Socceroos draw 1-1 with Netherlands

What a great result for the Socceroos… and here is my 2-minute analysis of the match.

Top 5 Positives to come out of the game

  1. Drawing 1-1 with the #3 side in the world, when they had home advantage
  2. Mark Schwarzer
  3. Tim Cahill’s return… especially his goal
  4. Shutting out the Dutch for over 30 minutes after being reduced to ten men
  5. Mark Viduka not resorting to the UGLY diving game (i.e see the Dutchmen’s efforts for an example of that) when fouled in the box, and playing the ball… thankfully, the ref did the right thing an awarded a penalty when “advantage” didn’t prove to be advantageous

Top 5 Negatives

  1. Marking, or lack thereof… especially in the first half
  2. Vince Grella
  3. Luke Wilkshire
  4. Mark Viduka missing yet another spot-kick
  5. Marking… again… just because it was SO bad

But in the end… a top result for the Australians… this’ll give them a considerable confidence boost going into the tournament.

[Originally posted on worldcupblog.org and recovered from waybackmachine and reposted here with spelling and grammar corrections on 03 August 2023]