Pikatto

I found the following article at newkerala.com discussing the increasing animosity between Japan and Australia after Australia's 3:1 win.

 Tensions mount between Japan, Australia teams

Oehringen (Germany): All is not well between Group F sides Japan and Australia, with the Australians upset by Japanese jibes accusing them of playing dirty.

"I am very angry when people suggest these things," Australian coach Guus Hiddink said Sunday, referring to comments made by a member of the Japanese football authorities.

"We have a good team. They like to fight, but every team must fight in my opinion," he said.

Australian striker Mark Viduka added: "We as Australians, and our team in particular, play fair every time we go out. We are very competitive people. We like to win and we will never pull out of a tackle. But that doesn't mean we go out to hurt people."

The comments from the Japanese come after Australia caused an uproar in the Dutch camp by injuring three Holland players in a pre-World Cup friendly with late tackles.

Well, I have news for Australian coach Guus Hiddink and striker Mark Viduka. If your team was fighting, they sure as hell weren't doing it fairly. Australia committed twice as many fouls as Japan according to FIFAs match report–22 compared to 11–and those are just the ones that the referee managed to call.

I do, however, agree that Nakamura Shunsuke's goal was questionable, just as was the referee's ability to make good calls. For instance, Australia's final goal should not have counted because an Australian player was offside just before the goal was scored.

This game was a complete joke. The Australians were obviously outclassed by the Japanese players, whose technique outshone the Australians throughout the game. The Australians won due to their larger sizes, the many many fouls they committed, and to an absolutely abysmal job by the referee. Obviously Japan made mistakes that helped the Australians steal this unmerited victory, but this was in no way a fair match.

Let's not forget that the Australians injured three Holland players in a pre-World Cup friendly with late tackles. This was supposed to be a friendship match and yet the Australians put Holland players on the bench before the Cup even started. Maybe they were hedging their bets by eliminating possible future competition while they had the chance, or maybe they just forgot that they were playing football/soccer and thought they were playing rugby. Either way the Australian team are big, tough thugs and nothing more!