Australia, which made the World Cup via a penalty-kick shootout against Uruguay, exited the tournament Monday at the painful end of a penalty decision in second-half injury time. After Francesco Totti converted the kick in the 95th minute, the whistle blew for a 1-0 second-round win for Italy, ending the Socceroos’ valiant World Cup run - and their first participation in the tournament in 32 years.

“We should still be in this World Cup,” said forward Tim Cahill.

“There’s no words to describe how we feel at the moment,” added midfielder Jason Culina. “Last-second penalty and it wasn’t even a penalty.”

Coach Guus Hiddink showed his class by walking over and shaking the hand of Spanish referee Luis Medina, who awarded the penalty. Coincidentally, Medina was in charge of the Uruguay game that advanced Australia into the tournament.

Then Hiddink consoled his players and led them to a corner of the stadium where the Australian fans were massed.

He said later the penalty was unwarranted, but took the high road.

“We are very disappointed because we were so close, but I can be proud of the way they placed, ” said Hiddink, who now leaves to take over the Russian national team. “It’s the way the world loves to see a team play.”

Back in the dressing room, his players watched replay after replay of the penalty decision. Italy’s Fabio Grosso beat Marco Bresciano in the corner and then sped into the penalty box, where he toppled over defender Lucas Neill, who had fallen already.

“It just looked like he dived over him. Didn’t look like there was any contact,” said defender Scott Chipperfield.

Cahill was incensed, saying the Italian should have been yellow-carded for diving.

“I just can’t believe it, mate,” said Cahill. “We play all our lives to be honest on the pitch and to work hard and I suppose these days you fall over on the pitch and get a penalty, free kick whatever. It’s disappointing.

“I’m furious. It’s unbelievable. The luck we’ve had with refereeing decisions this World Cup, everything’s been against us.”

Forward John Aloisi tried to be diplomatic about the call.

“I don’t really want to say too much, because I have that referee in Spain,” said the forward, who plays for Alaves.

Neill did not speak to reporters.

“Of course he’s devastated,” said goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer. “But then obviously once he saw it on TV, he thought, ‘Well hang on, there’s nothing I could have done about it.’

“Because it wasn’t a foul.”

The Australians have had some legitimate complaints. Against Japan, Egyptian referee Essam Abd El Fattah apologized to Schwarzer during the game for not calling a foul on a play that resulted in a Japanese goal. The Australians rallied to win 3-1.

Harry Kewell went after German referee Markus Merk following the 2-0 Brazil loss, irate at his performance.

And in the 2-2 tie with Croatia, English referee Graham Poll gave a Croatian player three yellows before eventually sending him off.

“They look after the big nations,” Chipperfield said. “They want the big nations through to the semis and final.

“It’s always the way.”

And he pointed to other refereeing controversies at the tournament.

“A lot of the games, everyone’s talking about the referee, which shouldn’t be the way. They should be talking about how good the game is. Not the refereeing. It’s something that needs to be looked at.”

But the Australian players also praised Italy for battling when down to 10 men and said the Socceroos had their chances.

The Australians played without Kewell, who was on crutches with a bout of gout.

“He’s in a lot of pain. He can’t walk,” said Chipperfield.

Kewell started against Japan and Croatia, came off the bench against Brazil, but trained little in the days leading to the Italy game because of a lingering groin injury.

The Australians were comeback kings in the first round, rallying to beat Japan and tie Croatia in group play. They did it the hard way, leading in only one match - against Japan - and that didn’t happen until the 89th minute.

“We’ve done ourselves proud and I think the whole of Australia is proud of us,” said Aloisi. “And the world’s taken notice that we’re no mugs, that we can compete with anyone.”

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/WorldCup/News/2006/06/26/1654621-ap.html

The Football Union of Russia (RFS) has confirmed that the friendly fixture will take place in Moscow on 1 March.

The Lokomotiv stadium is a possible venue for the game, which could see Russia led by Under-21 coach Aleksandr Borodyuk as the RFS has yet to appoint a successor to Yuri Semi who resigned as national coach in November.

Russia failed to qualify for the Germany World Cup, finishing third in Group 3 behind Portugal and Slovakia.

In their history, Russia and Brazil have played 12 friendly matches, with Russia winning three, losing seven and ending two games in a draw. The Russian team scored a total of 10 goals against Brazil’s 22, Ria Novosti added.

