4-0 to the Socceroos
A very important home win to the Aussies which sees us sitting at the top of the group 2 points ahead of Qatar and Japan, who surprisingly had a Home draw to Uzbekistan.
We had a lot to be excited about on Wednesday night.
Tim Cahill - Returned after a lengthy injury and just like he did for Everton, Timmy slotted the first goal in for the Socceroos. He will be such an important player for us in this campaign.
Craig Moore - Out of retirement and looked like he had not missed a game. Along with Lucas they were rock solid in defense and Quintana had no answer other than to fall on the ground.
Brett Emerton - Just keeps getting better in the right midfield position and although his penalty was not that convincing he slotted goal no 3 with class.
Josh “Jesus” Kennedy - His height was absolutely dominant against the Qataris and the rest of the group should be worried. As well as scoring the 4th goal of the night he had a touch in the first 3 as well.
The squad played very well. We played the ball out of defence and were very patient. I think Pim has been a very settling influence on the team and all looks well for the rest of the group matches.
New Families to Football
In my group on Wednesday night there were 8 of us. 4 of who had NEVER seen a Football match outside of their sons club matches. The Sinclair s came along and I think had a great night despite being dumped on by a huge Thunder Storm pre match. Brendon and Jack just finished their little bike ride across Australia last Friday.
John and Rebecca also came along for their second Socceroos match. They came with me to the Iraq match earlier this year.
New Football Families
It is great to see new faces at the ground and increase the awareness of the sport accross the Aussie public. I would have liked to see more than 34k there on Wednesday night. Pull your fingers out Brisbane and support our National Football team.
Cheers
Tezza
October 18 2008 | General | No Comments »
Australia v Qatar
This Wednesday night will be the second of 8 matches for the Socceroos in round 4 of our World Cup Qualification. I have tickets along with my wife and many friends who have travelled to Brisbane to watch.
We will be without Harry, Bresc and Vinnie but I am confident that we have the stocks to put up a good showing at “Brisbane Stadium”. Tim Cahill is back after a long injury break and Craig Moore has come out of retirement.
Tim is one of the most exciting talents to leave our shores for a career in Europe and I am sure he will delight us on Wednesday night. I think he will be slotted in behind a Josh Kennedy and Scott McDonald strike partnership.
Being an old fullback from back in the day, I have always been a huge Moore fan. I am very excited to see him in the squad. I think Pim has a good headache to have. Chris Coyne has played better each time he has put the Gold Shirt on and I am very impressed. With Uruguayan Sebastian Quintana leading the charge for the Qataris I feel we need a solid central defence and Moores experience would certainly be a huge bonus. However the fitness and speed of Quintana might see the need for a Jade North or Mathew Spiranovic to partner Socceroo Captain Lucas Neil in the centre. I am glad it is Pims choice and not mine.
I can’t wait for Wednesday night. It has been nearly 4 months since our last Live match here in Australia. I think there are still some tickets left but hopefully it will be close to being full. Come on you Queenslanders show Australia how good a crowd we are at Supporting the premier International Football team in this country.
Cheers
Tezza
October 14 2008 | Socceroos and World Cup | 2 Comments »
Hi all, I know it’s been a while. In fact it has been a whole month and looking at my Google Analytics it appears I am writing for myself. I have officially reached Zero readers.
WHY?
I started writing this blog to spread my enthusiasim for watching the Socceroos and hopefully encourage others to follow them or whatever team that interested you. It is harder than I thought it would be and combined with a disrupted employment regime in the past few months, I have just dropped the ball all together here.
WHAT NOW?
What I will be doing is writing for myself in the future. It will be a release. I have always cared what people think about me and what I say. I know I don’t say things just so I don’t make waves. I think a 40 something man just has to be able to say “stuff it” and say what I damn well want to.
AFTER ALL IT IS MY BLOG
So if you have comments, please leave them. I may agree or disagree with you, but rest assured, this is NOT a democracy here, it is MY opinion.
Cheers
Tezza
October 13 2008 | General | 4 Comments »
Glory In Tashkent
There are many Australians tonight saying to their friends, family and partners “where is Tashkent?”. And there are about 100 or so Aussie fans who can tell them exactly where it is and how to get there.
