The new top ten are: 1. Brazil, 2. Italy, 3. Argentina, 4. France, 5. England, 6. Netherlands, 7. Spain, 8. Portugal, 9. Germany, 10. Czech Republic.

Other positions of note are: 11. Nigeria, 12. Cameroon, 14. Uruguay, 16. USA, 18. Mexico, 22. Sweden, 23. Croatia, 25. Ghana, 32. Greece, 33. Australia, 36. Serbia and Montenegro, 49. Japan

OK. So here are my comments on this ranking farce:

1. How can Germany be ranked 4 places lower than England?
2. How can Nigeria and Cameroon sit in 11th and 12th when they weren’t even in the World Cup?
3. The USA droped from 5th to 16th but are they better than Mexico in 18th? It took probebly the goal of the World Cup by Argentina to beat the Mexicans in overtime.
4. How can Sweden be ranked at 22nd?
5. How can Uruguay be ranked 14th, when they didn’t qualify for the World Cup and were beaten by Australia?
6. Australia ranked in 33rd is very harsh. Making the final 16 should have moved them to at least 20-25. They almost beat 2nd ranked Italy.
7. Serbia and Montenegro is ranked at 36th and moved up the ladder despite being flogged in the World Cup
8. Japan is ranked 49th and moved down so many places, yet played well against Brazil and Australia
9. At least Ghana moved up the ranks and deserved there place.

I am starting to believe FIFA stands for Farcical International Football Association. There should be calls for the whole body to be investigated, especially after the huge number of black market tickets at the World Cup, of which FIFA promised would be reduced greatly. The state of the current World Cup and the scandals should have been enough to spark some form of action.

It was one of the worst calls of the whole 2006 World Cup. Neill does indeed commit to the tackle or more to the point, to block the cross/shot, but Grosso doesn’t cross/shoot. Instead, he pushes the ball into the middle and then “falls” over the torso of the sprawled Niell. Grosso made contact with Neill not the other way round.

In the Brazil/Ghana game played on the 27th June, in the 13th minute, see Adriano pull almost exactly the same “trick” as Grosso. In the Ghana penalty area, the goalkeeper did exactly as Neill had done against Grosso. Adriano got a yellow card for diving which was the correct decision. Don’t start preeching protecting the goalkeeper stuff either. If anyone thinks that if that game was Italy vs Argentina or England or Germany and the exact same thing happened between a defender of one of these teams and Grosso, that the referee would give a penalty 15 secs before full time – no way. There would have been a riot.

Not much more to say really, but here is a quick game summary.

After 3 minutes, Toni jumps for a cross and heads it just wide. Scott Chipperfield makes an excellent tackle in the 13th minute to stop Toni from having another scoring opportunity. Australia had a lot of possesion in the first half and at times, it looked like Italy was watching the passing and just waiting defensively for a counter attack opportunity. In the 19th minute, Gilardino has a go with a scissor type shot on goal but Schwarzer is able to make the save.

A few minutes later, Toni again has a shot on goal and Schwarzer makes a good save. The Australians are giving Toni too much room in my opinion. 23 minutes into the game, Vince Grella gets a yellow card and is not pleased. A minute later, Viduka gets his head onto a set piece but is unable to generate the power needed to beat Buffon in the goals. In the 28th minute, Fabio Grosso gets a yellow card and disputed the decision. A minute or so later, Chippefield takes a bouncing ball and shoots it on goal but Buffon saves it and is able to stop it moving out before there is a rebound. This was the best shot in the first half and a good save too.

At 34 minutes, Toni again has a volley in the box but it is blocked by a defender for a corner. Again, it’s Toni who gets his head on another one but sends it over the bar. The rest of the first half is fairly defensive though Craig Moore was lucky not to get a yellow card for a challenge on Toni towards the end of the half.

The second half starts of in a similar manner, with lots of Italian defense in their goal and Toni firing yet another shot at the goals that again misses. In the 49th minute, Cahill is shown a yellow card for saying some words to the referee. One minute later, a red card is shown to Materazzi as he is charged with taking down Bresciano outside the box. I thought it was a yellow card offense and a bit harsh. Italy are now down to 10 men for the remaining 40 minutes. In the 55th minute, Luca Toni is substituted for another defender, Andrea Barzagli, in a move that looks like they are playing for a draw and only attacking on the counter.

In the 58th minute, my man of the match, Chipperfield turns and a blasts towards the goal but it is again saved by Buffon who is showing his class in goals. Chipperfield has had more shots on goal than Viduka and I thought he should have been substituted at the 60 minute mark. Wilkshire gets a yellow card in the 61st minute. Australia starts to send more men forward and the ball starts to spend a lot more time down the Italian end of the field. Del Piero falls over in the 65th minute and gets the free kick for Italy. Schwarzer forced to tip the Pierlo shot over the goal and Australia finally clears the following corner.

