Australia 2 Croatia 2

Srna 3' (Croatia 1-0)
Moore (p) 39' (1-1)
Kovac 57' (Croatia 2-1)
Kewell 79' (2-2)


Source:SMH

WHAT A GAME!! Feisty at times (ALOT of shirt-pulling any why not with so much at stake for both sides), this game was well worth watching. Australia clearly should have been given two penalties, the first one when Josip Simunic held back Mark Viduka in the penalty area early in the first half and the second one when Stjepan Tomas hand-balled during the second stanza...Tomas should consider playing in the AFL with his performance (2 handballs?!?!).

And what about the goals?!? Srna's blasting free kick shocked the Aussies I'm sure, Craig Moore got us back with the penalty (What if Viduka had taken it?), Kalac must be one relieved man after his howler against Kovac (Did he play because of the significance of the match?) and Harry Kewell...well...has to be the most important goal of his international career since the one against Iran 8 years ago when the Socceroos failed to qualify for World Cup 98.

Interesting post-match analysis would be the performance of the ref. He did alright but was probably caught up with the mayhem in the final 5 minutes. Did he really give Simunic 3 yellow cards? Emerton's send off could be bad for the Aussies because I think he has been our best throughout the tournament but we'll see.

So, Guss Hiddink has another crack at the Italians next Tuesday morning. 4 years ago, he led South Korea past the Azzuris. I haven't yet seen the Italians play in the tournament so can't say too much of their performance but it'll definitely be an intriguing match.

Ok, gonna take a quick nap before going to uni to study.

GO SOCCEROOS!!!

Sidenote to Simon Hill who commentated the match: Does Josh Kennedy really look like Jesus? :P