News In Briefs

How it all went wrong

it's somewhere between one a.m. and dawn, and i'm sitting in my comfy chair watching Australia lose the World Cup. several words come to mind, but the most appropriate would be disappointed. Disappointed that we weren't consistent enough, disappointed that Kewell was unavailable, disappointed that Aloisi only seemed to get a few minutes of play. Most of all, disappointed that we have lost that thing which we always held in such high regard: sportsmanship.
Yes, the referees have been a bit tough on us. And sure, that penalty kick was dubious. But these are opinions formed in the minds of semi-concious people on the other side of the world. My chair was indeed comfy. The air conditioner kept us toasty-warm. And i got to see replay after replay of the event, not some half-glanced tackle many metres away. The game was lost before that penalty kick. it was lost when we failed to score at least one goal despite having an extra player and two excellent strikers.
Simply put, while the Socceroos are a world-class team, they played like a bunch of guys desperate not to screw up. All Italy had to do was wait them out.
My roommate had even less to say about the event. He simply sighed, said goodbye, and wandered off into the night.

posted by Steve @ Tuesday, June 27, 2006