Totti makes his entrance for Itay after 74 minutes and the crowd goes nuts. Del Piero is taken out after a very quiet game. Make me wonder why Guus left Viduka on when his game was just as quiet. At 79 minutes, Cahill turns and trys his luck and gets a corner. The corner is headed over the bar by Cahill who is disappointed with his attempt.

81 minutes gone and Alosi comes in for Sterjovski. Hiddink looks for a late game goal but its a bit too late I thought. Two minutes after the substitution, Bresciano shoots with his left foot and it sails over the bar. At 88 minutes, Iaqunita and Neill wrestle in the Australian end as tempers start to flare due to the closeness of this game. Gattuso is shown a yellow card. Aloisi has a bicycle kick shot right on 90 minutes but mis-times it and misses the ball completely. Three minutes of injury time is added.

91 minutes gone and Zambrotta is booked for game delay. And now, at 93 minutes, the controversial event. Grosso goes down in the box. The referee awards a spot kick and Totti put the ball in the net and sucks his thumb like a baby. Feelings of disappointment, disbelief and sadness all at once – losing with 10 second left due to a dive. This game deserved extra time.

The game started of exactly how we did not want. A goat after 2 minutes by Croatian number 2 Srna. This freekick was given after a late tackle by Viduka. The freekick curled into the top left of the net and I doubt any goalkeeper would have kept that shot out.

In the 6th minute, Viduka was manhandled and thrown to the ground, but a foul was not given. This was most likely due to Viduka backing into the defender first. However, the incident one minute later left me scratching my head. The defender had a hold on Viduka’s waist and prevented him from reaching the ball as it went out of play. The referee Graham Poll (whose first name I am ashamed of sharing) just smiled as if to say he thought Viduka was acting. There was a chance the ref did not have a good view on this foul, but the sideline assistant must have because his view was clear. But he did not raise his flag so I was left confused.

The Australian supporters did there best to keep the spirits high of the Socceroos, and after many opportunities at there end of the ground, a Croatian defended handballed in the square on a cross that was looking dangerous. A penalty was awarded for this blatent foul, and Craig Moore stepped up and slotted the penalty into the net in the 38th minute. 1-1.

The rest of the first half, it was fairly quiet though Kalac gave us a bit of a scare in the 40th minute with his first fumble from a corner kick that luckily swerved out of bounds before he mishandled it.

The second half started similarly to the first with Croatia scoring an early goal. Kovac twisted Cahill inside out and had a weak shot that went straight to Kalac. We all though it would be easily covered but he fumbled the ball for a second time and it rolled its way into the net. 2-1. It was now do or die for the Socceroos, they must score to draw and stay alive.

Around the 59th minute, Simunic would receive his first (of 3, yes 3) bookings for holding Kewell about twenty-five yards from goal. Strangely, this 3 card booking is not reported on the official FIFA site – or maybe it is to try to save face.

Around 70th and 71st minutes, Kewell had two good shots on goal, both saved by Pletikosa. A few minutes later, there was another handball inside the box by a Croatian defender, who leapt for a cross with his arms raised and the ball stuck him on the arm. No handball was called by the (blind) ref, despite the protests. In the 79th minute, Harry was not to be denied for a third time. Aloisi flicked on a cross with his head and Kewell controlled it before putting a right-footed volley into the net. There were hints of him being slightly offside, but after the blatent handball was missed previously, let’s call it even. And it was, now 2-2.

It was from this point on that all the madness set in. On 81 minutes, Emerton was booked for delaying the game. At 85 minutes, a foul was commited on Harry Kewell who was making a run through midfield. Dario Srna grabbed the ref and seemed very angry. However, he ended up not getting booked – or so it seemed – instead Simic who was shown a second yellow and then a red card. I was very confused by this decision and did not know why Srna was not at least yellow carded for manhandling the ref.

It became ten a side on 87 minutes as Brett Emerton became the second player to be red-carded in the space of two minutes after a deliberate handball. He would now miss the Italy game.

In the 90th minute, an Australian player (I missed who) took a quick free kick, knocking it into the back of a Croatian player and the Socceroos lost possession in the process. Why would you do something like this?? We should have slowed the game down and taken our time. A minute or two later in extra time, Simuvic received his second booking for a discression in midfield, but incredibly, was only showed a yellow card and not a red, so he stayed on the pitch! You would’ve thought that one of the other officials might have said to Graham Poll in order to alert him of this blunder, but nothing!

