Iceland beat England in Euro 16, and the Vikings Celebrate

The World Game on Postecoglou's Shoulders

After a period of unrest, which included Australia's tougher-than-expected course through to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, then subsequent 6-0 thrashing at the hands of both Brazil and France in friendlies, before the axing of coach Holger Osieck and some unflattering words from skipper Lucas Neill, Football Federation Australia (FFA) has made a positive and encouraging move in appointing Ange Postecoglou to a five year contract as head of coach of the Socceroos.

Ange Postecoglou Announced as Socceroos Coach - ABC News

Whether the spirit around the squad is down or there were problems with the German coach, it is a good time to go with an Australian coach. Postecoglou has had unrivalled success in the local leagues, leading South Melbourne to two NSL titles in the 1990's before taking the reins of the Australian Under 20's team for seven years. He then returned to lead Brisbane to two A-League titles. His grounding has been extensive and thorough, and he has always given the impression that he rarely gets flustered and is also hugely invested in the teams he has been in charge of. This is exactly what the national team needs now.

How he goes about inspiring and reinventing the team should be very interesting. He has a huge job ahead of him in getting a competitive and enthusiastic unit together for the World Cup, before turning his sights towards the Asia Cup, and the regenerating of the team over the next couple of years. From the outside, it would appear that in Ange we have just the man for the job.

A Trio of Amazing Events

Australia was on the brink of losing the third ODI against India on Saturday, requiring 44 runs from the final 18 balls. Then James Faulkner took 30 runs from Ishant Sharma in the 48th over, and the rest was history.

Australia's Tim Cahill scored the fastest ever goal in MLS (US soccer) history, scoring eight seconds after the kick-off. Amazing stuff.

And in the NHL (US ice hockey), for only the 10th time in 96 years, a goalie has scored a goal.

Brilliant Socceroos Restore the Faith of a Nation

The wonderful effort tonight by the national soccer team (or 'football' team if you must call it that) was a joy to watch, and for the first time probably since the 4-0 drubbing we received at the hands of Germany in the first match of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, you could feel everyone who watched the game actually believing that this campaign is not a lost cause after all.

Holger Osiek reacted to the dreadful performance against Oman, and named a team that looked 100% better in all areas. But none of this would have mattered if they didn't perform. Facing Japan in Japan, who only needed a draw to qualify for the playoffs in Brazil, Australia needed to win, or draw at the very least. They had to make a statement, that they were a team that was to be reckoned with, and if Japan tore them apart, then the fact that they could practically kiss the World Cup goodbye would be irrelevant. If they couldn't compete with Japan, they could not hope to achieve anything on the world stage.

But they were quite magnificent. The defence was not perfect, but it was a mile in front of recent efforts. And the attack on the rebound was terrific, even though they were unable to take the chances they had.
Even halfway through the second half, when a 0-0 draw looked almost a formality, it was just a pleasure to see that our guys were in the game, and were fighting hard.
And then Tommy Oar fluked a cross that squeezed past the keeper's hand and inside the crossbar corner to amazingly have Australia up 1-0, and suddenly an amazing win was in sight, and three crucial and unexpected points. Though it was an unfortunate handball in the penalty area with four minutes remaining that levelled the scores for a final scoreline of 1-1, Australia could hold their heads high. With two home games remaining against Jordan and Iraq, and needing to win both the qualify, this task doesn't seem such a tough ask as it may have a couple of days ago.

But the real winner was the game of football. Isn't it a pleasure to watch a game of soccer that is not dogged by repeated dives and players rolling in "agony" on the ground holding up the flow of the game, then being stretchered off, only to immediately jump to their feet and run back into the game. Against Oman this is all that happened and it ruined the game. Here, there was not one stretcher, and only a couple of times where a player was down for anything more than a couple of seconds. It was refreshing and wonderful, and a testament to both teams for their sportsmanship and their toughness.

A Day of Peace

Helen and the kids went up to Bowral today with Chris and Chris, essentially to see a kids movie The Pirates: Band of Misfits, but also to check out the Wade's new winery-of-choice. This left me a half day at home to my own devices.

So what did I do? I hear you ask. Well... I had a hard look at the bank account, and set up to pay our upcoming bills, and realised we are struggling a little again. Oh well, somehow we'll get out of it. I guess. I also cooked dinner - beef and vegetable casserole tonight, I'm guessing that won't be super popular.
Then it was time to watch some footy, the AFL was on from 1pm, but at 4pm was the A League Grand Final between Brisbane and Perth. And what a great game of soccer it was. Tough, tight, attacking. Seriously, when the game is played well, there is no reason soccer in this country should be in any trouble. 50,000 people squeezed into Suncorp Stadium, hanging on every move. The only shame abot the game was the rushed penalty given in the 97th minute in Brisbane's goal box, allowing Barisha to score the penalty that won the game 2-1 with 10 seconds left on the clock. The game deserved to go into extra time, and the penalty probably should not have been awarded.
Not that the Brisbane team or fans cared.

Roar Win A-League Grand Final

More drama with Josh and his (non) eating of his dinner tonight. I am now honestly looking forward to the day he is eating us out of house and home, because the 105 minutes he took tonight to eat a piece of potato, a pieve of carrot and a piece of beef, being cajoled, smacked and set to a corner constantly is wearing me down. I think I should stop giving him dinner. It's becoming a waste of time.