were Police on point duty before the game as there often is after. Indeed, leaving our parking from Bruce CIT was a doddle comparatively. It took less than 15 minutes to get home.

Despite all of this, I am glad the game came to Canberra and I am glad there was a decent crowd there. 20K may not be capacity, but there weren’t many empty seats. If (and hopefully when) the A-league comes to town I’ll definitely be willing to support it.

True enough but to be fair the Cosmos and the NSL was a completey different beast to the A-league. We’ll see I guess but if it happens I’ll certainly sign up as a member.

The Cosmos ‘never competed directly’ with the Raiders or the Brumbies (not sure if Cosmos were still in existence when Brumbinos started) and had ‘corporate backing’. Where are they now?

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see a Canberra A-League team. Would go and watch it myself. The town just can’t sustain it

I’m pretty optomistic about the A-league bid and the prospect of Canberra supporting another national team. It won’t be competing directly with the brumbies and raiders and appears to have corporate backing.

It will never be the Melbourne Victory or Sydney FC in terms of crowd support but I’d be pretty confident that we could compete in terms of support with the likes of Newcastle and the Mariners.

As I have said all along. Your problem is trying to equate the behaviour of any professional athletes with that of normal adults.

Great to see international soccer (yes, that’s what we call it here in Oz, like it or not) here but, as I said, unless they can pull a lot closer to capacity for an international the A-League bid is dead.

Historically Canberrans would do what we always do if the A-League bid gets up. Good crowds for the first few weeks, then progressively dying to the point where 4000 is considered great, but not by the A-League.

Don’t believe me? Think about the Cosmos and the Arrows (I think it was) before that. I remember sitting at a Cosmos game with about 1500 others.

Canberra can’t support another top flight national sporting team on the scale the A-League wish

darth_baul said :

Didn’t see the game, but sounds pretty second rate to me.

One factor that seems to be overlooked is the fact that our new brilliant coach did not coach tonight – he was serving a touchline ban.

How many times can professionals that are being paid megabucks be forgiven for acting as children? Fair dinkum – how can a coach act so poorly that he gets banned for 3 games? And how can the media be so willing to overlook it and not consider it a factor in the result.

Never have I seen a sport that has such a horrific culture of poor behaviour. Even the recent A-league GF, which is meant to be the showcase, had 2 players sent off. What message does this send to the young kids?

Umm can you please not go near any sport that I like for fear of breaking it.

“Never have I seen a sport that has such a horrific culture of poor behaviour. Even the recent A-league GF, which is meant to be the showcase, had 2 players sent off. What message does this send to the young kids?”

darth_baul please consider some of these names before you make such a stupid statement….Wayne Carey, Ben Cousins, Greg Bird, Todd Carney, Sonny Bill Williams, Andrew Johns, Wendell Sailor, John Hopoate, Bulldogs rape case (2004).

It was great to have a game of international football in Canberra, and yes, the socceroos didn’t play brilliantly but it was still a good night out.

We caught the free bus from Civic, and the free bus back again with no hassles at all and little delays.

> So possibly corporate sponsors (for example) who pay a mozza for tickets, and probably quite rightly expect to get parking for it. Still, it would be nice to see that area reasonably full, and perhaps reverted to regular parking if they don’t use it by say 30mins pre-match.

See my previous comment re: completely empty corporate boxes.

Yes though…if you want to be in your seat before kickoff (regardless of the code being played) then you need to get there an hour before the game.

disappointing performance by the team on the park – desperately lacked any creative midfield play-maker – thought simon was outclassed and we could have had him back in the centre feeding pondlejak and thomspon, might have more effect…

that said, kuwait deserved the points – committed, quick, organised and a good night by their captain in goal.

the crowd numbers were heartening and it is no surprise they were quiet – not given much to cheer about. i also walked in to the ground, so not sure about the traffic – seems stupid for ‘them’ not to have put in access ramps of GDE; who’s the brilliant mind in charge of that oversight??

overall, a reasonable trial for having an a-league team here and attracting more lower-end socceroos matches; friendlies, these level asian cup matches and the like…

You have to turn up early for anything at Bruce, er Canberra Stadium. I’m not saying this is a good thing, just from experience you need to be there at least 1 hour before kickoff. Any later, and you run into what now seems to be the norm of parking/entry issues.

