Here we go
Here we go
Here we here we
Here we go

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/Sport/story_3229.asp

Australia stunned England in one of the biggest upsets in soccer history with a 3-1 win at Upton Park.

The victory was Australia's first win over England and was set up in the first half against a near World Cup strength home team.

Tony Popovic silenced the Upton Park crowd when he flew above the pack to put Australia 1-0 up with a 17 minute header and a Harry Kewell solo special took the Socceroos 2-0 clear four minutes before halftime.

The team of novices which came on for England in the second half pulled a goal back when Francis Jeffers headed in a Jermaine Jenas cross in the 69th minute.

But Brett Emerton sealed the win with eight minutes left.

The supposed best team England could put on the park was booed off the ground at halftime.

But the Australians, in their first international in 14 months, deserved a standing ovation after outbustling their more fancied opponents.

The busy Stan Lazaridis set Popovic up with a floating cross from a free kick to the far end of the box where the in-form Crystal Palace defender flew high to nod in a powerful header directly in front of the 3,000 Australian supporters among the capacity 34,590 house.

They had more to cheer half an hour later when Kewell easily bumped Rio Ferdinand off the ball to leave himself clear in the penalty area where he walked around keeper David James to slide the ball home and put Australia 2-0 ahead.

Kewell defied Leeds United by playing despite a hamstring injury which kept him out of his club's last two games and dominated the first half.

He was named as a striker but was directing traffic in the attacking half, setting up teammates with deft passes and beating the defence with clever footwork.

The Australians grew with confidence as the first half went on and had many more shots at goal than England with an outstretched James tipping a Mark Viduka header over the bar in the 29th minute.

Lazaridis and Scott Chipperfield also came close while England was denied its best chance when James Beattie fouled the Australian defence before Paul Scholes stabbed the ball in from close range.

The crowd let out a huge cheer when the ground announcer told them England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was going ahead with his second half plan to replace all 11 players with an under 26 team.

The youngsters were much more lively than the established stars and posed many more dangers as the Socceroos slowed down in the second half.

But as England threatened, replacement striker John Aloisi set Emerton up with a perfect through ball and the Feyenoord midfielder, desperate for a move to an English club, steered the winner past James.

Mwahahahahaha :D :D :D - you mean like a dead rubber as in cricket and tennis? [img]smile.gif[/img]

Ah my prediction failed! Oh well [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I thought it was a great game! Australia had many chances and should have made it at least 3-0 before half-time. Kewell had a great game (when he was on) and his goal was classy :D

LOL, Beattie had a very poor half, only having one oppputunity on goal!

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Even though Australia won, friendlies are friendlies. (although Australia did kick England's ass pretty hard :D We have now beat them in Football, Rugby, Cricket....the list is endless :D :D :D :D )

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlin...257893&cc=3436

China drew with Brazil and Italy beat Portugal! Portugal are far better than Italy! :mad:

[ 02-13-2003, 04:10 AM: Message edited by: GokuZool ]

glad that australia won [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thank you for your support! [img]smile.gif[/img]

You should be happy too. The USA beat Jamaica 2-1!

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlin...257903&cc=3436

goku, i dont keep track on soccer but seeing all u,aussies in here its kinda hard not to get involved... be kinda cool if we can handle crisis' in the world on a field instead of the world... im just happy australia won.. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I spy with my little eye ......... [img]smile.gif[/img]

By the pricking of my thumbs
Something Wood-en this way comes ;)

Hi there :D

Mmmm. let me put this into perspective for you. It's hard for anyone to get excited about a football match against Australia. That includes the players.

Next saturday there is a very important game. Mancs v Arsenal in the FA cup. Most of the England players in the first half will be more concerned about that game.

I watched the France v Czech game - far more interesting. :D

Is your hair dry yet? ;)

Drongo! :D

What a SMACKDOWN!!! :D [img]tongue.gif[/img] It was quite pleasant, going to work after that massacre. :D :D :D It's quite hilarious reading, the Guardian, the Sun, the Mirror and the Times today. :D :D [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Here's an excerpt, from that esteemed British paper the Sun:

<font color="silver">
JAMES PRINSEP, the youngest England international before Wayne Rooney, won the Albert Medal for rescuing a drowning man.

Had it been Sven Goran Eriksson he hauled out of the drink, Clapham Rovers' star of the 1870s might have been encouraged to throw him straight back.

England's coach has never looked more out of his depth as an international manager than he did at Upton Park last night.

Sadly, he would not have heard the biggest cheer of the night - that came when it was announced the entire England side that had been so demonstrably outplayed in the first-half was being substituted en masse.

There could not have been a greater indictment of either him or his disgraced team.

But he could not miss the dismissive cries of abuse that accompanied the final whistle after England's 3-1 defeat - the second time Erikkson's faltering side have been booed off the pitch in successive games.

The Swede, along with 35,000 stunned fans, watched in horror as his so-called senior side were torn apart in the most humiliating opening 45 minutes of a home international any of us could recall.

We thought that England's lamentable 2-2 draw with Macedonia at Southampton last time out was bad enough.

This though was a total and utter shambles - and a disgrace to both the Premiership and the overpaid and over-rated players who represent it.

Australia are ranked 50th in the world - below New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras and Saudi Arabia.

And England, 42 places higher, had NEVER lost to the Socceroos - a country who last qualified for the World Cup finals almost 30 years ago.

