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Everton had three players involved in the 0-0 Australia vs Holland. All three came through without apparent injury.
Cahill was subbed at half time but that was probably to keep him fresh for Australia's important Asian Cup game against Oman next Wednesday.
Lucas Neill will benefit from a good solid workout while Heitinga who played in the back line looked impressive for the Dutch. All of his many passes were daisy cutters.
Dick Fearon,
West Oz Posted 10/10/2009 at 08:59:15
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After a shaky start, Neill looked very good in the centre-back position. He was arguably Australia’s best player in a game where the Dutch dominated possession for long periods.
His reading of the game was excellent, making numerous timely interceptions. He looked comfortable bringing the ball out from the backline in an attempt to engineer a counter-attack, and his distribution (except for one misplaced pass) was very sound.
Heitinga looked equally as comfortable, playing cente-back for the Dutch but ofcoarse he wasn’t extended as much as Neill.
Cahill played up front supporting Josh Kennedy. The two were often isolated and our Timmy didn’t really get a look in. All in all, a solid hit out for our boys and most importantly no injuries to report.
Interesting, after the recent banter on this site on the merits (or otherwise) of the Socceroos ("Tony Hibbert would be a regular for them if he were Australian", etc., etc. - which, by the way and for what it’s worth, I think he would), to see this result (FIFA 3rd ranked, now 12 games undefeated, including Kuijt, Sneijder and Huntelaar, etc.) and compare it with Ingerland’s "effort" against the mighty 25th ranked Ukraine.
Which raises an interesting question: who will Evertonians support if (please, please) a Cahill and Neill enhanced Socceroos are drawn against an Everton-less (neither Jags nor anyone of our other English fellas have any realistic chance, do they?) Free Lions at the World Cup?
"Who will Evertonians support if (please, please) a Cahill and Neill enhanced Socceroos are drawn against an Everton-less (neither Jags nor anyone of our other English fellas have any realistic chance, do they?) Free Lions at the World Cup?"
Easy: I would support the Socceroos and Cahill everytime and hope Cahill got Rooney sent off and scored a headed winner.
No contest. The team with the most Everton players.
Everton players everyday.... How the hell could I support a team, even England, with the red shite players, playing against fellas I love.. (bad choice of words). Fellas who play for the Blues is the point I’m trying to make... lol
When it comes to a huge competition like the World Cup, I will support my country (England) no matter how many Everton players they are against as I am not Australian, Nigerian or South African — I am English!
Don’t get me wrong, I am the biggest Evertonian you will find, but when it comes to an international tournament, I will support my country and want them to do well.
Like Ian, I will always support England in a tournament... but if Timmy was clean through on goal....
Good report, Nick.
Neill was a bit shakey (1 reserve game in 4 months!) at the start but got much better later on. I was impressed with him especially as we were up against decent opposition.
Johnny H was very good too. Most of the game he played a sweeping role as Australia had only one up front (if that).
If you think Moyes is conservative, you should see Pim Verbeek.
I’m with Ian and Steve. I’d have to support my country. Although, defeat would be a lot easier to take if it was dished out by Everton players!
http://www.worldfootballcolumns.com/
I always support the underdog so I go for Australia in football and England in Cricket.
It was not the best of games as the scoreline suggests. What I did like was the way the Dutch played the ball out of the defense — short passing, no hoofball whatsoever. Of course it is easy to do so against an Australia that, when they lost the ball, pulled back deep into their own half. Still, I liked it.
On topic: I’d support Australia, Steve.
You should always support the country of your birth. Born English, support England; Born Aussie, support Australia. Not rocket science is it.
To support a national team against your own because a player from your club plays for them is sad to be honest. Said player would piss off out the door for another club if offered a bigger pay day.
The Aussies have the luxury of supporting who they want at national level because all their decent players play abroad. As for ex-pats, you should be ashamed if you support Australia over England. Would an Aussie do the same if he lived over here? No he wouldn’t! In that respect I’ll take an Aussie over a turncoat ex-pat anyday of the week.
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1 Posted 10/10/2009 at 15:46:27
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His reading of the game was excellent, making numerous timely interceptions. He looked comfortable bringing the ball out from the backline in an attempt to engineer a counter-attack, and his distribution (except for one misplaced pass) was very sound.
Heitinga looked equally as comfortable, playing cente-back for the Dutch but ofcoarse he wasn’t extended as much as Neill.
Cahill played up front supporting Josh Kennedy. The two were often isolated and our Timmy didn’t really get a look in. All in all, a solid hit out for our boys and most importantly no injuries to report.