Heather, Pablo and the GGA will be heading home in the next few days with a huge smile on their faces. A 1-0 victory to the Aussies has us sitting on 3 points from 1 match with 7 to go. This was a match where 1 point would have been considered a victory. Possibly one of the hardest away trips in World Cup Football and we came away with 3 points.
I know I wasn’t the only person up watching at 1:30am this morning and it was well worth it. I was first met with an interview with the travelling fans. A fantastic effort form the Aussies all over the park. Lucas Neil and Chris Coyne were outstanding and it was like Scott Chipperfield never missed a game, and he scored the only goal of the game. That came by another cross from our new Mr Consistency, Luke Wilkshire.
This all bodes well for our next match against Qatar in Brisbane on October 15. It is so much better for us going through this Asian route to WC glory than in Oceania.
Let me know what you think, leave a comment.
Cheers
Tezza
September 11 2008 | General | No Comments »
Perth to Paradise
I have mentioned here before that a mate of mine and his son are riding across Australia on push bikes to raise awareness and funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters, a mentoring organisation for troubled youth.
Well tomorrow is the day Jack and Brendon Sinclair head off on their adventure. If you can donate, please click here or the link to the side of this page.
Below is a caricature of Jack and Brendon by Phil Spratt. This guy is a brilliant caricaturist, check out his web site.
4500km in 30 days, a truly inspirational journey and it was Jacks idea. He is dragging his ugly father along for the ride. I am thinking that after 4500km it might just shut him up for a day or two as well. Who am I kidding. Good Luck Brendon and Jack.
I am Inspired
This morning i got up and went for a run. Being 40+ and overweight I sure need the exercise and if a 15 year old is motivated to ride across Australia then surely i can get of my fat arse and do something for myself. Thanks again Jack.
Cheers
Tezza
September 10 2008 | General | 1 Comment »
Where the hell is Tashkent??
It is great to read stories about travelling Football fans. The number of Aussies travelling to watch the boys play around the world has increased over the years especially with a group like the Green and Gold Army leading the way.
The Grandmother of All Fans
Heather Kayatz is a 70 year old Grandmother from Sydney who has been following as many Socceroo matches as she can after travelling to Germany in 1974. There is a good article on The World Game about our intrepid supporters in Tashkent.
I certainly hope I am still following the Socceroos at 70. Great effort Heather.
GGA member Paul Bareston has even orgainised a welcome party for our travelers. It is great to see some wider media interest in our fans. The great thing about our fans is we are nothing like the travelling hoards of some countries that are going to give us a bad name.
It is a privilege to have met Heather on a number of occasions now and to mingle with such a happy bunch of like minded fans before, during and after Socceroo matches.
And for those of you who do not know where Tashkent is, click here.
I just Love being a Socceroo Fan
Cheers
Tezza
September 09 2008 | General | No Comments »
Australia and Asian Football.
Since our acceptance as a Member of the Asian Football Conference and of course our successful sojourn to Germany in 2006, Australian Football both Internationally and Nationally has grown.
We now find ourselves in the 4th and final round of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. From a fans point of view I find this very exciting. I find myself planning my life around when and sometimes where the Socceroos are playing. I have just taken on a new position in a new company, which will take a lot of work and hours to get going. In my interview I pointed out that I would require 2-3 weeks off next June as I wanted to go to Qatar and back to Sydney and Melbourne to watch the final stages of our campaign. It was met with a wry smile, but he understood and I will be going.Maybe not the whole family, but definitely with my lovely wife
But between now and then there are 4 other opportunities for Aussies to follow our team. Starting with Tashkent this Wednesday where there is a good crew of Aussies going. Following Football is not only an opportunity to support a team, but to see some fantastic parts of the World. Since the draw was announced I have told many people (non football) about the Aussies playing in Tashkent, and they have no idea what I am talking about. This is one of the oldest cities in the World and is part of the Old Silk Road trading route between Asia and Europe. It also part of the old Soviet Union and is now an Independent country in Central Asia.
I am really looking forward to hearing the stories from these Asian trekkers when they return. Part of the crew is the biggest Australian Fan of them all. A 70 year old lady who has been travelling to follow the Socceroos since the 1974 World Cup in West Germany.
Our Football future is now in Asia and the trips to come for the fans will be fantastic. Like many fans, I will be planning my next 20 years worth of holidays around Socceroos matches, and there will be many of them.