Yet, after 45 minutes they were two goals down having turned in a performance defying description.

Well, there are ways to describe it but I am attempting to maintain some level of decency here.

We had joked that, at least, England's football team would not possibly collapse to the sort of 4-1 defeats suffered by both our outclassed cricketers and tennis players. Well, they did their best.

The night everyone but Eriksson could have done without - and would soon come to lament - got off to the worst possible start when kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes late.

That was roughly the same time it took to read out the 16 England substitutes - proof positive that caps are being thrown around like confetti.

And it got even worse when the Socceroos took the lead as Tony Popovic soared above Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand - two defenders we like to call world-class - not to mention 6ft 5ins David James.

Many went to Upton Park to see whether the West Ham keeper could play quite as badly for his country as he has for his club this season.

He made one spectacular save from Mark Viduka but James' continuing inability to deal with crosses and command his box makes Paul Robinson the logical successor to David Seaman.

But it wasn't just James. Campbell, as has happened so many times this season for Arsenal, was caught pushing forward time and again - and finally paid the price when Harry Kewell added a second.

Yes, that Harry Kewell with the suspect hamstring.

But there was nothing suspect about the way he left both Ferdinand and James on the seat of their pants.

Yes, that Rio Ferdinand - the world's most expensive centre-half who cost Manchester United £29.1million.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Michael Owen continued to miss the sort of chances that has seen him score just four times in the last 19 starts for club and country.

Yes, that Michael Owen - Liverpool's former European Footballer of the Year.

And who were the opposition making England look so amateurishly cack-handed?

Ronaldo and Rivaldo? No. Lucas Neill who learned his football at Millwall, Crystal Palace's Popovic and Stan Lazaridis of Birmingham.

Incredibly, it could have been far, far worse as England produced the sort of performance you always feared was within them but never expected to see.

David Beckham and his red-faced mates were saved further punishment by the timely intervention of the half-time whistle. But they will awake this morning knowing they stunk the place out.

So it was all down to the B team to try and salvage something from as dark and depressing a night as anyone could remember.

When Francis Jeffers headed Jermaine Jenas' cross home in the 70th minute, the replacements had already surpassed anything Eriksson's first team had managed - although Australia restored their two-goal advantage through Brett Emerton six minutes from time.

There was no way back for England now and the sizeable contingent of Aussie supporters revelled in more sporting glory against their favourite whipping boys.

As for Rooney, he showed some nice touches but was generally just part of a damage limitation exercise.

That England should have found themselves in this situation was down to their manager's now discredited attitude to friendlies.

While the Australians looked like a team wanting to win a football match, England had the unmistakeable appearance of a bunch of individuals going through a practice session.

And not too keen on doing that, either.

If there was ever a case for the total abandonment of friendlies it was this - just to save us all from further embarrassment.

As for European Championship rivals Turkey, they must be rubbing their hands at the prospect of facing England at Sunderland on April 2.

As we currently seem to be in the business of making fools of ourselves, perhaps we should play the match 24 hours earlier.

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:D :D :D [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 02-13-2003, 05:50 AM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]

Drongo! :D </font>[/QUOTE]Mon Francais ne pas bon - parlez vous Anglais? ;)

Shhhhh now - first half about to start - I can hear them playing Advance Australia Fair [img]smile.gif[/img]

I know :D i've being busy e-mailing friends over there with the links to every pommy sports page I could find [img]graemlins/laugh2.gif[/img]

but on a serious note should we stop the baiting / trolling and just let things go quite.. and watch or pommy cousins come crawling back to the forum quietly?
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NNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ! :D [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

Wow - what a great game - and what was that they were chanting towards the end :D

Looks like a whip-ping
Clap Clap - Clap Clap - Clap
Looks like a whip-ping
Clap Clap - Clap Clap - Clap

I think Memsie, that your paper article was a trifle too critical of the English effort, and far too dismissive of what was a fantastic OZ performance.

Pah - rated at 50 in the world, with scalps in the last 20 months like France Brazil, Uruguay and England - haven't those countries all won World Cups? Weren't they all at the last World Cup? Sure I know we lost to Uruguay in the return leg, and so missed out on qualification - but I ask you, is that the resume of a team that is 50th in the world?

I THINK NOT!!!

:D :D :D

COME ON ARSENAL!!!!!!!!! :D

Sorry, but I can't stand Mancs :D

Australia keep beating New Zealand in the Oceania division also. How would New Zealand then be ranked higher??

Australia keep beating New Zealand in the Oceania division also. How would New Zealand then be ranked higher??</font>[/QUOTE]They play more friendlies would be my guess - OZ haven't played one for like 14 months.

Those FIFA rankings don't make sense anyway. A country like Saudi Arabia can be in the top 15, only because they won 20 friendly matches in their own region.

I agree, but it rankles more to get beaten by a low-ranked team than a higher-ranked one, doesn't it. Although in this case, I'm sure England are sick of losing to Australia in any sport. I guess we could leave them with darts? D'oh - we won that too!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I agree, but it rankles more to get beaten by a low-ranked team than a higher-ranked one, doesn't it. Although in this case, I'm sure England are sick of losing to Australia in any sport. I guess we could leave them with darts? D'oh - we won that too!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D [img]tongue.gif[/img] </font>[/QUOTE]Oh yeah ? What tournament are you talking about ? It can't be the Embassy, cause that one went to Barney for the third time. :D