The opponents met three times in the World Cup — 1958, 1982 and 1994 — and once in the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976. The rest of the games between the two countries have been friendly matches.

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/12/13/brazil.shtml

Considering that 20 years ago the US reaction to a World Cup draw would have been “What’s a World Cup draw?”, some anger over the US team being drawn into a group with Italy, Ghana and the Czech Republic was a sign of the game’s growth.

The US were ranked eighth but the seeding committee moved England, Italy and Germany ahead into seeded berths, in part because of the US team’s last-place showing at the 1998 World Cup.

“It would be fair to say that the US deserved more consideration, and that the World Cup draw could have been devised a little better,” wrote Bob Ford in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Luis Arroyave, of the Chicago Tribune, said “the US is playing in, if not the Group of Death, the Group of Near-Death”.

The US squad must face the second-ranked Czechs and 12th-rated Italians and the African power Ghana.

“Do we as a nation care? No, we do not, even though the US team is a very capable international squad that performed well in 2002,” Ford wrote. “Soccer in the US … is the sport of the future — and always will be.”

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/sports.aspx?ID=BD4A126396

Adding spice to the ruling by FIFA on Saturday, the decision was made after a complaint from Al Ahly.

Pedro Paulo, Marco Alberto Skavinki and Aparecido Lima were deemed ineligible because they weren’t registered by Al Ittihad during either of the two designated registration periods fixed by the Saudi Arabia national federation.

“It’s a problem for us,” said Al Ittihad coach Anghel Iordanescu. “We’re not comfortable with it.

“When I found out the news I was nervous, but now I’m calm, I’m well and I hope I’ll be the same tomorrow after the game.”

Mahomoud El-Khatib, vice president of Al Ahly, raised the eligibility issue on Tuesday and made a formal complaint to FIFA and tournament organizers.

Manuel Jose, coach of the African club champions, said he didn’t expect any extra animosity from the Al Ittihad players Sunday because there was too much at stake in the match.

The winner advances to a semifinal against South American champion Sao Paulo of Brazil.

“We’re players and coaches, we don’t get involved in the bureaucratic decisions,” he said. “This match is like a qualifying match - we win and we’re in the semis, we lose and we’re playing for fifth place. We must win.”

From an original roster of 23 players, Iordanescu has only 18 available because two were already on suspension before the Brazilians were ruled out.

“For us it’s not an easy decision. When the players heard, they were a little bit down psychologically. But I hope our players prove on the field their character and show the spirit of Al Ittihad,” he said.

A FIFA panel led by Viacheslav Koloskov of Russia decided that although all three Brazilians were registered on Nov. 11, before the tournament deadline, the registrations were made outside the fixed two-month periods for transfers or registrations.

And there’s no avenue for the Saudi club to appeal, or make replacements.

The three Brazilians watched from the sidelines at Al Ittihad’s practice session on Saturday night.

Joining them were Cameroon international forward Joseph-Desire Job - on loan from Middlesbrough - who can’t play because he picked up a red card in the Asian Champions League final and Osama Al Harbi, who was suspended by the Saudi federation for an incident after an Arab Cup match.

Sao Paulo midfielder Souza didn’t have any sympathy for his compatriots who were ejected from the tournament.

“Anything that weakens a prospective rival for us is good for us, isn’t it?” said Souza, speaking through a translator. “The rules are rules. It’s an issue today but this is a big, important tournament so it won’t overshadow the matches.”

While the Al Ittihad vs. Al Ahly match features the Asian and African club continental champions, it’s also a showcase for Arab soccer.

“We’re neighbors, speak the same language - this is good for Arab football. The world will be watching,” said Jose.

“It’s especially important for us because Egypt is not going to be in the (next) World Cup. It’s fantastic for us to be here.”

Al Ahly is on a 55-match unbeaten streak.

The relaunched world club championship features the continental club competition winners of Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, South America, and Central and North America.

European champion Liverpool arrives Monday and, like Sao Paulo, enters the competition at the semifinal stage.

Liverpool will play the winner of Monday’s match between Sydney FC and Costa Rica’s Deportivo Saprissa.

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5156500

They will play South American champions Sao Paulo of Brazil in the semifinals on December 14.