Remember, for those of us not lucky enough to be in Tashkent.
- Aus East Coast - 1am Thursday Sept 11
- Aus Central - 12:30am Wednesday Sept 10
- Aus West Coast - 11pm Wednesday Sept 10
- London - 4pm Wednesday Sept 10
Cheers
Tezza
September 07 2008 | Socceroos and World Cup | 2 Comments »
Happy Fathers Day
What a present. Up at 4:45am to watch the Socceroos and they WIN. 2-1 to the boys in Green and Gold.
I thought it was a good all round performance by the starting 11 and will go a long way to boost their confidence on Wednesday in Tashkent.
As usual the GGA was there and with good numbers. Being so close to England the London Crew was there in force. I am sure that Lindsay, Longy and the crew are partying hard in Eindhoven right now. I believe there is a recovery session in Amsterdam tomorrow.
Perhaps they will all be looking up the “Liver Cleansing Diet” on Monday.
The next phase of World Cup Qualifying has now started and our first match is Wednesday in Tashkent. There are 50 GGA members heading to the old Silk Road city in Uzbekistan. I am sure it will be a trip that will be talked about for many years to come. Wish I was there.
And to all you Fathers out there, Happy Fathers Day
Tezza
September 07 2008 | Socceroos | No Comments »
What is going wrong with young men these days????????????????
Last night my son and 5 of of his mates were attacked by a group of 30 or so heroes who are apparently from a local gang called the “South Side Soldiers”. A Soldier is a person of honour and valour who defends the civillians of this country. These gutless, brain dead morons are far from soldiers.
My son was lucky and escaped with a few grazes and bruises. His best mate however is in hospital tonight awaiting surgery tomorrow to have plates inserted into his fractured jaw because the low life’s thought it would be fun to lay into him whilst he was laying on the ground.
I hear and read too many stories of how young men die from a single punch. To hear this story this morning and how close my own son could have come to being a statistic is every parents nightmare. Until I actually saw my son which was almost 2 hours after we spoke, my guts were just churning and my head was just processing all the possible scenarios.
No one died in this incident. But young men need to wake up to themselves and realise that punching someone for fun is NOT acceptable.
Grow a head you brain dead morons who think being in some kind of American style gang is cool. My only hope is that if you keep up the violent ways then Karma will catch up and put you in a grave at a young age.
I certainly hope I am not Robinson Crusoe here.
Terry
August 31 2008 | General | 1 Comment »
It’s All Good
Football in this country is looking very healthy now. Our national men’s team has started preparation for round 4 of the Asian WC Qualifiers with a 2-2 draw to South Africa in London. There were some good performances and was a game to dust off the cobwebs before Tashkent in 10 days time.
In the past 12 months our National Woman’s team, The Matilda’s, have done themselves and the country proud. They are our most successful Football team ever. The forthcoming National Woman’s League will strengthen the sport here at home and give us fans more opportunity to see these ladies in action. Kickoff for the Westfield W League will be in late October some time.
The A- League kicked off 2 weeks ago with 3 draws and one result. I thought, oh no, what are we in for. Then round 2, and with the exception of the Roar v AUFC 1-1 draw, there were 3 stunning matches netting 16 goals. Now with 2 matches in round 3 we have seen 8 goals already. I am off to Suncorp this afternoon to see the Roar hopefully turn a dominant performance into a win. I will be watching from a corporate box courtesy of a generous supplier. Happy Days.
The National Youth League will kickoff on September 26 which will showcase our talented youth and give them a path to senior football in this country.
The FFA has also announced this week that teams from the Gold Coast and Townsville will enter an expanded A League for season 5. Living on the Gold Coast I am delighted, and will whole heartedly support the new kids on the block. I think Frank Lowy and the FFA have steered football in this country on to a very steady course which will reap benefits for the code here in Australia.
All this and NO reports of disgruntled players breaking contracts and skulking off to France. No alcohol fueled benders or getting shot at in Kings Cross. We even have the good news story of once drug affected Mark Bosnich returning to full time football for the first time in 7 years. Our code is showing the other codes in this country how to behave. It will bring more fans and more corporate support.
These are exciting times for Football in Australia and I am pleased to be amongst.
What do you think?? leave a comment
Cheers
Tezza
August 31 2008 | General | No Comments »
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