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Match Day 4 > Monday 12Jun06

Match 12: AUSTRALIA v. JAPAN

Booking: CRAP?

Match was far too open and far too direct – especially in 90-degree heat .. .. Both sides showed a lack of ideas and both sides were desperate to connect on anything .. .. Match was decided on a bad no-call when AUS ‘keeper SCHWARZER was run into to allow a NAKAMURA cross to roll into the net .. .. Strangely enough > I don’t think there was any chance the referee or linesman could have seen it!!

Match became very physical – Imagine what Asian Qualifying will be like from here on with AUS joining the AFC and AUS winning the match deservedly late .. ..

AUSTRALIA started strong and had VIDUKA firing on all cylinders but seemed to lose their way once the bad goal was allowed .. .. They became very direct as the match wore on and seemed to tire .. .. AUS got their due goal in a CK scramble to draw the match and the game-winner with CAHILL’s second .. .. A tired JPN defense then couldn’t handle a rampaging ALOISI who walked in for his third .. ..

JAPAN ran hard and tried hard but their link-up play was horrible and were lost in their offensive third .. ..

AUS MoM: #4 TIM CAHILL was Everton’s Player-of-the-Year this past season and was a brilliant late sub and recorded his brace .. .. Drew the match in a PK box scramble and then roofed the rebound .. .. Fired home a brilliant second when he took a simple square-ball from VIDUKA at the top of the box and then rammed it home off the left post for the winner .. ..

JPN  MoM: #23 YOSHIKATSU KAWAGUCHI was heroic in the net and almost single-handedly got JPN a result they didn’t deserve .. .. The starter for JPB in France ’98, he lost his place in JPN’s lineup after a failed try in Europe but was on top of his game here, stopping numerous VIDUKA early attempts and hard, goal-bound FKs by VIDUKA & ALOISI .. ..

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Match 10: UNITED STATES v. CZECH REPUBLIC

Booking: CRAP?

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THE USA WOULD BE SCARED CRAP-LESS? All of a sudden, US looks like a CONCACAF minnow .. .. They came out, didn’t attack and had a hard time connecting anywhere on the pitch .. .. GRYGERA took advantage of a clear right flank early and easily crossed to KOLLER for his goal – Where was ONYEWU?

CZE recorded a highlight goal when ROSICKY hit an inside/out bomb from above the box and it sliced into the upper right corner, just a hair above KELLER’s hand .. .. Where was ONYEWU’s clearance going?

USA looked flat and disjointed all match long – Almost as though they were afraid to run at people .. .. REYNA couldn’t complete a pass, DONOVAN, CONVEY & BEASLEY were invisible and, all of a sudden, MCBRIDE looked very old .. .. ONYEWU was physically the best US player out there, but his mental mistakes eventually led to CZE’s both scores .. ..

USA MoM: #9 EDDIE JOHNSON was the only spark and wasn’t afraid of CZE .. .. Ran at CZE and provided the only lift all match long .. ..

CZE MoM: #10 TOMAS ROSICKY just signed for Arsenal and looked worth every ₤ .. .. Got on the scoresheet early when he took a mis-cleared ball and crushed a long-range inside/out ball for his goal .. .. He put the match away when he took a short NEDVED ball and right toe-poked the ball into the lower-left past Keller .. .. 

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Match 9: ITALY v. GHANA

Booking: CLAP!

Based on how both sides came out and attacked each other straight off, the most mundane and boring side in Group E may be the USA .. .. ITA strung more precise attacks early but GHA came forward with pace from early on but just couldn’t connect in attacking third .. .. It was a bit worrying that TOTTI had to come off after he got stepped on .. ..

If ITA’s TOTTI is still recuperating, I wish all of USA’s players would get hurt the same way .. .. He looked 100% and his touch and vision were first-rate .. .. ITA grabbed their overdue score when PIRLO took a short corner, cut across the box and slammed it into the upper-right .. .. 

ITA MoM: #10 FRANCESCO TOTTI shocked everyone by being on the team shot and floored everyone how well he looked .. .. Had the same great vision and movement as he had before he got hurt .. .. Did you know people used to joke that he was ignorant? So he turned around and published a book ‘All The Jokes About Totti’ and then gave ₤350,000 to UNICEF!!

 GHA MoM: None