The only goal of the keenly contested match was scored by midfielder Mohamed Noor off a Ahmed Al Doki cross after Ahly goalkeeper Essam Al Hadary failed to collect the ball cleanly in the 78th minute.

Before this, however, Anghel Iordanescu’s men came under immense pressure in the first half and struggled to impose themselves on their rivals. A poor clearance by the Saudi club’s vaunted defence almost saw Mohamed Tariki scoring in the 12th minute but the Ahly striker failed to control the ball and shot wide.

Al Ittihad goalkeeper Mabrouk Zaid was pressed into service in the 33rd minute and impressed with his excellent reflexes when Mohamed Barakat fired low. Two quick forays were executed by the Egyptian club in the next few minutes but AFC Player of the Year Hamad Al Montashari foiled both attempts.

The Asian champions’ first real chance materialised in the 37th minute when Shady Mohamed hacked down talismanic Sierra Leonian striker Mohamed Kallon just outside the box. The freekick was unleashed by Kallon himself, but straight to the goalkeeper.

Three minutes later Kallon burst through and cut to the centre with the ball at his feet but, shadowed by three Al Ahly men, the sharpshooter from Sierra Leon was stopped by a diving Al Hadary who managed to collect the ball with difficulty.

Kallon was at it again on the stroke of half-time when his downward header in a goalmouth melee was punched away by the Ahly goalkeeper.

The second half saw a rejuvenated Al Ittihad calling the shots. The tone was set by a freekick straight into the wall from Kallon in the 63rd minute as Al Ahly struggled. Ten minutes later Al Montashari released Noor on the right flank who threaded the ball to Kallon. But the chance was wasted after Al Hadary stood firm between the sticks.

Then came the winner from Noor who was left with a simple tap-in following the poor collection by the Ahly custodian. But Al Ittihad were far from finished and Manaf Aboshgir almost made it 2-0 in the 90th minute after darting clear on the left flank with no defender in sight to check him. But his weak shot was parried by the goalkeeper.

Al Ittihad won the AFC Champions League title last month for the second time in a row after defeating Al Ain of the UAE.

Bolanos goal ousts Sydney FC

Cristian Bolanos’ early second half strike helped Deportivo Saprissa oust Sydney FC 1-0 from the FIFA World Club Championship here on Monday.

Sydney FC played the last nine minutes a man short after Alvin Ceccoli was sent off by Japanese referee Kamizawa Toru for rough play against Saprissa goalkeeper Francisco Porras.

Bolanos took a long ball on his chest, controlled it and steered it past Sydney goalkeeper Clint Bolton in the 47th minute. The Australian club missed numerous chances against the experienced rivals.

The Central American champions will now play European champions Liverpool in the semifinals on Thursday in Toyota after AFC Champions League champions Al Ittihad clash against Sao Paulo in the other last four encounter in Tokyo on Wednesday.

http://www.persianfootball.com/pfdcnews20051212541425533705.htm

(2:23 ET) FIFA President Sepp Blatter and ex-FIFA president Joao Havelange have just entered the Messe Congress Hall for the Final Draw ceremony …

Well, we’re about an hour away from the start of the draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

The actual draw itself will take place between 8:20-8:50 p.m. local time (2:20-2:50 p.m ET) and the rest of the show will be filled with supermodels, adidas soccer balls and Franz Beckenbauer.

When the World Cup was last here in 1974, the draw wasn’t this big a deal. Remember: these were the days prior to big TV money entering the picture and the draw was a quiet, quick affair.

The mood is tense: Here in the hall adjacent to the draw ballroom, some 2500 journalists are fretting and fussing; I would guess that the 1000-some FIFA VIPs and staff are also in high twitter. Certainly the ones walking about here look dazed and pallid; then again, three days under fluorescents will do that to you.

But they’ve got a lot on their mind. This morning, the head of Germany’s policemen’s union fretted that there were too few flatfeet to patrol the areas in cities where matches will be telecast on big-screen TVs. While it would be improper for me not to note that he has a vested interest in this matter, if FIFA thinks the crowds will be as well-behaved as they were in Korea, they’re nuts.

Fact is, Germany is tense with good reason. There have been hooligan incidents, a high-profile ref’fing scandal and questions over FIFA’s methods of selling the tickets. And that’s just the football part of the equation.

