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Uruguay 2 def Socceroos 1

Go Socceroos!

On Saturday I drove up to Sydney after my football match in Canberra to watch the Socceroos play Uruguay at Telstra Stadium in Homebush. Although only a friendly it was billed as ‘The Rematch’ of that fateful night when we beat Uruguay on penalties to quailfy for the 2006 World Cup and the match didn’t disappoint. True, the Socceroos we minus many of their big names (Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka, Tim Cahill, Mark Schwarzer, etc) but Uruguay had a full team and it was a fiery encounter. There was a great atmosphere and a good crowd of 62,000 or so.

Jan & Philip - The German Contingent Teams Entering Field During National Anthems

The Socceroos played well and kept Uruguay contained early on. Mile Sterjovski scored in the 7th minute after a good cross from Brett Emerton. This set off some wild celebrations including the obligatory flare being thrown onto the pitch (see photo below). Sadly Uruguay equalised just before half time.

Socceroos in Action Post Goal Celebrations Flare on Pitch

The second half was going along nicely and we had a few chances, including a couple of free kicks within shooting range but couldn’t capitalise. Then unfortunately, our goal keeper, Brad Jones, in his debut game had a loss of concerntration and an easy cross went through his hands bounced behind him and was easily headed in by Uruguay’s Alvareo Recoba. It was just one of those things that happens (it has happened to me before) and a cruel way to lose a game. Fortunately it was only a friendly. Following that the Socceroos created several good chances to equalise but couldn’t quite get there. I was still pretty impressed by the performance and I think the younger inexperienced players did well. Bring on the Asian Cup in July!

It was good to have some friends (Josh, Annie, Jared and Jan) and my mum and aunt at the game. Jan (pronounced Jahn) and his other friend from Germany, Philip, were decked out in the Aussie flag and green and gold and really got into it which was great. Like true Germans they sang and cheered throughout the whole game :) Thanks also to Jeffery for organising the tickets!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 11:04 pm and is filed under News - Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Uruguay 2 def Socceroos 1”

  1. Maggie Says:
    September 2nd, 2008 at 11:02 pm

    Dear Michael,

    I’m writing on behalf of an educational publisher in Hong Kong. We would like to request permission to reproduce a photo from your blog for use in our publication. Would you mind telling us your e-mail address so that we can discuss the matter in details? My email address is maggie.pak@oup.com. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

    Best regards,
    Maggie

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