Australia Prevail 2-0, One Foot In South Africa

Myself and Bobas were at this one, classic game for australia. Seemed like it could be a dud at half time but Jesus bailed us out as usual. You know who to have faith in..

Anyway If Qatar and Bahrain draw tonight, we are the first team qualified for South Africa 2010. I'm staying up, it will finish ~3am sydney time. Check this space... There will be a post if we're through.

Weekend Qualifier Results

So the first two results have occurred, Japan has beaten Bahrain 1-0 and the Uzbeks have thrashed Qatar 4-0.

So from here we simply need Bahrain and Qatar to draw next Wednesday, the same night tat we must beat the Uzbeks in Sydney.

Out of interest the Ubzeks started scoring when a Qatari defender was sent off in the 35th minute. Their striker, Farhod Tadjiyev, scored a hat trick while Anvar Soliev picked up one.

Nakamura scored in Japan's victory off a free kick cut back.

The Formula, How We Can Qualify Next Wednesday

This isn't a very likely scenario, but still possible. Any way you look at it we're in a great position with three wins and a draw from four matches, but we can be the first team to qualify for the 2010 world cup finals with a win against the Uzbeks next Wednesday.

Everyone else is playing this weekend so all we need is for the Uzbeks to beat Qatar at home and then for for Japan to beat Bahrain away. Then on Wednesday if we beat the Uzbeks in Sydney and then Bahrain draw with Qatar a few hours later we will secure our place in the South African based WC Finals.

Although we require a bit of luck it shows how close we are with so many games yet to play.

Breciano's Lucky goal Away to Bahrain

Last Time We Played the Uzbeks

Socceroos Team List For Uzbekistan WCQ (Kewell Included)

Michael Beauchamp (Aalborg) CB
Mark Bresciano (Palermo) CM/AMF/SMF
Jacob Burns (Unirea) CMF
Tim Cahill (Everton) CMF/AMF/CF
David Carney (Sheffield Utd, on loan at Norwich) SMF/SB
Scott Chipperfield (Basel) SB/CB/SMF
Chris Coyne (Colchester) CB
Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven) CMF/SMF
Adam Federici (Reading)GK
Richard Garcia (Hull) CB
Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar) AMF/CF
Mile Jedinak (Genclerbirligi) CMF
Josh Kennedy (Karlsruhe) CF
Harry Kewell (Galatasaray) AMF/SMF/CF/CB?
Scott McDonald (Celtic) CF
Lucas Neill (West Ham) CB/SB
Jade North (Incheon) CB/SB
Michael Petkovic (Sivasspor) GK
Mark Schwarzer (Fulham) GK
Mile Sterjovski (Derby) SMF
Carl Valeri (Grosseto) CMF
Luke Wilkshire (Dynamo Moscow) SB/SMF/CMF

Pretty strong squad, Kewell is red hot for Galatasaray, even excelling as a central defender in a recent UEFA Cup match. Apparently Verbeek wants to put Cahill back in the midfield for this one (thank God) speaking of which hopefully he puts his faith in Jesus as they're also saying McDOnald will start in centre forward.

We're only missing Moore, Emmerton and Grella. I'm just glad we're not relying on A-league players for this one. Especially as myself and Bobas will be at this game.

Uzbek Training Methods Revealed