Employment here in Leipzig is about 20%, which would make anyone glum. While the vast majority of townspeople have been polite and friendly, there is a palpable air of frustration about with us darned foreigners. I will shamefully admit I am part of the problem — my German is awful — but that said, in 2002, the Koreans didn’t openly sigh or wave folks off who came-a-calling to their businesses with phrase-books in hand and humble expressions on. German Organizing Committee head Franz Beckenbauer has exhorted his countrymen to smile, but even that comes with a caveat: Der Kaiser was quoted as saying: “It’s only for a few weeks.”

Not a good start, folks.

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5153676

The supermodel is as nervous as the 32 qualified teams will be about the draw for the world’s biggest sporting event, which is being hosted in her native Germany next June.

“Your heart is bound to beat a little faster,” she said this week, but at least she’s got the outfit sorted.

“I’ve picked out a turquoise dress, but everyone knows what women are like, so I might change my mind at the last minute,” she said.

Indeed, uncertainty will be the theme for the ceremony.

Australia, we know, will be drawn against one seeded team, one unseeded European team and one team from the Asia and Americas pool, but who those teams are will remain a mystery until the draw is complete.

A possible and fun scenario would be a group containing the Socceroos alongside seeded England, Australia’s traditional sporting rival, The Netherlands, an unseeded European nation and the native country of Socceroos coach Guus Hiddink, and the United States, whose coach Bruce Arena foolishly dubbed Australia one of the two weakest team in the draw this week.

Seemingly not aware of Australia’s propensity to bristle like a scalded cat at suggestions of inferior sporting prowess, Arena blurted out on Tuesday that he thought the Socceroos were the easybeats of the draw alongside Dwight Yorke’s Trinidad and Tobago.

He clarified his comments 24 hours later with a red face and an all-American smile, but it will not stop the Socceroos wanting to take a shot at his side if the chance comes.
“I’d love a crack at them,” Fox Sports’s Robbie Slater said last night. “Misinformed is a nice way to put (what Arena said).”

A match against England could stop the nation, according to Frank Farina. It could also send England’s fan club into a quivering, dribbling mess at the memory of the 3-1 drubbing meted by a rampant Socceroos under Farina’s charge at Upton Park on February 12, 2003.

The Netherlands, unseeded as a result of poor past performances of late, will be a dark horse for the World Cup with players such as Ruud van Nistelrooy and Arjen Robben, of Manchester United and Chelsea respectively, ready to dance through defences towards goal.

FIFA expects 350 million viewers to watch the draw live as it is beamed from a 4000-capacity glass hall at the Leipzig Messe in eastern Germany to television sets across the globe.

Plenty of the game’s legends are in town to dip their hands in the tombola and add sparkle to the draw’s unique recipe for excitement.

Brazil’s Pele, Holland’s Johan Cruyff, Cameroon’s Roger Milla and Germany’s own Franz Beckenbauer are just a few. Hiddink will be there, too, joined by Football Federation Australia head honchos Frank Lowy and John O’Neill.

They’ll watch nervously as supermodel Klum joins local television presenter Reinhold Beckmann and FIFA director of communications Markus Siegler for the draw in Leipzig, which starts at 6.15am (AEDT).

FOX SPORTS

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,17511423-23215,00.html

An accomplished striker in his youth, Schroeder was honoured for sticking his neck out to help Germany win the bidding war to stage the 2006 World Cup and for his government’s massive support to upgrade stadiums and the country’s transport infrastructure.

“Naturally soccer brings people together but there was always something special about the game for me personally,” said Schroeder, 61, in a moving speech at a Deutsche Fussballbund (DFB) congress on Friday several hours ahead of the draw for the next summer’s finals.

“As someone who wasn’t exactly born with a golden spoon in his mouth, soccer for me was a chance for gain recognition and a chance for advancement,” he said, referring to his dirt-poor childhood with his war widow mother in post-war West Germany.

“I learned that the challenges in the sport always had something to do with how strong your will is, how hard you are willing to work,” said Schroeder, who lost September’s general election and left office last month after seven years in power.

“What soccer always gave me was the knowledge that it doesn’t matter where you come from in a society but what matters is how much effort and ability along with fairness towards others that you are ready to bring to be successful.”

DFB co-president Theo Zwangziger said Schroeder defied the advice of political aides in 2000 to stand alongside Franz Beckenbauer and support Germany’s bid presentation, warning it could damage him politically if the bid failed.

