Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Seattle: Tony Popovic is a famously meticulous guy. On his watch, the Socceroos have done everything they possibly could to prepare for this World Cup.
No detail, however small, has been overlooked – they spent weeks training in Florida to get used to the summer heat, they played a warm-up match against Mexico to understand how it feels to play a tournament co-host, and they played another friendly at midday, as this match was, just so they knew precisely how to structure their morning.
But you can run all the dress rehearsals you want. How much can they actually prepare you for the visceral truth of the real thing; the moment you’ve been building to for months and have been thinking about for every waking moment?
It’s one thing to do the preparation, but it’s another to be ready. For this, the Socceroos just weren’t. Under the midday sun in Seattle, against a team that was, they melted.
After one of the great Australian World Cup victories, this was a brutal comedown. The Americans were too strong, too quick, too committed, too clever, too much, too everything.
The Socceroos, meanwhile, were not enough anything – at least not in the bitterly disappointing first half that lost them the game.
As a soccer nation, we envy the United States, or at least we should. We face so many of the same challenges – a domestic league competing for attention against bigger sports, a national team trying to earn more respect from the rest of the world – but they are further along in identifying and implementing solutions. We would love to host a World Cup like them, to turbocharge the growth of the game, like this tournament will surely do.
Our capacity to match their rate of improvement is limited by resources, and one of those resources is time. Their best players are where we would like our best to be in four years’ time. If nothing else, this was an experience that will lead to growth – or at least we can hope it was, because otherwise, what was there to take from this match?
Read Vince Rugari’s analysis in full here.
Poor Haiti are yet to find a goal in the match against a dominant Brazil side as the second half begins in Philadelphia.
Brazil has had 62 per cent possession in this match, and it shows on the scoreboard, with a steady stream of goals from the football-crazed nation since fatigue set in at the 20-minute mark.
Meanwhile, Haiti are yet to have a shot on goal – or any shot – in this match.
We have some substitutions as Haiti get fresh legs on the pitch. Frantzdy Pierrot and Carlens Arcus come from the pitch and Wilson Isidor and Dominique Simon come on.
Brazil 3-0 Haiti 46 minutes
Vini jnr has claimed his second tournament goal and first of this match to send Brazil up 3-0 against Haiti before the half-time whistle blows.
It’s another play that starts in midfield, and Lucas Paqueta, a midfielder, will claim the assist as a result. He kicks a long ball for Vini jnr to chase through Haiti’s defensive line. He outruns the men in white, and Placide comes out of his goal to stop him. It’s a poor decision, and gives Vini jnr the time and space to pass the ball with his right foot into the back of the net.
This is tormenting for Haiti and, not long after, Frantzdy Pierrot is shown a yellow card for fouling Gabriel Magalhaes as frustration threatens to boil over.
And that’s the first half.
Brazil 3-0 Haiti, half-time
Brazil are leading 2-0 over Haiti after Cunha’s second goal of the match.
The play began in Brazil’s defensive half before Vini jnr, who will claim the assist, strode solo up the pitch and then picked out a pass to Cunha.
Cunha shot the ball with his left foot from a tight angle, sending it flying up and to the left of Placide.
Brazil 2-0 Haiti, 41 minutes
Raphinha was close again to getting a goal in the 22nd minute, but he’s too wide and again ruled off-side. It’s the fourth time one of their players has been caught offside and looks like it might be a recurring problem for them, of course that is until Vini jnr takes a shot at goal in the 23rd minute and is well and truly on side.
His shot is pushed away by Haiti’s keeper, Placide, but the rebound is knocked in by Matheus Cunha. For a moment, it looked as though it had been an own goal off Haiti’s Hannes Delcroix, who does make contact with the ball, but it’s only a deflection so it will go down in Cunha’s name.
Brazil 1-0 Haiti, 23 minutes
We’re off to an engaging start in Philadelphia when a yellow card is shown after no more than four minutes of play. It’s given to Haiti’s Carlens Arcus for a bad foul on Douglas Santos.
In the 12th minute, Brazil’s Raphinha scores but is caught offside. Although it’s been disallowed, it’ll be a warning shot to Haiti if they need one.
Brazil 0-0 Haiti, 15 minutes
If you’re still with us, we’ve got another match about to start. Brazil and Haiti are meeting in Philadelphia for the second match of Group C today after Morocco’s 1-0 victory over Scotland.
Last time out, Brazil tied 1-1 with Morocco and Haiti lost 1-0 to Scotland.
Ronaldinho’s here to support in Philadelphia Stadium.
The post match analysis was on at Melbourne CBD pubs, where fans gathered to commiserate the Socceroos’ loss to the United States.
Friends Tom Saunders, 21, Luke Cornell, 22, and Angus McLaren, 22, ordered a 7am round of Guinness to tide them over. Saunders said the US team’s structure was just too strong and Australia should have come out of the blocks a bit faster.
“They were very sound defensively and very composed on the ball, and we couldn’t get any chances going in the first half, and then it was all too late,” Saunders said.
The trio tried to get into Fed Square initially, but given the rain and crowds, opted to “hedge our bets” and watch the match indoors.
It’s full-time in Morocco v Scotland in Boston as the Scots desperately searched for an equaliser.
The Scottish fans protested when Scott McTominay went down in the penalty area and again no penalty kick was given. He managed to get two shots on target in the 85th and 88th minutes, but both were blocked.
It’s Morocco, however, who get all the final shots of the match, which ends after six minutes of added time.
It’s Morocco’s first win of the tournament after drawing 1-1 in their first match, against Haiti, last week.
A man is in hospital after suffering burns to the face when flares were set off during a World Cup viewing event in Sydney’s Darling Harbour.
Police were patrolling Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour during the viewing of Australia’s 2-0 loss to USA when several flares were lit in the crowd about 6.15am.
Two officers entered the crowd and arrested two men, both aged 20, for allegedly lighting flares.
The two men were charged with possessing a bright light distress signal in a public place and were granted conditional bail.
A third man, also aged 20, was treated by paramedics at the scene for burns to his face and later taken to St Vincent’s Hospital.
Seattle: Australian fans riding high on the Socceroos’ victory in Vancouver were brought crashing back down to earth after a 2-0 capitulation to the United States in Seattle where, for the most part, the boys in green and gold didn’t look like scoring.
“Everyone’s still having fun despite the scoreboard,” former NSW premier turned BHP big wig Dominic Perrottet enthused at half-time, while there was still some optimism for a comeback following a dismal start. But a goal never materialised.
After the excitement of game one, Seattle was a letdown, in more ways than one. Expectations – fanned in part by Football Australia – were that President Donald Trump might attend, and surely lure in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a bit of sports diplomacy.
