Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Asian Cup Blog: The Socceroos tread a new path via China

 If Brisbane Stadium plunges into darkness during the quarter final game against China I’d be checking up on Exodus Chapter 10 again, especially after a plague of moths of biblical proportion descended over Brisbane Stadium Saturday night.
  
Looking at the horrible state of the pitch and the countless bobbles it produced during the game against Taegeuk Warriors, and the sight of moths being hoovered out of the coaches and substitute benches it all shows yet again that if you ain't living in Sydney you are camping out. (That’s a Paul Keating line by the way don’t blame me I’m just an agent of information)

Apparently the six yard pitch on both ends is being replaced.  The six yard box doesn’t need to be dug up, the whole pitch does! Perhaps the groundsmen got confused, that he may of thought he wasn’t laying a football pitch but a cricket pitch instead, were usually cracks in the pitch one the fifth day of play are a good thing.

 Having to play China in Brisbane on Thursday night  means that Melbourne (Quarter Finals) and Sydney (Semi Finals) miss out on any more Socceroos games at the Asian Cup, until the final in Sydney and that the cow paddocks of Brisbane (Quarter Finals) and Newcastle (Semi Finals) will now host the Socceroos not so set in stone march to glory. 


#i'llcampwithyou

Ange Postecoglou didn’t play his best side in the most important game of the group and now he’s stuck in Brisbane.

In solidarity of the Socceroos cause many fans (me) found that the overwhelming response to the Socceroos loss to South Korea was not disappointment but sympathy.

When news came out that the Socceroos would have to stay in Brisbane for another five days, a social media campaign in solidarity with the Socceroos precarious accommodation situation led to an outpouring of support by a single Australian fan. 

Sympathising with the Socceroos plight a social media campaign almost started to go viral.

Taking inspiration from the #illridewithyou hash tag that sprung up during the Sydney siege a new hash tag started to emerge with the campaign #i'llcampwithyou.

The twitter hash tag started to show up on twitter. Ok it was only my twitter account but if it gets to 10 people it’s gone viral right?  


One point three Billion Dragons

The Socceroos will have to not only fight the threat of the Chinese momentum and their over one billion Team Dragon supporters cheering them on back home, but it’s the conditions in Brisbane that will be the biggest obstacle our brave Socceroos will have to overcome.

 To defeat Team Dragon the Socceroos will have to play two games in Brisvegas in five days.  Can they get over the swamp like conditions that permeate the Brisbane Stadium, a low lying area that often floods and causes moth plagues and kills stadium grass?

Add to that, the heat and muggy conditions and I ask you: how will the players be in top condition when they will be unable to sleep due to the sound of Brisbane locals waking up at six am to mow their lawns and weed waker their driveways?

  
More One – Two’s!

 China have three danger men that none of the Socceroos would ever have heard of. (Especially if they have the same attitude as this arrogant ignorant Australian journalist/blogger)

Midfielders Cai Huikang, Zheng Zhi and right winger Sun Ke, do the rotation of positions, flicks and one two's very well.

The Socceroos have done just two – one, two in two games and they scored one goal (Robbie Kruse against Oman) and just missed another (Kruse against South Korea).

Surely two, one- two’s in two games is not enough? That’s almost as hard as saying red leather, yellow leather very fast.

 Couldn’t host a fart in a baked beans factory!

The Asian Cup has been a good tournament but it hasn’t been a great one, it’s shown up the limitation of Australia to run a football tournament.
I don’t understand the choice of having Newcastle Stadium, with its limited capacity due to grassy hills, as a host of a Semi Final? WTF?

The omission of the Sydney Football Stadium and the lack of proper football stadia in Adelaide and Perth, the state of the pitches in Newcastle and Brisbane highlight the work that needs to be done structurally. WTF?

The AFC have has also contributed to the mini debacle, the ridiculous scenario of having teams like China, Japan and South Korea play away from Sydney and in Brisbane, Newcastle and Canberra instead is mind boggling. WTF?

The choice of Stadium Australia for games like Uzbekistan - North Korea, Bahrain – Qatar. WTF?

Melbourne is the sporting capital of the world? My Greek Hairy arse you are! The rectangular stadium in Melbourne with its limited capacity opening the tournament was a joke! WTF?

Brisbane (we’ve already talked about them) 
The coverage has also been a contentious issue. The ABC showing Socceroos group games on a two hour delay is a disgrace! WTF?

 Fox Sports coverage of the Asian Cup is great but for international journo’s to come to Australia and not being able to get coverage in some hotels because the channels have changed is really amateur hour. WTF?

Australia acts like a first world country with the way some of their citizens throw the modern epitaph “ first world problems” around,  but in football terms sometimes the land down under has “third world problems”, no wonder we only got one vote during the World Cup bidding process.

 Let hope the Socceroos can beat China. It sets up an exciting semi final against the team the Socceroos can’t beat at the Asian Cup – Japan.

Perhaps a new dream meeting in the final awaits us? The Socceroos vs Iran.

Does anyone know where serial pest Peter Hore is? Get the straight jacket ready now!



No comments:

Post a Comment