Don't suppose anyone else will care but Australia has just qualified for the World Cup finals in Rio. Crowd was 80k brilliant. Hope England can emulate later in the year.
Josh Kennedy scored the winner against Iraq. No idea who he is or who any of the opponents were, but congratulations to them anyway!
Thanks PNP. Josh Kennedy plays in Japan and at was his first game since November 2011. The opponents were Iraq former champions of Asia. Their team was mainly made up of under 20's who England will play in the up coming championships and theft skill level is very good England shouldn't take them lightly.
Kennedy is the J-League Golden Boot holder, having spent most of his career pissing about in Germany. Australia topped a group featuring the footballing giants of Oman, Saudi Arabia and Thailand to reach a second group. They've now finished in the top 2, probably 2nd to Japan, leaving behind Oman (again), Jordan (who was distracted by her TV commitments) and Iraq. A variety of sides from the groups now face a tense wait to see who'll face each other in the play-off, before being knocked out by the 5th best team in South America.
Has anyone told the police? If they're any good then they'll probably beat England's U20s, if Pearce's U21s is anything to go by. Has he gone yet?
The curse of the iPad PNP! Thanks for the stats - believe it or not some of the teams from Asia are quite good don't be fooled just because they aren't highly rated.
Japan and South Korea are both very decent sides, from what I've seen of them. A lot of the others seem to attract decent coaches but lack enough quality in their local leagues right now to take a step up. Could well change over time as the game continues to grow rapidly, especially with the interest in Europe of a number of Middle Eastern backers.
Their number 8 is the Iraq playmaker he's only 17 brilliant prospect, expect some rich European clubs to come after him.
Saif Salman? He's 19. The Xavi of Iraq, by all accounts... You're not mixing him up with Humam Tariq, are you? He's 17 and a number of European sides have looked at him.
Qualified teams thus far: Brazil - yellow home kit, blue away kit Japan - blue home kit, white away kit Australia - yellow home kit, blue away kit On that basis, Italy will be the next team to qualify. Group A: South Korea, Iran, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Lebanon Group B: Japan (Q), Australia (Q), Oman, Jordan, Iraq The real killer is some of the away trips. South Korea travelling to Beirut, Japan and Australia travelling to Amman (or Lebanon travelling to Goyang and Jordan travelling to Saitama and Melbourne) clearly have an effect, based on Jordan eking narrow wins over Japan and Australia at home - yet getting utterly battered away.
PNP you're correct , wasn't taking much notice but you obviously did. They have also a dead ringer for David Villa - only looks like him average player. HBIC dead right there the traveling these teams have to do is energy sapping to say the least.
We did finish joint 46th in the Olympics medal table last year - ahead of India, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Qatar, Belgium, Thailand, Hong Kong and quite a few others.
