shannon2007

The Wee Bit After the Bit After the Begining

Friendlies. It was all bloody friendlies. New Zealand lost to Norway, which was sh-it, and then beat East Timor 3-0 which was utterly fantastic. Look, this is New Zealand.

Parma werent happy that Jamieson made Bresciano play all 90 minutes of the matches with Scotland and the Faroes, but the Australian managers retort was quite simple. Bugger off. At Hampden, on an icy pitch, Australia went down 2-0 to Walter Smith's Scotland but then triumped 2-1 in the Faroes.

By an amazing coincidence, Northern Ireland also had friendlies against the Faroes and Scotland, winning 3-0 in Faroe land, and then getting humped 4-1 at Hampden. It seemed Scotland had found a new lease of life after Berti. Or mibbe that he was just crap. Yeah, thats it.

Finally, Wales drew in Cardiff with Albania, and then beat Iceland 1-0. Amazing.

shannon2007

A Wee Bit More

It was just friendlies in February.

Wales beat Switzerland 3-0.

Northern Ireland found Colombia too much to handle and lost 2-0.

Australia went to Germany, in preparation for the real think, and lost 1-0.

New Zealand inspired their supporters as they were humiliated 2-0 by Thailand.

Friendlies suck.

shannon2007

The Bit That Might Be In The Middle

A double header with Austria for Wales was their chance to steak a claim for a place in Germany. If they lost, it would be Goodnight Vienna. Daniel Nardiello isnt really Welsh but as he was eligible, somehow he was drafted into the squad and he scored once in Cardiff and three times in Vienna, and Wales won 4-0 and 4-1 respectively. This was more like the Welsh people knew didnt exist, and really proved that Austria were utter pish.

Northern Ireland's David Healy meanwhile seemed to be on some sort of drugs as he scored not just once, but FIVE times at Wembley as England suffered their worst ever defeat, going down 7-1.

That what you get when you drop the Catholics O'Brien told the press.

A 1-0 loss in Poland, with the Catholics back, seemed to prove his point.

Australia had yet another friendly, the OFC reluctant to make the World Cup Qualifying draw, and they overcame Singapore 2-0 and then the team all visited the local brothel for a 'take away'.

New Zealand, still licking their wounds from the Thailand fiasco, decided not to plauy any more games. Ever.

shannon2007

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | England | | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 8 | +7 | 15 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Wales | | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 8 | +8 | 11 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | N.Ireland | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 8 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Austria | | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 6 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Poland | | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 6 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Azerbaijan | | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 16 | -11 | 3 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

shannon2007

One Of Those Silly Tournaments FIFA Devised

The Confederations Cup is really a waste of space for most countries. For Australia though, it was one of their few chances of actually gaining mildly competitive football. With the OFC cancelling the Oceania World Cup Qualifying farce and giving New Zealand and Australia a bye to the Final of that event, meaningful matches were about as likely as a sheep being elected President of the USA. We all knew the sheep were too intelligent.

Australia's journey to Germany though was to turn out to be a complete waste of money, that could have been better spent extending Tony Blairs luxury holiday in Egypt in face of one of the biggest diasters the world had ever seen. Losses to Greece and Brazil, and a draw with Mexico then it was back on the plane to Australia.

Well, apart from the 99% of the squad who played and lived in Europe...

Mike..

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Peacemaker7:

It was just friendlies in February...

...Friendlies suck. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

shannon2007

What Is It With These Diddy Events?

So, unable to win the World Cup because they're crap, the Asian-Oceanian Football Confederations came up with the idea of their two champions playing each other. The first Asian-Oceania Challenge Cup saw Japan beat Australia in 2001, and the last one saw those two great footballing powers, Iran and New Zealand square up.

Iran won.

This time, Australia would host Japan, and it was Jamieson's second chance for a troohy would would mean he'd still won more the Ayr United had in their entire history. To aid the cause, a refere was flown all the way in from Iceland, money that could have fed 12,000 Somalians wasted on a stupid game of football.

The referee was so grateful for the trip, he sent Japan's Tetsuya Sano off after 37 minutes, and four minutes into the second half, awarded Australia a penalty. Stan Lazaridis took it and scored. Kato equalized for Japan though and took the match into extra time where the referee had a sudden surge of conscience and sent of Australia's Vincenzo Grella to even the odds.

It didnt work as Paul Okon grabbed the winner on 110 minutes.

A quite incredible achievement for the Aussie's.

BarryLFC

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>and it was Jamieson's second chance for a troohy would would mean he'd still won more the Ayr United had in their entire history <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Who proof reads this stuff?

shannon2007

You

shannon2007

The Bit That's Probably Near The End If Goes On Like This.

New Zealand and Australia both finally got their campaign to reach Germany underway. With the OFC sensibly deciding to scrap the other qualifying games as the teams were way too sh-it, the only two countries who mattered went straight into the 2 legged final. New Zealand for spells looked good in Auckland, and with 7 minutes left they won a penalty. Tony Nguyen had the chance to become a national hero. But he blew it. In injury time Brett Emerton rubbed the players face in more sh-it as he scored to give the Aussies the win, and no they should be in the play off against whatever bunch losers it is this time.

England came to Cardiff arrogantly determined to destroy Wales hopes, and they did it. A 2-0 win left Wales reeling, and their subsequent 4-1 humiliation in Poland leaves them with little chance of reaching Germany as they sink back into the oblivion they belong. Well done Trotter.

Nothern Ireland still had a chance of reaching Germany, and playing only Protestants, gained incredible 8-2 win on Belfast over Azerbaijan. Sadly, the method of rotating the teams to avoid any stabbings saw the Catholics go down 2-0 England and the Northern Irish dream looks dead.

The match in Belfast with Wales now looks quite exciting. And the good news is, its the Protestants turn....