Hands Off Our Mark!

Like many other individuals last night, I planted myself on the couch and watched the soccer friendly between Australia and Holland. Even to my relatively untrained eye, I could see that the first half was a pretty one-sided affair, with the Dutch dominating play and hardly letting our boys get anywhere near the ball. It didn't help that they scored within the first 10 minutes either, no doubt rattling our players (not to mention this edgy viewer). The second half however was a different matter. Whilst Holland still continued to dominate and keep possession, our fellas did pick up their pace and manage to cover the Dutch a bit better.

At one point during this latter half, Mark Viduka was fouled in the penalty area. As the opportunity to equalise presented itself, the Dutch crowd facing him behind the net booed and jeered. Watching with one eye open, I could see the ball slickly rebound off the post before Tim Cahill pounced on it and beautifully landed it in the corner of the net. That goal was a shot in the arm for the Australian side and it's quite a feat to level 1-1 with the likes of Holland who sit 3rd in the FIFA world rankings. It seems like everyone in the media today has been harping on about Mark Schwarzer's dozen odd saves. They've also felt the need to harp on about something else which has really raised my ire, and from the moment I saw Viduka's penalty shot miss, I had a hunch this would happen.


On Radio National this morning, in his usual brief sport round-up, Warwick Hadfield was talking about last night's game and made the comment that Mark Viduka missed the penalty and it was something he's making a habit of (or something to that effect). Then in the evening, Drew Morphett was on 774 ... and by the way, Drew Morphett largely commentates on AFL football ... and was also very quick to point out that he was concerned about Mark Viduka's form because he missed a penalty again. I also watched our world cup qualifier against Uruguay late last year, and too cringed as the ball went wide during that offending penalty that both these commentators were referring to.

I find it really funny how we as such a sport-obsessed nation never seem to be satisfied with our sportspeople. It's taken 30 odd years for us to shake off the demons of the last time we were at the World Cup. No one ever expected we could qualify. Now that we have, the mentality seems to be, "Well, they've made it but how far will they actually go?" So is there no point qualifying if there's no realistic chance of winning??? Bugger enjoyment and loving the game itself. And how lately, with the World Cup just under a week away (yay!) everyone seems to be one of those add-water-and-stir-instant-experts on the beautiful game. I know I couldn't face a soccer net with a mass of orange in front of me (both opposing team and supporters in the stands making a racket), not to mention probably a fresh memory of that Uruguay penalty too, in a foreign country! What I really don't understand is why sports commentators are concentrating on something like this red herring, while there are so many (perhaps valid?) complaints over the physicality of last night's game. For instance, I haven't heard anyone dissing Luke Wilkshire today - and he was the one who was sent straight off the field for fouling one of the Dutch guys as he took a corner. And as for the incident with Collingwood's Blake Caracella during the weekend? The consequences of his injury are potentially far more dire than any missed penalty or red card. Funnily enough, I didn't hear Drew Morphett mentioning that.