Play continued on and Bresciano appeared to commit a foul but the call went the Socceroos way. Australia were sending all players forward, and in a moment of pure insanity, the referee called a foul against Croatia inside the penalty box just a second or two before Cahill booted the ball into the net! Simunic gave the ref some lip (hopefully he said what I would have) and Poll showed him his third yellow card, then red, then blew the final whistle before the meaningless penalty kick too place. I am betting he wanted to escape fast and get off the pitch and out of the stadium.

So, it’s onto Italy now in K Town on June 26th. I hope we can at least draw and win on penalties on this one.

Australia lost to an underperforming Brazil side that had shaky defence at times. The Brazil we saw were far from the team we expected to see. If they were in form and working well as a team it could have been 4 goals against Australia on my count. In any case, Australia played very well, creating a few great chances, especially in the second half. Australia defended well and due only to a bit of bad luck and pushing all players forward in the last 10 minutes, conceeded a second goal. Australia should be proud of their performance and they were beaten by the number one side in the world (for now).

I was very pleased we did not conceed any goals in the first half. Going in for oranges with 0-0 gave me some confidence that we could hold them out for the next 45 minutes too. The first half was a tight contest with not too many highlights. Viduka had a shot on goal in the 5th minute that was saved well by Dida and Bresciano had a go at goals around 20 yards out that just dipped over the bar.

The second half started of with a quick goal that was scored by Adriano in the 49th minute. Ronaldo was on the edge of the box, turned and found Adriano who cut inside onto his left foot before scoring inside the near post. But three minutes later, Bresciano made a great run and hesitated a little to long before being tackled. Then on 57 minutes, Harry missed a goal that was probebly the best chance in the game and could have changed the outcome. Brazilian goalkeeper Dida came out a long way for a high ball and contested with Viduka. The ball dropped right on Harry’s feet and he put it over the bar.

Ten minutes later, Harry nearly put in a much more difficult shot. Viduka gave a deft flick pass and Harry read the pass beautifully and pushed his 30-yard effort just over the bar. In the 80th minute, Bresciano had an attempt at a spinning bicycle shot, but was denied by Dida once more. After a Ronaldinho corner, Kaka could have put things beyond doubt but missed by heading his shot into the posts. The last goal scored by Brazil was by substitute Fred, who pushed a ball into the net after a Robinho had a shot on goal and it deflected of the posts into the direction of Fred who was in front of a clear goal.

Right at the end of the game, Harry Kewell blew up at the ref and called him the biggest Brazil supporting f***wit in the stadium. The ref wasn’t happy that he was being told this by Harry, even though probebly the most ardent Brazilian supporter would have agreed with the bias in the 25-9 penalty count. The ref reported the incident to FIFA for disciplinary action and it turns out he was cleared, with the reason given being conflicting referees reports after the match. Like most of Australia, Hiddink was also annoyed with the ref’s decisions and was apparently close to being reprimanded by the fourth official due to his “sideline behavour”.

So, Australia needs to draw or win against Croatia in the last Group F game to advance into the round of 16. With the appointment of an English ref, we are hoping for a good/unbiased game. My predicition is for a 2-0 score line to Australia, but we will have to improve on our goal finishing if we are to do this. I’d be happy with a draw at the end of the day.

Tim Cahill and John Aloisi were goal scoring heroes for Australia as the Socceroos scored three times in eight minutes to beat Japan 3-1 in Kaiserslautern. It was also the first goals ever scorded by Australia at the World Cup and Australia’s first ever win in World Cup. The game that was played on Monday, 12 June 2006 will be remembered by Australians for a very long time.

The goal by Nakamura was controversial to say the least, and have been disallowed due to the pushing foul that I believe was committed on Mark Schwarzer. I also felt the Egyptian referee was quite harsh on Australia in the first half and gave a few soft penalties to Japan.

In my opinion, Australia’s best players were Mark Viduka, Scott Chipperfield and Vince Grella. Josh Kennedy made a great contribution when he came on as a replacement. Tim Cahill’s second goal was pure class and John Aloisi’s fantastic goal in the dying minutes of the game prove what a hugely under-rated player John is.

Australia will need to be careful with Yellow Cards in the next two games if they are to go through to the next round, as four of our players are currently holding one booking. They will also need to stop all of the seeking long balls in from midfield to the 18 yard box as they lost the ball far too many times doing this quite cumbersome tactic.

I am having a punt on a 1-1 draw with Brazil. Let’s see how close to genius/fool this prediction is on Monday 19, June 2006.