“He nevertheless took the risk,” said Zwangziger.

Even Chancellor Angela Merkel, who defeated Schroeder in September, joined in to toast her erstwhile political rival. But she added there was one area she would not try to beat him.

“We’ve been competitors in other fields but I promise that I won’t try to match you in taking penalty kicks,” Merkel said.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldFootballNews&storyID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20051209:MTFH51396_2005-12-09_12-44-40_L09600525:1

His team has already being written off by many pundits as fodder at the tournament but Hiddink is confident Australia will be competitive.

“We are not just here to complete the program. This team has shown it can be competitive,” Hiddink told AAP from Germany where the draw for the World Cup will be made on Saturday (AEDT).

“(Qualification) is something to be proud of, but the next step is coming.

“The players will commit themselves and show the world they are not just there by accident.

Hiddink says the team has an ideal opportunity to impress on the world stage in Germany.

“The teams proved in the previous months to be very competitive, and that is what I demand from them - be competitive and you never know what you will achieve.

“The world will look at them as a good team, an experienced team.

“We are not a leading country, but step by step we have improved, and this is the ideal stage to take the next step.”

Football Federation Australia chief executive John O’Neill is also in Germany, and is hopeful the Socceroos can progress to the knokcout stage of the tournament.

“If we made it into the second round, I’d be thrilled,” O’Neill said.

“From a profile point of view, we know back in Australia football will be on everyone’s mind for all of the first half of next year.

“It’s the biggest sporting event by a country mile and we’re in it.

“We’re still pinching ourselves that we’re here.”

http://www.sportal.com.au/soccer.asp?i=news&id=75100

“Everything’s just gone crazy over the past few weeks with the World Cup,” concedes Jimmy - real name Dimitrios Hatzitoulousis - a Kensington builder/draughtsman who works in the family business with his father, Peter, and brother Tass. “I’m supposed to be helping them build a house. Luckily they’ve got used to all the interruptions.”

Jimmy is unofficial leader of the Bay 23 Boys, a large and loud group of Socceroos supporters who first started gathering behind the goal at the Paddington end of the Sydney Football Stadium in the late 1980s.

Through thin and thin they have followed the Socceroos, whose only previous appearance in the World Cup finals was more than 30 years ago. “Some of these boys are now in their 30s and 40s. They’ve been waiting, hoping for this moment.”

This morning they were up early to watch the live draw for the finals in Germany, starting in June, to see whom Australia would be playing, to pitch for tickets, to arrange travel plans.

“Tickets are going to be massively oversubscribed,” said Jimmy, who arranged a live showing of the first Australia-Uruguay qualifier for more than 1000 fans at the Enmore Theatre and organised tickets, flags and banners for the second at Telstra Stadium.

The Bay 23 Boys, who support the new local A-League team Sydney FC, are one of a handful of big, overlapping groups of supporters looking for tickets and planning to travel to Germany.

The Green and Gold Army’s free membership has increased from 3000 to 5000 since the Socceroos secured their place in the finals. “We’ve been receiving 50 to a 100 inquiries a day,” said a spokesman, Mark Van Aken.

The army is linked to the travel group Jetset and has its own man, Andre Kruger, who adopted the Socceroos several cup campaigns ago, on the spot in Hanover, to organise parties, get-togethers and seek out tickets.

The other big group is the Fanatics, formed by Warren Livingstone “after a chance meeting in the toilets with [the tennis greats] John Newcombe and Tony Roche after the US Open” in 1997. The aim, said Mr Livingstone, who was to be in Leipzig for the draw, was “to form an organised, passionate and patriotic support group that would follow Australian sport at home and around the world”.

Although some hardcore Socceroos fans grumble that the Fanatics, which boasts a database of 60,000 names, is basically “a travel agency posing as football supporters”, the groups co-operate to obtain tickets, arrange travel and make a big show.

“Demand for tickets has been unprecedented,” Mr Livingstone said. “A frenzy.”

Jimmy the Greek is undeterred. He is confident he can snag some tickets, and he will be in Germany anyway, on an extended honeymoon. The couple marry in April. Did he arrange the honeymoon with the World Cup in mind?

“I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t crossed my mind.”

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world-cup-2006/soccer-flight-no-fancy-to-greek-jim/2005/12/09/1134086812365.html