Longing for the day ...

Well done, Socceroos!

Excellent result, boys. Made hard work of it but got there in the end!

For those among you who are unsure where our opponents came from, Uruguay is here:

The CIA fact book on Uruguay is here. Notably, they have a population about that of Sydney and an arable land quota of 7.43%. On a bang-for-your-buck basis, I'd say they should be proud of their record.

Apparently, they won the first World Cup a long time ago and seem to think (or at least, said so in the newspapers) that their record gives them a divine right to turn up every time. Nothing about the right of challengers to have a crack at knocking them about if they're not up to standard each time. I guess they won't say that next time - or at least, the believers among them won't.

I gotta say, though, that, if the two qualifying games are any indication, I can understand why Soccer/Football has not taken a firm grip as a spectacle at the highest level of sport in this country (or the USA). It's consistently been one of the highest-participation sports, especially among juniors, for as long as I can remember but as a spectacle it leaves a lot to be desired. At least among us non-comprehending morons.

To start with, they need to clean up this issue of players taking each other out. The penalties seem to be almost entirely random and occur far too frequently (46 last night). If the offending player deliberately does something to take his opponent out (like holding his shirt), one caution (yellow card) and then he's gone ... that would make them think twice and might increase the scoring rate, since it would reduce the professional foul rate.

Similarly, stop the players from acting up to the ref. It seems every time they get a love-tap on the shoulder they go down clutching a shin as though their leg is broken. One even had the temerity to peek at the ref between his fingers while doing it! Wankers! Compare this to the Rugby codes, where they bash each other as part of the game and it's considered weakness to go down even for a minute ... wooses!

Anyway, I watched (bits of) the last World Cup and I'll watch the next one with a bit more interest. Go hard boys, we're all behind you. You've already done us proud!