Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
As Australian fans counted down the minutes to the Socceroos’ disastrous World Cup clash against the USA, there were comical scenes when the referee went down at the 90-minute mark.
Trailing 2-0 and with little hope of any sort of miracle comeback, Australians across the globe really just wanted the match to end to get away from an insufferable — and very noisy — home crowd at Seattle Stadium.
But their misery was prolonged when referee Felix Zwayer suddenly hit the deck, with commentators not believing what they were suddenly witnessing.
“Oh here we go. I’ve seen it all now. The referee’s cramping,” a shocked Luke Wilkshire said.
And veteran broadcaster David Basheer added: “That’s the first time I’ve seen a player help a referee in that way.“
Basheer was referring to Socceroos star Aiden O’Neill who sprung into action to quickly help Zwayer stretch out his cramp.
“Felix Zwayer, you need to get to 96 minutes, and you’re very close,” Basheer continued, while Wilkshire chuckled: “We might be seeing another substitution.”
“You’ve gotta look at the funny side of this, don’t ya?” Wilkshire said.
Basheer wondered if Zwayer had not kept up his fluids throughout the game.
He said a midfielder can cover around 12.5km in a match and the referees have to “get through some work as well”.
“Maybe he’s misjudged the fluid intake, perhaps. What do you reckon?” Basheer asked.
But as the cameras stayed on Zwayer and pickle juice was rushed out on the pitch to help him quickly recover, Wilkshire finally said what every Australian was thinking.
“We want the football to go on, come on! I don’t wanna watch a referee stretching out,” he blurted out.
Eventually Zwayer got to his feet and continued, after Australia’s pain had been delayed for a few agonising minutes.
The Aussies’ hopes of progression and sealing a top-two berth will now come down to their final group match against Paraguay on June 25 (June 26 AEST).
The US (six points) lead Australia (three) in Group D, with Turkey and Paraguay facing off on Friday night.
Many questions will now be asked of of coach Tony Popovic, whose call to bench Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe for the start of the match (the goal scoreres in Australia’s opening 2-0 win over Turkey) clearly backfired.
“I don’t know if it was the occasion, but we looked sluggish, heavy legged,” Popovic lamented.
“They were quicker, they were more powerful. They won every duel, they won every second ball and when you do that, it makes it very difficult.
“Then we conceded two soft goals.”
Popovic turned to Irankunda and Metcalfe at halftime but Australia could not claw their way back, while Mathew Leckie came off injured on the hour mark to add to the horror show.
