Bunch of hopeless jokes

It seems I won't be having to rely on the flicking delights of Vietnamese state television for much longer as Australia's hopes of staying in the Asian Cup now rest on mathematics and miracles.

Iraq 3 - 1 Australia

Australia's coach Graham Arnold is surely going to be sacked after another listless display by the Socceroos. Before the match large changes were forecast, in the end just one change was made. Genclerbirligi's Nick Carle unfortunately was not played and will no doubt be flying back to Ankara soon and will be available for the first match of the season sometime in August.

This was yet another performance where the Aussies were just too bloody slow and showed no real threat. The Iraqis seemed to play above themselves and the team comprised of a bunch of journeymen who ply their trade in various Middle Eastern leagues clearly outclassed our European-based so-called stars.

Dear oh dear.

The Iraqis went ahead first in about the 22nd and had a few more chances in the first half. We hardly had any.

Second half started off well with Mark Viduka scoring a header off a freekick taken by Brett Emerton but then we went behind again on the one hour mark. Then came the sucker-punch with five minutes left in the match.

So now we have to beat Thailand by plenty of goals on Monday to get through the group but going by the last two matches I reckon our only chances of recording a victory would be if we re-apply to join the Oceania region, or perhaps Antartica.