Tom
Steinfort writes:

Australians arrived at the Allianz Arena in
Munich for Australia’s World Cup clash with Brazil quietly confident, but left
simply quiet. As the Green and Gold Army drowned their sorrows with a few steins after the
match (and then a few more), there were two overriding feelings with which many were left.

The initial reaction from the fans was that the Aussies had been robbed by
German referee Markus Merk. The free kick count in the end showed 23-9 in favour
of the South Americans, lending credence to the theory that Australia’s
reputation for being a physical team has seeped into the referees’ minds. At
times, even the Brazilians seemed shocked at the rewards they were getting from
Merk. Several Australian attacks were thwarted by the overzealous referee, who many
thought was among Brazil’s best on the evening.

But as the lager kept flowing, the optimism returned. There is a
genuine belief
here in Germany that the Aussies can advance, and more so, deserve to.
While wasting a clear chance, Harry Kewell is looking increasingly
dangerous,
while at the other end of the park the Australians have really caught
people by
surprise. The Socceroos defence is often highlighted as the team’s
weakness,
but Lucas Neill has been nothing short of brilliant in the centre of
defence,
teaming with Craig Moore beautifully.

Many Australians will be stumbling home in Munich as you read this, but in the
new day, they will set their bleary eyes on the massive game against Croatia in
Stuttgart. The Croatia-Japan clash was decidedly uninspiring, and as one Australian put it,
if we can’t knock off the Croats then we’d be wasting our time in the round of
sixteen.

So where does that leave us? Brazil heads
the group and can guarantee finishing the opening phase in first place by drawing
or better with Japan in four days. Australia can secure a place in the next
round by beating Croatia, but a draw will be enough unless Japan beat Brazil by
at least two goals, and score three or more times. And no matter how many
steins you have, you’d be a courageous punter to put your money on that
happening.