Olyroos Olympic Rundown

By: Daniel | August 11th, 2008

The first two group stage matches of the Olympics have been underway and brought about mixed emotions to myself and the nation.

Olyroos 1 vs 1 Serbia

This was a pathetic excuse for a game! They did terrible with the only thing interesting being Zadkos hairdo. The team did really badly, Topor-Stanley couldn’t settle into the defense, the midfield couldn’t string two passes together and the attack was shameful… but there was good points though. Federici has an awesome game in between the posts not letting anything past him, until the goal which wasn’t his fault. Spiranovic was also a great presence in defense. I played against this guy at high school and he ripped us apart and hes clearly showing his worth for the Olys. Our striking pair of Thompson and Nikita never really got much service, but when they did get the ball they were hashing it and were terrible to watch. The goal was decent, Zadko slotted it away well but besides that it was a very dreary match.

Australia line-up:
1.Adam Federici (gk), 2.Jade North, 4.Mark Milligan (Capt) (16.Billy Celeski 66’), 5.Matthew Spiranovic, 6.Nikolai Topor-Stanley, 8.Stuart Musialik, 10.Archie Thompson (15.Kristian Sarkies 76’), 11.David Carney, 12.Trent McClenahan, 13.Ruben Zadkovich, 17.Nikita Rukavytsya (9.Mark Bridge 88’).

Yellow Cards: Matthew Spiranovic 50’, Trent McClenahan 60’.

Olyroos 0 vs 1 Argentina

Now this was a little better, Coming up against an immense Argentina side featuring players like Messi, Mascherano, Gago, Riquelme, Lavezzi, i must admit i thought we were going to get absolutely owned! But it wasn’t that bad. I mean we put absolutely everyone behind the ball at times and this really frustrated the Argies but we had our chances too. I was very happy with the performance of boys like Celeski, Federici and everyone else in defense as they naturalized the threats. Messi absolutely ran rings around us at times but he couldn’t get a shot off which frustrated them more. This allowed us to play some good football in patches however when it got to Archie Thompson nothing came out of it. Archie needs to start on the bench next game, for an overage player who is supposed to bring us experience, hes becoming a liability (typified when he absolutely hashed a one on one with the keeper). When Arnie chucked on Ruka, a spark was created up front until the Argies scored. Then us sitting back watching them pass the ball round their back four for the duration of the match.

Was a fairly impressive performance after our last game against Serbia but in the end the Argies had too much quality and Prevailed, although we did very well to keep them at 1 goal.. we should be proud.

After the two games it appears that we have a solid defense, a solid midfield but our forward line is shocking. surprise surprise Arnold! If you took your head out of your arse and brought along Djite and Burns (OUR MOST PROMISING YOUNG STRIKERS!) we might have had a chance for a medal, but it looks like we might not be able to get out of the group barring a win against the strong Ivory Coast. Don’t know if we can do it with this forward line.

Oh and Channel 7s Coverage… ABSOLUTELY SHIT! the matches are played delayed as hell, commentators are ridiculous and they cut to 5 minute ads ever 10 minutes. Nobody screws football like seven! get them off!