| November 16th, 2005 07:40 AM |
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| Daethgod |
after 32 painful years of near misses and 'gallant' losses
The Socceroos are going to the World Cup in 2006 !!
now if only the Stones would come and visit in 2006.....
Socceroos through to World Cup finals
AAP
16nov05
AFTER more than 30 years of failure, the Socceroos have finally qualified for the World Cup finals with a 4-2 penalty shootout victory over Uruguay in their two-legged playoff at Telstra Stadium tonight.
Socceroos substitute John Aloisi netted the winning spot-kick after a night of high drama, in which goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer was heroic with two penalty saves.
Australia won tonight's playoff second leg 1-0 after Uruguay's 1-0 win in the first leg of the World Cup qualifier, which meant the aggregate scores were tied to force the penalty shootout.
The Socceroos scored the only goal of tonight's match through Marco Bresciano in the 34th minute.
Bresciano netted after a delightful move involving Tim Cahill, Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell, who had been introduced just minutes earlier as a substitute, to send a noisy crowd of more than 80,000 into raptures.
But Uruguay will rue two missed chances which could have won them the tie under the away goals rule.
First a Socceroos first half defensive lapse left midfielder Alvaro Recoba one-on-one with goalkeeper Schwarzer, only for the Inter Milan player to put the ball wide.
Then just after halftime, striker Richard Morales had a free header from a corner, which he headed tamely into the ground and it bounced over the bar.
The match then went to extra-time, in which Uruguay came closest to scoring with three minutes remaining when Morales shot wide while unmarked.
That led to the penalty shootout, with Schwarzer saving Uruguay's first penalty attempt from Dario Rodriguez after Harry Kewell had netted the first spot-kick.
Lucas Neill and Tony Vidmar for Australia and Gustavo Varela and Fabian Estoyanoff all converted their penalties, before Socceroos skipper Mark Viduka shot his side's fourth penalty wide.
Then Schwarzer stepped up to keep his side in the match, saving Marcelo Zalayeta's spot-kick with a magnificent dive to his left.
It meant Australia could win the match with Aloisi's final penalty, and the striker made no mistake.
Australia has not qualified for the World Cup since 1974, which was held in the old West Germany.
Since then, the Socceroos have suffered heartache after heartache in their attempts to make the World Cup finals, losing playoffs to Argentina in 1993, Iran in 1997 and Uruguay four years ago.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17272059%255E661,00.html
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| November 16th, 2005 07:47 AM |
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| Zeeta |
Congrats man!
Hope you get drawn with England anD we can whoop you guys at football as well as cricket!
Enjoy! |
| November 16th, 2005 10:23 AM |
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| Moonisup |
thank you Guus Hiddink! |
| November 16th, 2005 10:42 AM |
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| glencar |
Mozart would be proud! |
| November 16th, 2005 03:22 PM |
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| gimmekeef |
Glad your side is in...but for me watching soccer is like watching paint dry...I just dont get it...but millions world wide sure do....If teh Stones can play the Superbowl then why not the World Cup which is certainly a bigger global deal... |
| November 16th, 2005 06:14 PM |
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| Soldatti |
Congrats, they deserve it after 31 years of wait. |
| November 17th, 2005 06:30 AM |
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| corgi37 |
its a great effort, but Daeth, why the fuck was John Travolta singing OUR national anthem with the team after the win???????
I know he flew his 707 here for Qantas 85th birthday (oldest airline in the world, suckas!!), but i didnt know the wig wearing scientologist knew our anthem!
And, i tell ya, he KNEW THE WORDS!!
More than 90% of us convicts! Good on him. Good on the Socceroos. We beat Uruaguay. As Homer said: "Look at this country!! You are gay!! hahahahahaha" |
| November 17th, 2005 06:57 PM |
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| Daethgod |
yer and i hear that JT and the Socceroos were all singing ' Your'e the One That I Want "..????
bizarre man
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