Aussie Guts & Grit

As soon as the USA were unceremoniously shown the door yesterday afternoon, the attention quickly was focused on the Australian squad that needed 'just' a draw against hard as nails Croatia. In addtion to the fact the seven players of Croatian descent play for the Aus team, the Croatians came out of nowhere to 3rd place in the 98 world cup, taking out Germany along the way.

Additionally, Mark Viduka's second house in Croatia was under police guard in fears that it may be torched after a potential Aussie advance. And what a match it was.. a set piece masterful goal before anyone had sat down by Croatia's Srna, a non penalty on Viduka being literally dragged down in the box, a penalty by Oz to level the match at halftime 1-1.

Then a red card to Croatia and a penalty NOT called against Croatia on another hand ball in the box. Reserve Aussie goalie Kalic flubbed a shot by Croatia to give them a 2-1 lead (where was Schwatzer?????) that lasted until Harry Kewell's blast to tie the score in the 79th minute (he was offside, but it was payback for the previous...=

Graham Poll, the Brit ref called a crap game throughout, even yellow carding Simic THREE times before finally sending him off...The Aussies scrapped and clawed eventually kept the score at 2-2, which is good enough for a date with Italia on Monday in the final 16!

So there were were in a pub in Prague with approx 100 screaming Aussies. I couldn´t even update the podcast as I didnt have enough on my phone to get a phone call off. What a game and what a wild night in probably one of the 5 most beautiful cities in the world.

My next post will be of the predictions of the final 16, and how I fared in my original final 16 before the start of the Cup.

Ta ta for now....