I believe the ticketing system once again couldn’t handle the walk-up crowd – I don’t think this was the Stadium’s fault, I believe the ticketing agent might have some explaining to do.

As to the rows and rows of empty parking, same as the Brumbies, it’s “VIP” parking. So possibly corporate sponsors (for example) who pay a mozza for tickets, and probably quite rightly expect to get parking for it. Still, it would be nice to see that area reasonably full, and perhaps reverted to regular parking if they don’t use it by say 30mins pre-match.

vg said :

You’re biggest issue is equating the behaviour of athletes, and pro soccer players in particular, with that of adults.

I think if we can’t get capacity, or near to it, in Canberra with the national team playing you can well and truly kiss any A-League aspirations goodbye. And of course people will say ‘neither do the Raiders/Brumbies’. Well, they don’t need to.

What’s the capacity of the ground? 25-27,000? If I was the A-League bid team I’d be thrilled at the turnout considering it was a school night and the cost of some of the tickets. If the bid team can bank on a crowd similar to raiders games than they’ll be doing well.

As for the game itself, I thought it was relatively entertaining if scrappy. The crowd was pretty vocal at times, particularly towards the end and certainly louder than some brumbies games I’ve been too.

Terribly dissapointing game. I believe a couple of the ACT premier league teams would have done better. Australia had nothing other than playing a long ball to Simon. They would play it up there even when he was by himself, with no support around him. What is he meant to do? control the ball in one motion and take on 4 defenders and a keeper and score? No chance. It was woeful.

And whats with the numbers on players? 107, 109, 111?? Seriously, out of every socceroo available to you , you cant pick someone higher than number 107 or 109? in the squad? Worse Socceroos I have ever seen play, on TV or otherwise.

I am dissapointed because like kobez_outlawz I am huge fan as well, but last nights game was terrible.

> also punch ups occur regularly in rugby with no players getting sin binned or anything

That’s simply not true at all. Perhaps you are thinking of Rugby LEAGUE (please, please, PLEASE don’t call it Rugby!!!!!)?

Looked pretty dull on TV, but soccer often does to me. Crowd looked decent, although certainly not full (confirmed) & I also noted the number of completely empty corporate boxes (all of them by the looks)….they need those filled if they want a soccer team here. I was tempted to go…glad I saved my pennies now.

I thought the crowd was good, if a little quiet. Kinda got a bit tired of some guys having about 8 attempts at starting a wave.

Traffic was a mess, but that’s to be expected. Once we found “A shortcut” everything was fine 🙂

Neither side played very well, Australia did have problems capitalising on field position and ball control. To me it seems Kuwait took more chances and that’s what got them the win.

No offense meant to the players, but this was hardly a “top flight” match. Brazil against Italy, now that would be a top flight match…

Having watched WIN introduce the match with a “Green and Gold army” of six drunks at King O’Malleys earlier in the evening I was less than impressed.

Hmm you were less then impressed about people having a good time. Typical canberrian :/
Anyway was a good crowd to see a hopless side. We deserved to lose. The crowd was well behaved and had some funny sing songs to boot.
Pity our a-leauge socceroos sucked.

main points:

– good crowd turn out considering this was far from a full strength team and non world cup related match.

– crowd was fairly quiet, due to the poor on field performance we rarely had things to cheer about. 3rd rate players took the field.

– a bit of a delay getting through the turnstyles, but not too bad (about 5 minute wait)

– i hate it how you cant buy food and drink in the one line you have to line up in separate lines for each.

can anyone comment on how the traffic was getting in and out of the stadium? i walked so i wouldnt know.

Juice Terry, people just say dumb things like that because they’re jealous of the big dogs. One player in the Premier League is worth more than the AFL and Rugby League combined. Soccer dominates the world over and over and over again, that’s why the non enlightened hate on it.

darth_baul said :

One factor that seems to be overlooked is the fact that our new brilliant coach did not coach tonight – he was Never have I seen a sport that has such a horrific culture of poor behaviour. Even the recent A-league GF, which is meant to be the showcase, had 2 players sent off. What message does this send to the young kids?

Oh yeah, WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN!!! Dry your eyes tiger. Both A-League red cards were later overturned by the match review committe. The ref had a ‘mare that night.

As for soccer being the leader in the poor behaviour stakes? Give me a break. They’re light years behind their League and AFL brethren in the raping, glassing, and drugging stakes.

If you want to talk of on-field behaviour, I will concede that the diving and arguing with referees is a blight on the game (not so much in the A-League, but certainly abroad) but for out and out thuggery… doesn’t really happen mate.

It was great to have top flight football here! Bring it on!

darth_baul said :

Didn’t see the game, but sounds pretty second rate to me.

One factor that seems to be overlooked is the fact that our new brilliant coach did not coach tonight – he was serving a touchline ban.

How many times can professionals that are being paid megabucks be forgiven for acting as children? Fair dinkum – how can a coach act so poorly that he gets banned for 3 games? And how can the media be so willing to overlook it and not consider it a factor in the result.

Never have I seen a sport that has such a horrific culture of poor behaviour. Even the recent A-league GF, which is meant to be the showcase, had 2 players sent off. What message does this send to the young kids?

As opposed to what? Sticking your finger up someone’s ass? Come on people get suspended in all games stop targeting soccer. Of course when the stakes are high people get heated its natural. But games like Rugby league or union you can take it out on the other player by beating them up in a tackle or ruck. Soccer you can’t do that, also punch ups occur regularly in rugby with no players getting sin binned or anything. If a punch up was to start in Soccer all involved would get booked. So stop targetting the game because you have an inferiority complex.

Anyway I was at the game. Easily the worste game I have ever witnessed. No doubt about it. It was worse than watching the Tuggeranong United under 12 D grade play. Seriously shocking socceroos performance. We were outplayed in every single area of the game. Not one short pass the whole game. The midfielders were at least 30 m away from each other and so much boring long ball. It was a joke, a disgrace and an embarrassment to our nation. The counter attack was non existant because it was so painfully slow and every attack consisted of our defenders kicking long ball’s through to Simon who is in no way shape or form the future striker for the Socceroo’s. Todd Carney would play better than him. Anyway basically it was such a shocking display that the criticism of the teams performance could go on for weeks.

Also the game preperation by whoever runs Canberra stadium was disgraceful. The traffic on the GDE going towards the stadium was shocking thanks to the geniuses who built it as only one lane. Because of this half the crowd missed the kickoff and I noticed quite a few people just turn around and go home. The retards organizing parking made us park a few hundred meters away from the normal car park even though as we were walking we noticed hundreds of spaces right next to the stadium empty. The line outside going into the stadium was a joke also. So basically crap night all round. We get the treat of an A international which is at the standard of a Under 10’s match. The crowd lost interest so early in the game because of how pathetic it was. I’m a massive Soccer fan and I say if that’s the best the A-league has to offer, the ACT government shouldn’t even waste money on a team, they should just treat us to some more pointless and ugly public art.

Let’s hope the Wallabies treat us a bit better when they play Italy later in the Year!

Just got back from the game. Here are some of my photos

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=224634&id=571010303&l=3ef86

It was an exciting and engaging game. The standard wasn’t great and the referee in the first half was appalling. The goal was a bit against the run of play just as Australia were getting into some rhythm. Kuwait did what any team would do with a lead. Sit back and defend (often with 4 defenders back and 4 midfielders sitting deep at the top of the box). Australia weren’t able to break through. We had several chances but just couldn’t put one in. Even with 4 attackers up front at one point.

There was a great atmosphere though and a good turn out. Some of the new players who were blooded performed well, in particular Michael Zullo from Queensland Roar. He and Mitch Nicholls are players to watch for the future.

You’re biggest issue is equating the behaviour of athletes, and pro soccer players in particular, with that of adults.

I think if we can’t get capacity, or near to it, in Canberra with the national team playing you can well and truly kiss any A-League aspirations goodbye. And of course people will say ‘neither do the Raiders/Brumbies’. Well, they don’t need to.

Didn’t see the game, but sounds pretty second rate to me.

One factor that seems to be overlooked is the fact that our new brilliant coach did not coach tonight – he was serving a touchline ban.

How many times can professionals that are being paid megabucks be forgiven for acting as children? Fair dinkum – how can a coach act so poorly that he gets banned for 3 games? And how can the media be so willing to overlook it and not consider it a factor in the result.

Never have I seen a sport that has such a horrific culture of poor behaviour. Even the recent A-league GF, which is meant to be the showcase, had 2 players sent off. What message does this send to the young kids?